Yellowstone, Revisited, Day 1

We recently returned to Yellowstone NP.  This time we tried a visit earlier in the season, and we got snow!  We got to wander around some parts of the park that we hadn't seen before.  We also played some park bingo (marking off sites/animals) and nearly got a blackout board!  I think we just missed seeing a moose.  Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.  I think I'll take it in small chunks.

On Friday, we left home and decided to detour to the Old Faithful area on our way to the Canyon Lodge, since we were a little early for check-in. We saw lots of bison along the way, which was great, until they decided to cross the road and we got stuck in a bison jam!  (complete with bison babies!) The herd actually tromped down the road for a while, so we were puttering at a bison's pace down the main road...

Then we finally reached Old Faithful and had about an hour before the next eruption was supposed to occur.  

So instead of waiting in one place,

We opted to cruise the geyser loop and see the sights. Hadley was in the stroller, since it's mostly boardwalked, and Owen was pushing her for a while.  He likes to do that.  But, we brought along the backpack too, just in case.  And she did prove to be rather finicky about her mode of transportation.

Old Faithful actually ended up being a little behind schedule even with the 20-minute expected window, so we did some more waiting.

But when it finally erupted, we had an interesting view away from the crowd.

Owen may have been most excited about the hotel.  Seriously.  Unfortunately, I forgot to pack books and several forms of entertainment for them, and there is no TV.  So, this is how we finally got a few minutes of quiet before bed time.