Naturally Faithful
My parents took my sister and me on a trip to Yellowstone in the summer of about 2008. Here’s why it was great and what a kid (like myself at the time) can learn from this kind of trip. By the way, I’m officially calling this series, lessons from family vacations, probably.
This was the longest trip I had been on at the time, between travel time, distance, time in the park and otherwise.
My sister and I got the chance to see some of the wonders nature has to offer – up close and personal. We got to see some of the most unique and fascinating things right in front of our faces and learn about how certain things came to be in the wonderful park that is Yellowstone. I’ll add that we loved Old Faithful; I remember it was a beautiful day and that day we were eating a meal at Old Faithful Inn and caught a couple “eruptions” from the geyser.
The other memorable elements we saw were the unique pools and rock formations all over the park, as well as the animals we saw through out our trip. Our family also decided that our collective favorite tree was the aspens we saw. We now point them out wherever else we see them and are still reminded of our trip to Yellowstone over a decade ago.
Pro-tip: Beyond just what kids can learn there’s a key lesson about staying in Yellowstone for anyone here. Don’t book one hotel or campground for your whole trip. My family enjoyed staying at numerous historic inns and cabins. It’s not for everyone but the places we slept were practically along our trail. The only disadvantage? Packing everything up every morning. But honestly, we were pros by day 2. We saw way more of the park because we cut down on driving.
Another cool element of this trip was seeing Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) as well as Devil’s Tower, even though these are in different states, they each brought a new experience and fun. At Devil’s Tower, everyone in my family took a forced perspective photo of us leaning on the tower. On the other hand in GTNP, we canoed a beautiful lake right next to the mountains.
If you can, take a trip to see a National Park on your next vacation. They’re well cared for and truly a treasure. Praise God for all the creativity He used in creating what we saw on this trip and others. It’s a reminder of the beauty that He has created. I know that I will never see all of it, but I plan to see more of it in the future!
