We spent just a couple days in Yellowstone, as we both started to realize how quickly summer is going by and how long our list of summer destinations still is. Even with 15 months to travel I somehow always feel like we are in a rush. I don’t think we’ve yet reached that elusive balance of seeing a lot of neat places while taking the time to appreciate each one. It is hard to get away from the mentality of maximization that seems to be so pervasive these days. Our Yellowstone visit was definitely an example of efficiency, as we packed most of the park’s top destinations into just two days. David’s ankle was bothering him a bit after the backpacking trip in the Tetons so we had extra reason to not wander too far off the beaten path. Below are some photos of our Yellowstone stops.

We were pleasantly surprised to find the park not too crowded. We think we might have hit the park when most kids are headed back to school, and were relieved to find it easy to get a campground and park at the different stops throughout the park. I found a really interesting website with lots of statistics on National Parks, and learned that Yellowstone is significantly more crowded in July than in August. I also learned that while Yellowstone is typically in the five most visited National Parks, it doesn’t get nearly as many visitors as the Great Smoky Mountains, which I found very surprising.

Our visit to Yellowstone marks the end of what I consider the first chapter of our trip, focused on the outdoors and the northwest. The second chapter will be a short one, comprising our quick move across the United States to eastern Canada.