We’re just back from eight days in Yellowstone National Park with extended family. It was fun to be with them and in an area with lots of interesting natural features to explore.
What’s your favorite National Park or area of natural beauty?
What’s the most interesting wildlife you saw there (or somewhere in the wild)?
My family spent a week at the Black Hills of SD. Lots of interesting things to see, including but not limited to Mt. Rushmore. But the hilight of our trip was a day we spent at Devil’s Tower, WY. That was so strange to see these huge “things” jutting up out of the prairie out in the middle of nowhere.
This may sound weird to some people but the most interesting “wild life” I have seen was in Puerto Vallarta. We were walking home from a restaurant I there were fireflies all over. I had never seen them before and had always wanted to. I was so excited, I felt like a little kid.
Helen, welcome back! We missed you! I’m glad you had an enjoyable vacation.
The most amazing national parks I’ve been to are Crater Lake and Yosemite. At Crater Lake, I was captivated by the depth and clearness of the water. It was awe inspiring and a little frightening to gaze down into the lake. At Yosemite, it was the ancient trees that were so awe inspiring. I felt small and insignificant next to those enormous witnesses to history.
We Americans are blessed to have so much natural beauty preserved for us. Thanks to good old Teddy Roosevelt!
The Badlands of South Dakota
Moyne, Co. Longford, Ireland, specifically, the view from the family farm
The most interesting wildlife was not in either spot. The first, on “moose highway” in NH last year, actually seeing moose. The second, the 4 barred owls living in my neighborhood.
my favorite national park is Cape Hatteras National Seashore on the outer banks of NC. We camped there monthly in the summer when I was growing up, for about a week at a time. They had fantastic ranger programs back in the day - clamming, seining in the sound, boogie boarding, canoeing, all sorts of stuff. Our goal one summer was to complete our punch card of every parks program offerred. It was a great way to spend one week per month every summer.
Yosemite is a close second - when I lived in Merced, CA we visited there. I’d agree Rachel, the trees made me feel small and insignificant. Which is a pretty nice feeling if you’re prone to walking around feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders.
The oddest wildlife I’ve ever seen are the armadillos in FL. What prehistoric looking creatures! I also see lots of alligators here in SC. They are pretty prehistoric looking too!
Wow…..8 days in Yellowstone….that’s awesome…did you see a grizzly?
Visiting all the Nat’l Parks is a goal of mine & I’ve been fortunate to have made it to quite a few so far.
My favorite would have to be the North Cascades NP in Washington St, I loved the remoteness & lack of people.
I have a thing for bears so watching a black bear roam around was pretty cool.
Donna, we were hoping to see a bear but didn’t manage it. Apparently they have very few, so we probably shouldn’t be surprised. We saw a lot of bison - most days we had to stop because of bison crossing the road somewhere or other. The first morning at Old Faithful Inn there were a number of bison right opposite the front entrance of the inn, blocking one of the paths to the geysers.
We also saw elk a few times and a couple of coyotes ran across the road one night in front of us.
The wildlife highlight was when one of my brothers wisely said “Let’s drive down there where all those people are pulled over”. It turned out that there was a moose by the river, down the hill from the road. It was some distance away but was clearly a moose with big antlers. I was very pleased that we managed to see a moose.
I love the variety of scenery in Yellowstone. The “Grand Canyon of Yellowstone” might be presumptuously named - it is much narrowerer than the real one. However, it is breathtakingly deep and steep-sided and has a couple of beautiful waterfalls in it. That was the surprise to me the first time we went - I had no idea Yellowstone had that as well as the geothermal features.
My children enjoyed the geothermal features, especially my son, who did his best to see as many geysers go off as possible.
I love the mountains in Glacier - we were there 16 years ago before we had children - but I think Yellowstone, with its geothermal features, probably has more to interest my children.
Oh, in Glacier we did see a baby black bear walking along the side of the road one day. So we have seen a wild bear once!
Yosemite. Our family has camped there 8 times in the last 14 years, including our most recent trip in June. The granite cliffs, the towering trees, the waterfalls, ohmygod, the waterfalls, magnficent and fierce in early June.
We have had bear encounters in Yosemite, twice. But our fave wildlife encounter was in Wyoming while camped near the Grand Tetons. Amazing mountains, those Tetons. Anyway, Rose was a toddler, playing in the campsite while I prepared dinner. I had hobo foil dinners cooking in the coals of the fire. This nearby camper, who did not speak English, began waving at me. Wow, he sure waves enthusiastically, I thought as I waved back. Then he waved more frantically and began shouting something in French. I finally turn around and there is a bear, near my toddler daughter, trying to scoop the hobo dinners out of the fire. I picked up my daughter and yelled for my husband who quickly scared the bear off.
One more, my son and I were up early on one of our Yosemite camping trips. We decided to drive to the Yosemite store to pick up some cocoa. On our way there we came upon a pack of coyotes playing in the meadow, the majestic domes and peaks of the valley in the backdrop. I stopped the car and we enjoyed the magical moment.
Thanks Pam! Wow, that must have been a scary moment, when that bear was near your daughter.
If we’d had more time I would have liked to at least drive through the Grand Tetons. We had a good view of the back of them at sunset, driving up from Salt Lake City to Yellowstone, but that was all. I think one of my brothers spent the day in the Tetons today.
My family-of-origin group, which was together all last week, had 8 adults and 8 children aged 4 months through 13. When I read the suggested precaution to take around bears “make loud noises” it made me smile. I figured we were pretty safe!
(We were a bigger group for part of the week - 12 adults and 13 children - because some extended family on my mother’s side joined us too)
Theresa, I would love to see Bryce Canyon. A few years ago we went to Arches and Canyonlands but didn’t make it to Bryce Canyon. I’ve seen the photos and it looks spectacular.
Everyone else - thanks for sharing. I haven’t heard of all the places you’ve mentioned but I’m figuring this will be a useful list next time I’m wondering where to go on vacation!
Comment by: Mike O
1My family spent a week at the Black Hills of SD. Lots of interesting things to see, including but not limited to Mt. Rushmore. But the hilight of our trip was a day we spent at Devil’s Tower, WY. That was so strange to see these huge “things” jutting up out of the prairie out in the middle of nowhere.
They have a trail around the base that was, I think, about 3 miles. It was by far my favorite natural wonder I’ve ever seen. http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/Parks/devils_tower/devils_tower.html
Comment by: Theresa Frasch
2My favorite place is Bryce Canyon in Utah. I think it is the most beautiful and interesting place in the world. http://www.nps.gov/archive/brca/photo_gallery.html
This may sound weird to some people but the most interesting “wild life” I have seen was in Puerto Vallarta. We were walking home from a restaurant I there were fireflies all over. I had never seen them before and had always wanted to. I was so excited, I felt like a little kid.
Comment by: Rachel
3Helen, welcome back! We missed you! I’m glad you had an enjoyable vacation.
The most amazing national parks I’ve been to are Crater Lake and Yosemite. At Crater Lake, I was captivated by the depth and clearness of the water. It was awe inspiring and a little frightening to gaze down into the lake. At Yosemite, it was the ancient trees that were so awe inspiring. I felt small and insignificant next to those enormous witnesses to history.
We Americans are blessed to have so much natural beauty preserved for us. Thanks to good old Teddy Roosevelt!
Comment by: Doreen
4My two favorite areas of natural beauty are
The Badlands of South Dakota
Moyne, Co. Longford, Ireland, specifically, the view from the family farm
The most interesting wildlife was not in either spot. The first, on “moose highway” in NH last year, actually seeing moose. The second, the 4 barred owls living in my neighborhood.
Comment by: Julie Marie
5my favorite national park is Cape Hatteras National Seashore on the outer banks of NC. We camped there monthly in the summer when I was growing up, for about a week at a time. They had fantastic ranger programs back in the day - clamming, seining in the sound, boogie boarding, canoeing, all sorts of stuff. Our goal one summer was to complete our punch card of every parks program offerred. It was a great way to spend one week per month every summer.
Yosemite is a close second - when I lived in Merced, CA we visited there. I’d agree Rachel, the trees made me feel small and insignificant. Which is a pretty nice feeling if you’re prone to walking around feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders.
The oddest wildlife I’ve ever seen are the armadillos in FL. What prehistoric looking creatures! I also see lots of alligators here in SC. They are pretty prehistoric looking too!
Comment by: Donna
6Wow…..8 days in Yellowstone….that’s awesome…did you see a grizzly?
Visiting all the Nat’l Parks is a goal of mine & I’ve been fortunate to have made it to quite a few so far.
My favorite would have to be the North Cascades NP in Washington St, I loved the remoteness & lack of people.
I have a thing for bears so watching a black bear roam around was pretty cool.
Comment by: Helen
7Donna, we were hoping to see a bear but didn’t manage it. Apparently they have very few, so we probably shouldn’t be surprised. We saw a lot of bison - most days we had to stop because of bison crossing the road somewhere or other. The first morning at Old Faithful Inn there were a number of bison right opposite the front entrance of the inn, blocking one of the paths to the geysers.
We also saw elk a few times and a couple of coyotes ran across the road one night in front of us.
The wildlife highlight was when one of my brothers wisely said “Let’s drive down there where all those people are pulled over”. It turned out that there was a moose by the river, down the hill from the road. It was some distance away but was clearly a moose with big antlers. I was very pleased that we managed to see a moose.
I love the variety of scenery in Yellowstone. The “Grand Canyon of Yellowstone” might be presumptuously named - it is much narrowerer than the real one. However, it is breathtakingly deep and steep-sided and has a couple of beautiful waterfalls in it. That was the surprise to me the first time we went - I had no idea Yellowstone had that as well as the geothermal features.
My children enjoyed the geothermal features, especially my son, who did his best to see as many geysers go off as possible.
I love the mountains in Glacier - we were there 16 years ago before we had children - but I think Yellowstone, with its geothermal features, probably has more to interest my children.
Oh, in Glacier we did see a baby black bear walking along the side of the road one day. So we have seen a wild bear once!
Comment by: Pam Hogeweide
8Yosemite. Our family has camped there 8 times in the last 14 years, including our most recent trip in June. The granite cliffs, the towering trees, the waterfalls, ohmygod, the waterfalls, magnficent and fierce in early June.
We have had bear encounters in Yosemite, twice. But our fave wildlife encounter was in Wyoming while camped near the Grand Tetons. Amazing mountains, those Tetons. Anyway, Rose was a toddler, playing in the campsite while I prepared dinner. I had hobo foil dinners cooking in the coals of the fire. This nearby camper, who did not speak English, began waving at me. Wow, he sure waves enthusiastically, I thought as I waved back. Then he waved more frantically and began shouting something in French. I finally turn around and there is a bear, near my toddler daughter, trying to scoop the hobo dinners out of the fire. I picked up my daughter and yelled for my husband who quickly scared the bear off.
One more, my son and I were up early on one of our Yosemite camping trips. We decided to drive to the Yosemite store to pick up some cocoa. On our way there we came upon a pack of coyotes playing in the meadow, the majestic domes and peaks of the valley in the backdrop. I stopped the car and we enjoyed the magical moment.
(btw, Welcome back Helen!!!)
Comment by: Helen
9Thanks Pam! Wow, that must have been a scary moment, when that bear was near your daughter.
If we’d had more time I would have liked to at least drive through the Grand Tetons. We had a good view of the back of them at sunset, driving up from Salt Lake City to Yellowstone, but that was all. I think one of my brothers spent the day in the Tetons today.
My family-of-origin group, which was together all last week, had 8 adults and 8 children aged 4 months through 13. When I read the suggested precaution to take around bears “make loud noises” it made me smile. I figured we were pretty safe!
(We were a bigger group for part of the week - 12 adults and 13 children - because some extended family on my mother’s side joined us too)
Comment by: Helen
10Theresa, I would love to see Bryce Canyon. A few years ago we went to Arches and Canyonlands but didn’t make it to Bryce Canyon. I’ve seen the photos and it looks spectacular.
Everyone else - thanks for sharing. I haven’t heard of all the places you’ve mentioned but I’m figuring this will be a useful list next time I’m wondering where to go on vacation!