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US National Parks

Badlands National Park

July 10, 2011 by danawyyc 1 Comment

The Badlands weren’t in our original itinerary. We squeezed them in at the end of a very long day (after seeing the Devils Tower and Mount Rushmore) and unfortunately the lighting wasn’t great by the time we got there and we didn’t have a lot of energy left to get out and walk around.

Nonetheless I’m really glad we went. If you have made it to Rapid City it is only 88 more miles to get to the Badlands and the Highway 240 Loop Road through the park only takes an extra 60 minutes if you don’t stop.

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Passport Stamp: Inside the Visitor Centre mid way through the park.
Accommodations: There are campgrounds inside the park as well as Cedar Pass Lodge (located by the visitor center). Rapid City is the closest large-ish city.
Approximate Time: 60 minutes – half a day.
Worth the Trip: Absolutely.
Jr. Ranger Program: Available in the Visitor Centre give yourself about an hour to complete it
Admission: $15 for 7 days.

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If we were to go again, I’d try to make sure we had enough time to get out and do a few short walks.

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It’s amazing how fast the scenery changes while you go through. Similar to Drumheller in Alberta, this area is also a large fossil bed. It is considered to be one of the richest mammal fossil beds in the world.

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There are two stops (one on each end of the loop road) that I would also recommend.

The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site is on the Badlands Loop and is located south of I-90 at exit 131. It closes at 4:30pm so it unfortunately wasn’t open while we passed through. At the site is a underground launch control centre and a missile silo from the cold war. The visitor centre gives you some insight into the cold war period and gives information about what the missile sites were really like as opposed to what you see in the movies.

You can see the Missile Silo May 2 – October 31 with no reservations. You can also get a tour of the launch control centre. On Tuesdays and Thursdays they offer short tours in the morning for the first 200 visitors. On Mondays, Wednesdays, Friday and Saturdays you can get a formal tour but you need to make reservations in advance. See the Minuteman Missile website for more information.

You can also get a stamp for your passport book at the visitor centre and they offer a Junior ranger program for kids 7 and up.

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The 2nd stop is located in Wall South Dakota at the West end of the Badlands Loop. It’s pretty hard to miss Wall Drug. There are billboards along the way starting miles away. Offering things like free ice water, homemade doughnuts and 5 cent coffee. By the time we saw our 50th sign, we knew we had to go see what it was. It was pretty much what we had expected. It’s a large building complex that feels like a cross between a flea market and a mom and pop store. This was our last stop of the day.image

They have a lot of souvenir areas, as well as a kids play space, a large western art gallery along the walls of the cafe and half a T-Rex up on the wall that moves and roars a few times an hour. Gordie was not fond of the T-Rex. If you have a kid would might also find it scary, I would suggest taking a look at the map and being very careful going into the back building. We we at the opposite end of the building and it still made Gordie burst into tears. You can find more about Wall Drug at http://walldrug.com

If you missed Mount Rushmore, the Devils Tower,Yellowstone or my tips for taking kids to National Parks/Monuments be sure to check them out too.

Filed Under: travel, US National Parks Tagged With: Road Trips, South Dakota, Traveling with Kids, US National Parks

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

July 1, 2011 by danawyyc 1 Comment

We stopped in at the Mount Rushmore after leaving the Devils Tower. They are relatively close to each other (okay it’s about 2.5 hrs) and neither should require more than half a day each, so together they make a really great travel day. DSC_0262

Passport Stamp: Inside the Visitor Centre.
Accommodations: You can stay at nearby Rapid City, SD. Rapid City seems to have every kind of tourist attraction you could think of, Waterslides, Minigolf, Petting Zoo etc.
Approximate Time: 30 minutes – half a day
Worth the Trip: It is definitely something to see
Jr. Ranger Program: Available in the Visitor Centre (you will need approximately 1 hr to complete it)
Admission: Admission is actually free but you need to pay for parking ($11) which is not covered by any National Park pass. This is good for all year.

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I wasn’t really sure what to expect at Mount Rushmore. I asked my husband along the way whether it was going to seem majestic or kitschy. In the end, it wasn’t either. The view of Mount Rushmore you typically see is in the picture above. That had always given me the impression that it was the mountain. But as you can see in my first picture, it’s actually quite a bit smaller than I had expected. It’s still huge, but it is only carved into a small part of the mountain. So it didn’t seem tacky, but it didn’t have the overwhelming presence that I was expecting either. It is really an amazing feat of human engineering, but I can’t say that I really connected with it. This I suspect was due to, as a Canadian, it just doesn’t represent part of  my history.

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We didn’t spend a long time at Mount Rushmore, we were trying to get to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site and Badlands National Park later that day, so we missed all of the museum areas, walks and kids exploration area. We did stop for lunch and a woman there asked to take Gordie’s picture and then offered to take one of our family for us. I’m glad she did as it ended up being one of the few with all of us in it. Gordie looks a little suspicious 🙂

If we were to go again, I think I would save it for later in the day and get there just before dark. I don’t know if you could get a full appreciate for it without seeing it during the day. But in the evening they do a lighting ceremony which includes a ranger talk, and a film and concludes with the lighting of the sculpture. It starts at 9pm May 8th to August 13th and 8pm August 14 to September 8th.

Stay Tuned for our trip to Badlands National Park. If you missed the Devils Tower, Yellowstone or my tips for taking kids to National Parks/Monuments be sure to check them out too.

Filed Under: travel, US National Parks Tagged With: Road Trips, South Dakota, Traveling with Kids, US National Parks

Devils Tower National Monument

June 28, 2011 by danawyyc Leave a Comment

The Devils Tower of Wyoming is the first US National Monument. It was also our first stop after leaving Yellowstone. It is a natural geological feature – actually the core of a volcano, which became exposed after years of erosion. The Devils Tower is composed of 6 sided columns that are slowly falling apart, creating the boulder field at the base of the tower. This tower was featured in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Yes, it is a real place, no it is not hollow.

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Passport Stamp: Inside the Visitor Centre at the base of the Tower (open mid-spring through fall)
Accommodations: Not at the Monument. But you can stay at nearby Hulett.
Approximate Time: 30 minutes if you’re just stopping to look, 1.5 – 2 hours if you want to walk the 2km path around the tower too. There is a longer path (8km) if you are interested as well.
Worth the Trip: Absolutely. It is a really interesting site. But I probably wouldn’t go again until my kid(s) would be old enough to remember.
Jr. Ranger Program: Available in the Visitor Centre (you will need approximately 1 hr to complete it)

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Setting out on our walk around the tower.

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Can you see Gordie and my husband sitting out on the boulders?

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See? There they are. You can climb a short ways into the boulder field but if you want to get closer or climb the tower (yes you can actually climb the tower) you have to register at the Visitor Centre.

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We saw someone climbing up the tower while we were there. The first people who were recorded to have climbed the tower built a huge ladder to get to the top. Apparently you can still see pieces of it up there, but we weren’t able to identify them.

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After Gordie had climbed up onto the boulder field with his daddy he wanted to climb every boulder he came across (of which there were a lot).

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The area is considered sacred to the natives of the area who tie prayer mats and and other items in the trees.

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White tailed deer, mule deer, rabbits and porcupines live in the area along with many birds. Gordie really enjoyed looking for the chipmunks we saw along the way too. Also, watch for snakes! We ran across the one above (which it turns out is actually just a bull snake).

Stay tuned for Mount Rushmore! And if you missed my series on Yellowstone National Park, you can find it here. You may also want to take a look at my tips about taking your kids to US National Parks/ Monuments.

Filed Under: travel, US National Parks Tagged With: Road Trips, South Dakota, Traveling with Kids, US National Parks

Wildlife in Yellowstone–Yellowstone #6

June 27, 2011 by danawyyc 1 Comment

Yellowstone National Park has the largest concentration of wildlife in the lower 48 states. Wildlife spotting was probably my husband’s favorite part of Yellowstone and it helped keep Gordie amused too while we were driving around the park.

You are probably more likely than not to see wildlife while you are in Yellowstone, even if you are only there for a short time. But remember to keep your distance and do not feed any of the animals. All of the animals in Yellowstone are wild no matter how tame they may seem.

The animals you are most likely to see in Yellowstone are bison.  Although at one point the Yellowstone herd was down to less than 50 bison, the herd in Yellowstone is now of the the largest in the US at  3500. Sometimes they can cause quite the traffic jam as they wander along the road. They can be found all along the Western areas of Yellowstone during June and July but by August you may need to go to the Hayden Valley to see them (between Yellowstone Lake and the Canyon area). Although they do not seem as dangerous as wolves or bears they are responsible for more injuries and even some deaths. It can be sometimes be difficult to keep the legal distance of 25 meters away, but make sure you do not approach or cross in front of them.

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We waited on the path pictured below for 20 minutes waiting for the bison to move away from the edge of the path. Although a few people went by, no one with kids did.

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Bears are a lot less commonly seen while in the park. They tend to be in the North East areas of Yellowstone. If you are interested in seeing a bear, pay attention to the other cars on the road. If there are a lot of cars stopped somewhere (and lots of fancy cameras) someone has probably spotted some unusual wildlife like a bear or a wolf.

We were on our way to a restaurant when we spotted a bear on our last day in the park. My husband got out to see if he could get a picture while Gordie and I waited in the car. Gordie – “Daddy’s looking for bears. I’m not. I’m looking for the restaurant.”

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Elk are plentiful in Yellowstone. They are commonly found in the Northern areas of the park (Mammoth, Tower/Roosevelt).

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Wolves are not seen very often by visitors to the park because they tend not to hang out around populated areas during the summer months. This year was a late, cold spring, so we ended up seeing wolves on three occasions. The first time is pictured below, on the road to the Grand Teton National Park. The guy in the picture is crazy. Although legally, you only have to keep 25 meters away from them, it’s recommended you keep 100 meters away (like the bears).  We also saw one running across a field near the Old Faithful area and far far far away (I saw it through a telescope) we saw two wolves feasting on an elk.

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Although historically mountain goats haven’t lived in the area, they’ve started to colonize the northern rocky areas of the park.

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There is  a lot of other animals that you may see too, including moose, small mammals, numerous birds and even snakes.

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The snake above is actually just a bull snake. Which are harmless, but it looks like a rattlesnake. This is a good strategy for its threats from most other animals, but unfortunately for the snake, looking like a rattlesnake gets you killed by humans.

That’s the end of my series on Yellowstone, but stay tuned for the Devil’s Tower National Monument! Also, if you misssed them be sure to look at my tips on Taking Your Kids to US National Parks, Gordie’s Favorite Things In Yellowstone, Accommodations Things to See Around Old Faithful, Things to See in Other Geothermal Areas, and Other things to See in Yellowstone.

Filed Under: travel, US National Parks Tagged With: Road Trips, Traveling with Kids, US National Parks, Wyoming, Yellowstone

Other things to see in Yellowstone with Kids

June 25, 2011 by danawyyc Leave a Comment

Yellowstone’s most famous features are geothermal in nature But there is a lot more to Yellowstone than just that. Here are a few more areas in Yellowstone (and one just to the south) that you may want to visit.

1. Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River

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Worth the stop – If you’re short time on time it’s not a must see, but it’s definitely a worthwhile sight..
Approximate time – Anywhere from a quick stop to a long walk.

Difficulty of walk – easy – difficult depending on the path
My thoughts – I’d recommend the Artist Point on the South Rim if you’re only going to make one stop. It has the most classic view of the lower falls. If you want a nice view of the canyon itself go to Inspiration Point on the North Rim. I’d also suggest going to the Brink of the Upper Falls (North Rim). It’s not the best photographic opportunity, but you can get up really close to the waterfall and really feel how powerful it is. Gordie found this a little bit scary this year. He woke up having a nightmare about it.

2. The Area Around Tower Roosevelt

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Worth the stop: Even if you just drive through instead of stop it’s worth a trip, but if you’re only in Yellowstone for a day or two and it’s not on your route, you may want to skip itMy thoughts: The Tower/Roosevelt area is in the North East corner of Yellowstone. The around around it is some of the best spots  to see wildlife. We’ve seen bears to the South, and to the East you are very likely to see some elk. The geography is very different from the other areas of Yellowstone (more mountains and forests). There is a part along this roadway at gets to nearly 8000 ft in elevation. I generally think Calgary is pretty high up at around 3400 ft above sea level. There is also some interesting geology to look at, like the Bleached Cliffs pictured above. We had been hoping to see more of this area this year, but the road was closed while we were there.

3. Yellowstone Lake

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Worth the stop: At least a drive by
My thoughts: To be quite honest, we haven’t spent much time at the Yellowstone Lake. We’ve walked along the West Thumb Geyser Basin, driven along the road beside it and eaten at a restaurant beside it. But that’s it. It doesn’t help that, as you can see in the picture above on the right, the lake was still frozen while we were there this year. But if you are interested, you can rest non-motorized boats or small powerboats (with a crew and guide) at Bridge Bay Marina to take out on the lake.

4. Grand Teton National Park/John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway

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Worth the stop: It depends
My thoughts: Included in your entrance fee to Yellowstone, is admission to the National Park areas to the South, the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway and the Grand Teton National Park. It’s a bit of an extra drive, but if you are a national park passport stamp collector, you’ll want to make the trip, because you can get a stamp for both of these national park areas. Sometimes the Parkway Visitor Centre is closed, but we were able to get both at the visitor’s center in the Grand Teton National Park. Also, if you are planning on participating (or rather, your kids) in the Jr. Ranger program, you can earn a badge in the Grand Teton National Park too.

The mountains and lake front in this area is stunning. This year, there was still quite a bit of snow along the way (see the picture above – my husband is 6’3”, that is a lot of snow!) and Jackson Lake was still pretty low in Coulter Bay Village. Other times, it is a pretty vibrant recreation area.

Check out the last instalment – Wildlife of Yellowstone. Also, if you missed them be sure to look at my tips on Taking Your Kids to US National Parks, Gordie’s Favorite Things In Yellowstone, Accommodations and Things to See Around Old Faithful, Things to See in Other Geothermal Areas.

Filed Under: travel, US National Parks Tagged With: Road Trips, Traveling with Kids, US National Parks, Wyoming, Yellowstone

Things to See in Other Geothermal Areas–Yellowstone with Kids

June 22, 2011 by danawyyc Leave a Comment

This is a very dynamic area and things can change very quickly, so don’t be surprised if what you see isn’t quite as I’ve described it. Nonetheless this should give you an idea of what to expect at the many different geothermal walks outside of the Upper Geyser Basin.
Be sure to look at my tips on Taking Your Kids to US National Parks, Gordie’s Favorite Things In Yellowstone, Accommodations, Things to See Around Old Faithful, Other Things to See In Yellowstone and Wildlife of Yellowstone.

1. Norris Geyser Basin

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Worth the stop – It’s a good stop, but you’re not going to see much here that you couldn’t see somewhere else
Approximate time – The Porcelain Basin Area is a fairly short walk, but if you did the Back Basin Area as well it would take over an hour.
Difficulty of walk – Primarily easy but some areas have steep sections.
My thoughts – This is a great area to see some of the different colors that the water can be. The Porcelain Basin Area is can get can get pretty hot on a warm day, but the Back Basin Area is more wooded.

2. Fountain Paint Pots

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Worth the stop – I would highly recommend it
Approximate time – Short (0.8 km round trip)
Difficulty of walk – easy, but there are some steps
My thoughts – I really enjoyed this walk. The mud pots here were my favourite in the park – very active and bubbly. And Clepsydra Geyser erupts almost constantly. We also saw Jet Geyser erupt while we were there.

3. Firehole Lake Drive (one-way enterance in the south)

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-Firehole Canyon Drive ( one-way starting in the north, swimming hole along the drive)

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Worth the stop – Definitely
Approximate time – Both drives are will only take your a short way out of your way
Difficulty of walk – you don’t even have to leave the car if you don’t want to
My thoughts – I would highly recommend taking these two short detours.

4. Mammoth Area

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Worth the stop – You don’t want to miss this area
Approximate time – If you only have a short time you can do a short walk at the lower level of the lower terraces, if you want to do the lower, main and upper terraces, expect it to take a while. Not to mention the Fort Yellowstone area is here as well.
Difficulty of walk – There is an short accessible path and at some times of the year you can drive the upper terrace loop (but it is not an easy drive and not for big vehicles (such as motor homes) the rest has stairs or steep paths along the way
My thoughts – This area is unlike any other. It’s not a particularly dynamic area, but it is gorgeous. The terraces are described as living sculptures. This area does change constantly though with different areas becoming active and inactive. We noticed changes just between our two trips. Apparently, the overall activity and volume of water remain fairly constant despite all this change.

5. Artists Paintpots

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Worth the stop – A great stop but not a must see
Approximate time – Fairly short (1 mile round trip)
Difficulty of walk – generally flat and easy, but there is one very steep section
My thoughts – This is another great spot to see mud pots. They are at the very top of the hill though, so if your party is not up for the climb, go to the Fountain Paint pots instead. The walk includes a wetland meadow making it even prettier than some of the other geothermal areas.

6. Mud Volcano Area

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Worth the stop – I’d give it a pass unless you are in the area looking for something to do
Approximate time – short (1km)
Difficulty of walk – there are some steep sections to get to the top of the loop
My thoughts – This area seems like it would be a lot more fun than it is. Unfortunately the geothermal features are not as dramatic currently as they once were. The Mud Volcano name sake has broken apart and is now just a mud pot. If you do decide to go, most of the interesting features are along the lower levels. Our favorite was the Dragon’s Mouth Spring  where the water growls.Gordie walked away mimicking it.

7. West Thumb Geyser Basin

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8. Midway Geyser Basin – Grand Prismatic Spring – Fairy Falls

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In front of the Grand Prismatic Spring
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View of the Grand Prismatic Spring from a hill along the trail to Fairy Falls
Worth the stop – yes just so you can tell people you stood beside the grand Prismatic Spring
Approximate time – The Midway Geyser Basin is a quick walk (.5miles) but if you really want to get a good view of the Grand Prismatic Spring you need to walk about a mile down the Fairy Falls path and scramble up a small hill. It is definitely worth it though.
Difficulty of walk – The Midway Geyser Basin is an easy walk. The Fairy Falls to the lookout for the Grand Prismatic is along a dirt road (no vehicles allowed) which we managed to push a stroller along.
My thoughts – This is one of the most impressive things in the park in my opinion. Unfortunately the best view of the Grand Prismatic Spring is directly above it. It frequently appears from this angle in books like “Earth from Above” and for good reason – it is truly gorgeous. When you are at the base of the spring you see what is in the top two pictures. Still impressive, but you lose a lot of the blue and green colors. The 3rd picture is taken from the hill along the path to Fairy Falls. The lookout point is not marked on the path, so you have to look at where the Spring is to figure out which hill you need to go up. There is a good chance though that someone else will be up it because it really is a view.
Just a note, if you find the hill make sure you look for the path up instead of scrambling straight up the hill. It’s not a bad climb if you find the path. My husband managed to do it while carrying Gordie last year (14 months old).
Check out the next post in this series – Other Things to See In Yellowstone.

Filed Under: travel, US National Parks Tagged With: Road Trips, Traveling with Kids, US National Parks, Wyoming, Yellowstone

Things to See Near Old Faithful–Yellowstone with Kids

June 21, 2011 by danawyyc 2 Comments

Yellowstone is so big, I’ve split the Things to See into 3 posts. This post covers the Upper Geyser Basin area which includes Old Faithful. This is a very dynamic area and things can change very quickly, so don’t be surprised if what you see isn’t quite as I’ve described it. Nonetheless this should give you an idea of what to expect at the many different walks in the upper Geyser Basin.
Be sure to look at my tips on Taking Your Kids to US National Parks, Gordie’s Favorite Things In Yellowstone, Accommodations, Things to See in Other Geothermal Areas,  Other Things to See In Yellowstone and Wildlife of Yellowstone.

Upper Geyser Basin (around Old Faithful Geyser)

1. Old Faithful Geyser

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Worth the stop – Absolutely. If you have any desire at all to see a large geyser erupt, Old Faithful is a must see.
Approximate time – It erupts every 50-120 minutes for 1.5-5 minutes.
Difficulty of walk – Easy.
My thoughts– When you get to the Old Faithful area first look and see if there is a crowd around the geyser. If there is, go! It will be erupting soon. Old Faithful is such a hit because it is the most frequently erupting large geyser and because it’s eruptions can be generally predicted +/- 10 minutes. So most of the time you don’t even have to wait that long. If you don’t see a crowd, you can go into the Visitor Centre, stores, or hotels and check when the next predicted eruption is. If it’s not for a while, you can take a look at the Visitor Centre, do some shopping, or walk around Geyser Hill. If you are on Geyser Hill when Old Faithful erupts you’ll still get a great view of the eruption.

2. Other predictable geysers

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Worth the stop – Maybe. It depends on when the geysers are predicted to erupt, how long your kids are willing to wait around and the accuracy interval of the geyser you want to see.
Approximate time – The predicted eruption time varies from +/- 30 minutes to +/- 2 hours for the different geysers. The eruptions range from a few minutes to 20 minutes long.
Difficulty of walk – the pathways to most of the predictable geysers are pretty easy. You should be able to take a stroller.
My thoughts – When you enter the Old Faithful Area, stop in at one of the hotels or the visitor centre to see the predicted eruption times. If your kids are not good at waiting, don’t bother. There are lots of other things to see. We saw Castle Geyser Erupt. It erupts for 20 minutes and is a quick trip to get there. I was really happy we waited but we ended up waiting around for about an hour. Thank goodness for Ipods otherwise Gordie wouldn’t have made it. We also went up to the walk towards morning glory pool at the beginning where we would still be able to see it if it went off earlier rather than later.
Predictions – Castle +/- 1 hr, Grand Geyers +/- 2 hrs, Daisy and Riverside +/- 30 minutes.

3. Geyser Hill

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Worth the stop – Absolutely.
Approximate time – Fairly short (2.1 km for the loop)
Difficulty of walk – Primarily easy, although there is a steep section to get from Old Faithful to the hill.
My thoughts– There are a bunch of smaller active geysers on this loop. If you’re lucky you might even see one erupt. But it is still interesting to look at even if you don’t. When we went last year, we saw Beehive erupt and it was one of the highlights of the trip for me.

4. Upper Geyser basin Walk (towards Morning Glory Pool)

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Worth the stop – Definitely. Most of the large, predictable Geysers in Yellowstone are along this walk.
Approximate time – If you go all the way to the Morning Glory pool it’s pretty long (4.4km round trip) But you could easily stop at many points along the way and turn around.
Difficulty of walk – Easy
My thoughts – This is one of the parts of the park that I wish we had spent more time at. Next time I want to go all the way up to the Morning Glory Pool. This trip we only went as far as Grand Geyser. We saw a bluebird, an otter and two marmots in addition to all the interesting pools and geysers.

5. Biscuit Basin

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Worth the stop – Not a bad stop, but you’re not missing much if you pass it by
Approximate time – fairly short walk (1km)
Difficulty of walk – easy
My thoughts– This has some pretty pools and jewel geyser is entertaining as it erupts every 7-10 minutes.

6. Black Sand Basin
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Worth the stop – Yes
Approximate time – fairly short walk (1km)
Difficulty of walk – easy
My thoughts – To the west of the Old Faithful area – the pools here are beautiful and Cliff Geyser erupts every 10 minutes – it seems different every time too. I was pleasantly surprised by this area.
Take a look at the next post in this series – Things to See in Other Geothermal Areas.

Filed Under: travel, US National Parks Tagged With: Road Trips, Traveling with Kids, US National Parks, Wyoming, Yellowstone

Accommodations–Yellowstone with Kids #2

June 20, 2011 by danawyyc Leave a Comment

I had heard about Yellowstone growing up, but was surprised to find out how (relatively) close it is to Calgary. Although you could get there in one (long) day, we haven chosen to stay in Great Falls overnight both times we’ve gone. We went for the first time last year when Gordie was just over a year and enjoyed it so much that we went again this year.
I’m definitely not an authority on Yellowstone, we were only there for a few days both times. What I’ve written is more what I would say to a friend over coffee before she took her kids to Yellowstone.
Be sure to look at my tips on Taking Your Kids to US National Parks, Gordie’s Favorite Things In Yellowstone, Things to See Around Old Faithful, Things to See in Other Geothermal Areas,  Other Things to See In Yellowstone and Wildlife of Yellowstone.

Accommodations

The first time we went to Yellowstone we stayed in a hotel in West Yellowstone. It ended up taking a long time to get back into the park because in addition to the actual distance, bison like the area and wander across the road (and along the road) and people blocked the road as they stopped to take pictures.
So for our trip this year we looked into getting lodging inside the park itself. We found out that you need to book in advance, even when we were booking in December for our trip in Juimage_thumb1[1]ne, it wasn’t easy to find 3 consecutive nights. Although I would stay inside the park again, I wouldn’t stay at the same place all three (or whatever) nights. Yellowstone has a few lodging areas and if we were staying for 3 nights, I would stay at 3 different places in the park. It would be a bit of a pain to pack up every day, but then you don’t have to spend so much of your time just driving back and forth.
Staying inside the park is not going to be for everyone though. The rooms are surprisingly well priced as the rates are price controlled, but may lack some of the amenities you would like. The cabins and lodges do not have radios, TVs, air conditioning or internet. Not all rooms (even in the lodges) have their own bathroom and those that do will typically have a shower but no bathtub.

We didn’t spend a lot of time in the cabin, we were out early and came back late and Gordie had his afternoon nap in the car. So it was really all we needed.
We stayed in a cabin by the Old Faithful Lodge that did have a bathroom. These cabins are small and a little austere. The picture you see of the outside of the cabin is misleading as each cabin is a duplex with two units inside it. In the picture I took of the inside of the cabin I am standing in the doorway. There is a small desk to the right with image_thumb41a kitchen chair, and to the left is the bathroom and the sink. There is a small heater, but it was still cold enough the first night that we didn’t think Gordie would be warm if we set blankets up on the floor for him to sleep on. I expect the cabins get pretty hot in the summer and there is only a small fan in the room.
If you are planning on staying in a cabin with kids you really want to think about your sleeping arrangements. The one bedroom (with a bathroom) cabins have only a queen bed (and not a generous one at that) although there would be room to set up an air mattress or cot or two on the floor. The hotel will supply playpen cribs for children under 2 years old. Gordie ended up sleeping between us on the bed, but if he was any older this wouldn’t have been a functional solution. There are cabins with two beds, but you have to share a communal bathroom.

Gordie struggled to fall asleep in the cabin (in part because we kept him out too late 🙂 because there is just no way to give him any distance from us to let him fall asleep on his own – without leaving him by himself. There is only one chair and the room is so small you just can’t help but be right there in front of him.

Overall though I’d really recommend staying in the park if you are planning a trip in advance. The lodgings are reasonably priced, it cuts out a lot of time in the car and you don’t want to spend a lot of time in your room when there is so much to see in the park anyway.

Updated to add: This year – 2012 (although I said I wouldn’t) we ended up staying in a cabin for 4 nights at the Canyon area. These cabins were more expensive, but were nicer, had 2 queens and a full bathroom (and a coffee maker that took k-cups!). I had thought the location would feel out of the way but it actually provided good access to the whole park. If you are planning on staying for a few days and exploring the park, it’s a great location.
Check out the next post in the series – Things to See Around Old Faithful.

Filed Under: travel, US National Parks Tagged With: Road Trips, Traveling with Kids, US National Parks, Wyoming, Yellowstone

Traveling to US National Parks with Kids

June 13, 2011 by danawyyc 3 Comments

My husband and I took our son Gordie (2 years old) on an 9-day driving trip from Calgary in early June to see Yellowstone National Park, Devil’s Tower National Monument, Mount Rushmore National Monument, the Badlands National Park, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument and Deadwood National Historic Landmark.

Last year we took him to Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks in late June. I love history and am fascinated by interesting geology so the US national parks have natural appeal for me. I’m going to blog about the different areas we visited this year in future posts but I thought I’d write about some overall thoughts first.

Although the mandates of the Canadian and US National parks are quite similar, from my experience, the US national park service puts more of a focus on making the enjoyment of the national parks accessible for everyone.

1. Passport Book

My first suggestion if you’re planning on visiting a few National Parks/Monuments on this trip or in the future is to get a Passport Book. They are inexpensive (around $10US) and you can collect free ink stamps with the date and location at all the National Park visitor centres. Most places also have a unique stamp for the park (see picture below). You can also purchase them at the visitor centres, so you don’t need to get one ahead of time unless you want to. They also have a place for stickers that you can purchase with a picture of the park or monument.

We ended up getting one at the end of our last trip because I didn’t really figure out what it was at first. This year we managed to nearly fill up the Rocky Mountain section and so decided to purchase the Passport Explorer Binder at the end of this trip. It is $50US but you can take out or add pages to the different sections. Since we may end up visiting quite a number of National Parks and Monuments in the Rocky Mountain area over the next few years, we decided to pick it up.

image  imageimage

2. Visitor Centres

Each park and monument has a visitor centre (or more than one in the case of larger parks like Yellowstone) where you can get information, maps guides, get your passport stamp, sign up for the Jr Ranger program, see educational exhibits as well as purchase souvenirs at the park association store. At most of these store you can buy a membership to the association (for around $30). The parks all have different associations, but if you buy a membership for one, you can use your discount of $10-15% at most of the other association stores.

3. Jr. Ranger Program

Many of the National Parks and Monuments offer the Jr. Ranger Program. In this program, kids learn about science, history, art and nature through completing a series of activities and sharing their answers witimageh the Ranger. The goal is to help kids better appreciate what they are seeing by having material that helps them interact with it at their own level. The kids receive a booklet to complete with different levels required of kids of different ages. Upon completion the kids receive a patch or badge and a Jr. Ranger certificate. I’m am ridiculously excited for Gordie to be old enough to do this but it is only for ages 5-12. Although they will sometimes be lenient for a 4 year old with older siblings. Ultimately though they wants the kids to be able to understand the Jr Ranger oath to protect the area and plants and animals within it and do no harm and as well as the activities themselves.

4. National Park Passes

Most areas will require you to purchase a park pass which costs $10-$25 and is good for a week. You can also purchase an annual pass for $80. There are some areas (such as Mount Rushmore) where a separate organization owns the parking area so you still need to pay for parking even if you have a pass. It’s a good idea to price this out before your trip and consider where you may go over the rest of the year. I was surprised to find that even though we went to 2 national parks and 3 national monuments it was actually cheaper for us to not get the park pass this year.

5. Always Make Sure the Route you are Planning is Passable

Many of the parks are in very unique geographic areas and can have road conditions quite different from the surrounding area. The Going to the Sun Road in Glacier as well as many of the routes in Yellowstone aimagere closed over the winter. The time of year at which they open can vary depending on the weather. It is easy to think that you wouldn’t need to check the road conditions once you have hit June, however we were surprised to find the Road out of Yellowstone through Cody Wyoming was closed due to a slide and we had to amend our route when we got there (significant detour north into montana instead of travelling across WY). I wouldn’t travel to Yellowstone or Glacier again at any time of year without first checking the road conditions.

 

6. Accomodations

Some of the parks such as Yellowstone and Glacier have cabins and lodges that you can stay at inside the park. imageWe had assumed that these would be frightfully expensive but they are price controlled so at least in some cases they are actually cheaper than the hotels outside the park. This does mean that they are not going to be as plush as they might be otherwise though. We stayed at a cabin this year and it was quite small. It had a heater and a small fan, but it would probably be quite hot in the heat and cold in the cold. It did have its own bathroom with a shower but not all the cabins or even all the rooms at the lodge do. Because we did opt for our own bathroom we only had one bed and it was not a generous queen. Which made sleeping a little squishy. They do have cribs that you can get for kids under 2 though.

It is also good to note that they fill up quickly so if you do want to stay inside the park, book ahead. It was challenging to find three days together in Yellowstone when we were booking in December. That being said if you are in a large park like Yellowstone, consider staying in different areas of the park on different nights to make it easier to access different parks of the park. We’re definitely going to try to do that next time we’re in Yellowstone.

7. Read up on the area Before Going – Lots of Hidden Gems

This is one of the things that we had done well last trip, but fell short on this trip. Look around at the tourism websites for the area you are going as well as the national park website to find out about things you may want to see that aren’t quite as famous as Yellowstone or Mount Rushmore. Last year we found out about the ringing rocks of Montana which is a type of rock formation that they have only found in 5 places in the world which sound like a bell when you hit them with a hammer. This year, we ended up missing the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site because it was closed by the time we got there. We hadn’t planned on going to it or Badlands National Park, but they ended up being a lot closer to Rushmore and Devil’s Tower than we had realized when we were planning our trip.

Filed Under: travel, US National Parks Tagged With: Road Trips, Traveling with Kids, U, US National Parks

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I'm an experiential playground expert and mom to three young kids. I live with my husband in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. When I'm not looking after people, I'm reading all the YA fiction I can get my hands on and am attempting to learn photography. My laundry-folding suffers due to more interesting pursuits.

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