Yellowstone National Park
September 1995

Our first real vacation after our honeymoon came a full five years later when we traveled to Yellowstone National Park with Jeanne's parents. We dropped Matthew off at my dad's (for ten days!) and flew off to Denver. From there (after visiting with Jeanne's aunt and uncle), we drove up through Wyoming to Yellowstone.

This was the first time I'd ever been out West, and I really enjoyed the scenery. I wouldn't say the Rockies are more beautiful than the Appalachians, but their granite profiles are certainly more arresting. The general lack of greenery was a little distracting at times, but I loved the rock formations.

The park itself was more than I expected; really the first of several vacations that exceeded my expectations. I've heard many people complain that Yellowstone is too crowded, but we had the good fortune (and sense) to visit out of season. The weather was a little nippy, but everything was still open and there weren't sizeable crowds anywhere.

The scenery was incredible, but the wildlife is what I'll always think of when I recall Yellowstone. At that time of the year (early September), the buffalo are just about everywhere. We also saw elk, mule deer, coyotes, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, and lots of eagles. About the only thing we didn't get to see were bears, which was, quite frankly, fine with me.

Yellowstone Pictures (click the thumbnails to view the enlarged photo)