Beeks in Yellowstone

      Here you can sort of see the Junior Ranger vests my children wore the entire trip.  Whenever there was a Ranger around, they always complimented their vests.  That was wonderful because it kept them interested in the Junior Ranger program.

      This is just one of the side road areas in Yellowstone.  Quite often you'll find that there area little gems along the way if you'll slow down and check things out.  Tyler and our son climbed down and took photos at the bottom of this waterfall.

This is at the visitor center at Moose Junction in the Grand Teton National Park.  We spent about an hour there so they could fill out the scavenger hunt in the museum to get their Junior Ranger badges.  

This is near the Mud Volcano, something about a breathing dragon.  

And we can't forget the view of Lower Falls from the Artist View Point.

Closer...

And the North Entrance, very grand for such a remote spot in the park.

Uncle Tom's Trail in Yellowstone National Park

Good thing we live at 5,000 feet elevation and have hiked at much higher elevations this summer. This was really a piece of cake, just a little scary for me.  My husband just laughed.

This photo is quite a ways down the stairs but with more to go.  See that the stairs have drainage holes in them? That means you can see where you will fall to your doom, should this staircase that is bolted to the wall without much support from below collapse. At the Old Faithful visitor center we got to hear all about the earthquakes in Yellowstone Park.  Apparently they are daily and up to 15 a day.  The earthquakes are always changing features in the park such as geysers and mud pots which is cool but don't think about them when you are on this staircase.  However, the view is absolutely worth it.  Too bad we had to run up the stairs because some small child decided he suddenly needed to go to the bathroom. I enjoyed the view much better on the way up.

After this we made our way over to the North Rim and if you look closely you can see the people just above the right side of the top of the falls.  That was another 600 foot decent and accent.  Well worth it too.