West Yellowstone, Montana

When you've got a friend living/working in one of the world's most famous national parks, that's more than enough reason to head out for a visit.  I vaguely remembered my first trip to Montana back when I was around 7 years old.  It was a family trip, and we had just returned from Glacier National Park, and all I remember was being particularly excited to ride horses.  While I didn't see any horses on this trip, I did get my visual fill of bison, elk, eagles, hot springs, and long drives.

Unlike a majority of Yellowstone visitors, I didn't do any camping on this trip.  I got to sleep on a couch in my good friend Adam's family cabin since they run an airplane refueling business out of West Yellowstone every summer.  In addition to not camping, I also had the privilege of having a very knowledgeable "tour guide."  I mean, how many first-timers at Yellowstone get to swim in rivers, eat buffalo burgers, see tons of living buffalo, go off-roading in a Jeep, speeding on a motorcycle, and see both Grand Prismatic Spring and Old Faithful FROM THE AIR? (Another advantage to having pilot friends!).  I'll let my photos tell the rest of the story.

 Autumn in Yellowstone - September 2009

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Adam and his vintage Camaro.

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An elk!  My first glimpse of wildlife at Yellowstone.

Muffin!  Ok, she was my first animal contact at Yellowstone, but she's not wild.  Just cute.

Bison!  They were everywhere.

Grand Prismatic Spring.

Grand Prismatic Spring--one of the highest vantage points you can get to on foot.

 

Adam's dad's airplane.

Adam flying his dad's airplane.

Grand Prismatic Spring.  A view only seen from the air.  Booyah!

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone waterfall - from the air.

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone - from the ground

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone - closeup from the ground

Morning Glory hot spring- from the ground; near Old Faithful

There was no bike rack, so we chained the bikes to the Old Faithful sign.

Old Faithful erupting - view from the air

The rickety but awesome interior of the lodge at Yellowstone.