{"id":3962,"date":"2013-08-08T06:57:37","date_gmt":"2013-08-08T13:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wanderlustforone.com\/?p=3962"},"modified":"2024-07-21T05:00:13","modified_gmt":"2024-07-21T09:00:13","slug":"yellowstone-national-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wanderlustforone.com\/staging\/3560\/destinations\/yellowstone-national-park\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Favorite Memories of Yellowstone National Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I\u00a0can’t even begin to accurately describe the experience of visiting Yellowstone National Park<\/strong> for the first time. It was years ago, and I was a\u00a0green solo traveler from the East Coast who was inexperienced\u00a0with nature on such a grand scale.<\/p>\n

The sensations you experience in Yellowstone tend to extremes:<\/strong>\u00a0Excitement. Fear. Awe. Wonder. The landscape is just so big and beautiful you can\u2019t really help it. On the way in to Yellowstone, I oohed<\/em> and aahed<\/em> and was struck dumb into speechless silence as I\u00a0struggled to grasp the enormity and desolation of the landscape.\u00a0Wyoming will do that you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although I was only passing through Yellowstone on my very first cross-country road trip<\/a> and stayed in the park for fewer\u00a0than 24 hours, some of my memories of the experience remain as fresh and as sharp as they did in the moment.<\/p>\n

Stalling My Car<\/h2>\n

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I sucked at driving a stick shift, but I was so excited to add Yellowstone to my \u201cNational Parks I\u2019ve Seen\u201d list that I forgot how to shift\u00a0and stalled it at the entrance to the park. There\u2019s little more embarrassing than waiting in a long line of visitors and trying to restart your engine while the cars behind you honk for you to get out of the way. A fail of epic proportions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Geothermal Pools<\/h2>\n

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Some spots in Yellowstone stink. Literally<\/em>. I\u2019d heard some of the geothermal pools were interesting to look at–so many colors!\u00a0I hadn\u2019t realized they\u2019d smell so bad.\u00a0I was also mistaken that\u00a0they were the kind of pools you could take a soak in. Nope.<\/em><\/p>\n

Gray Wolves Howling<\/h2>\n
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You might be scared too if you were sleeping in a tent this small…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was afraid to sleep in case the\u00a0wolves decided to come after me, being the plump, juicy tidbit I am. So I stayed awake most of the night and just listened. I heard\u00a0the wolves and the hush of the trees and the night. Not a bad spot for a bit of insomnia.<\/p>\n

Seeing Old Faithful\u00a0Erupt<\/h2>\n

\"Old<\/p>\n

Still old but not as faithful as in the past, Old Faithful still erupts on a relatively regular schedule. I was so anxious I\u2019d miss a picture of the moment of eruption that I took more than\u00a0100 photos\u00a0of the geyser before, during, and after the eruption.<\/p>\n

Seeing Bison Up Close<\/h2>\n