The Adventures of Wolfie

Hey everybody! My name is Wolfie, and I’m so excited to be a guest blogger on Aunt Tammy’s blog. I recently got to go on the Yellowstone trip with the family. I had so much fun I can’t wait to share my adventures with you.

You’re probably wondering what I look like, right? Well, here I am with Mommy, in a matching nightgown. Yes, I’m a boy, but because I love my Mommy so much, I’ll wear a nightgown for her. And sometimes I love my nightgown so much I stay in it all day long.

This year instead of making me wait in the car, Mommy let me go out on the trail with her. I got to ride in Aunt Tammy’s backpack. It was so much fun!

My family took me to eat with them a lot. When Mommy went to the bathroom once, I stole one of her chicken strips because I was one hungry wolf!

When we got into the park, one of my first stops was to Lower Geyser Basin. I was a little scared of the big geysers, but I was safe in the backpack. I kept my eye on Mommy as we walked out to see a waterfall, since Aunt Tammy was the leader. Mommy liked the waterfall so much, she forgot to take a picture of me by it. How about if I show Aunt Tammy and you just know I was safe inside of her backpack?

The next day I stayed with Mommy, who was away from Aunt Tammy, so I didn’t get to see anything until later in the day. Then Mommy took me with her to see a real live wolf skin! It made me so excited to be a wolf, even if I was sad that one of my kind died being hit by a car, which is where the skin came from.

Next we went to the Mud Volcano area. Boy was it ever stinky! It smelled like rotten eggs, really rotten ones. Apparently, people aren’t the only things that release gas, since that’s why it’s so stinky. (That one’s for my Uncle Chris .)

Mommy took me with her into the gift shop as she looked for new members of my pack. I guess that inspired Aunt Tammy because she let me ride up front for awhile after that!

Look, new members of my pack!

The next morning I got to go hiking with Mommy and her family. It was early, so I was really tired. But I loved seeing Lone Star Geyser erupt. I kept Mommy company while we waited for it. It took so long! I thought it was never going to go off, but finally it did.

Then we had to wait a very long time to see Grand Geyser. It helped that one of the new members of my pack, my very own mini me, came with me, so I had someone to play with. I was getting really impatient until finally it erupted. Wow! It was awesome!!

Our last stop of the day was to see the fantastic Castle Geyser. It was kind of like Lone Star, but bigger.

Mommy took me with her into the Old Faithful Lodge. It’s really old! Then she let me get ice cream. It got everywhere! Mommy also let me take a picture by Yellowstone’s most famous geyser, Old Faithful! So cool!

The next day it was finally time to go home. Here’s me playing with the newest member of my pack.

I can’t wait to go to Yellowstone again! So many adventures to come!

Yellowstone National Park Trip 2012

So, I’ve returned from my favorite place once again. As always, it was a delightful trip! Not only did I get to enjoy Yellowstone’s unique features, but I was able to do so with my family, which is what makes it special in the first place.

The pace this year was a little different. At first I found it frustrating, but once I decided to roll with it, all was well. For example, never have we gone into the park and simply relaxed for the first little while. This year we did, and it was lovely! This is the Nez Pearce Creek picnic area off Fountain Flat drive. I highly recommend it.

Our second stop was not to rush out to see geysers, as it somehow normally is. We visited Lower Geyser Basin, which is a nice introduction to Yellowstone newbies (which we had several with us) because it has all four Yellowstone features: geysers, hot pools, fumaroles and mud pots.

Next, we tried something we’ve never done before: a short hike out to Mystic Falls. It was well worth our effort. The trailhead starts off Biscuit Basin, in case you’re ever there and want to try it out.

The next day featured a lot of waterfalls including Gibbon Falls, Upper and Lower Falls and Crystal Falls.

Of course visiting Upper and Lower Falls means a trip to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. It has one of my favorite hiking trails in the park: the North/South Rim Trail.

We originally planned to take some time visiting the beautiful Yellowstone Lake, but, alas, the weather didn’t cooperate, so instead we had ice cream, spent some time in the gift shops and called it a day.

Day 3: my favorite thing in the park: geysers!!

We took a very early morning hike out to see something new, Lone Star Geyser! It made us wait for about an hour and a half, but we did see it erupt. How wonderful to try something new! The cone is so impressive, standing about 8-10 feet tall.

We waited a very long time, about 3.5 hours to see our most favorite geyser, Grand, erupt, but it gave us a great show, so it was totally worth it!!

Our final stop of the evening was to see Castle Geyser. This is another one with a very impressive cone. We were delighted to discover the eruption is exciting as well.

Okay, we might’ve had ice cream one last time, but after sitting in the sun for so many hours waiting for Grand, we needed something to cool us off. See how toasty some of us look?

Can you see why this is my most favorite place? I love it and am always excited to go back! I may have been there many times, but there’s always something new to discover. We’ll see what next year’s trip brings.