Day 18 - Thermal Heat

As usual, we were reluctant to leave. We had barely scratched the surface of the area to explore in the Tetons, but I was so psyched to get to Yellowstone! We actually drove up through the park to get to our next campground in West Yellowstone, Montana. The drive was shorter than we expected, so we tried to stop in the Old Faithful area for lunch, as it was too early for us to check in at the campground. It was completely packed! There was no place for us to park while hauling the camper, so Don left us in the bus unloading spots and ran into a store to buy some sandwiches. We got back on the road in search of a picnic area.

Resident Yellowstone greeter - Photo by Mom

It took us a few tries to find a place that could accommodate the trailers, but we finally found room at the Firehole River picnic area.

Bernie enjoyed the stroll by the river.

We can never resist the water. This was nice and warm - heated by geysers up river. Photo by Linda

Then it was out of the park through the West Entrance to get to West Yellowstone.

The West Yellowstone KOA was nice enough. Our "deluxe" site was near the back of the park, so it was relatively quiet. The site had a paved area for the picnic table and a porch swing that the kids loved. Don, the kids, and I went back into town for groceries. The problem with living out of a trailer is that you have very limited storage space, especially in the refrigerator. You have to shop every couple of days and you can't buy milk until the last one is all gone. By the time we got back, it was pretty late, so we had a quick hot dog dinner with mac & cheese (it's the kids' favorite anyway.) It was nice to eat outside for a change - it wasn't too hot, too crowded, too buggy, or too anything else. I went to bed very excited to head into Yellowstone in the morning!