One of the memorable places to visit & it will stay forever in my life. And, the journey started from San Ramon. We started our journey on Thursday after our lunch as the next day was Holiday here in the US, followed by another holiday on Monday in September 2018. So, from our busy schedule, we took a break from our daily stress & exposed ourselves in the world of nature. I was super excited as I never had a long road journey before this trip. As per our buddy’s plan, the estimated total time to reach Yellowstone from San Ramon, California, would be nearly 19 hours on the road that excluding any stopover.
So, we decided to take a halt on day one at Nevada close to a city called Twin Falls. However, the motel was outside of the town & it was just beside the highway. So, we didn’t have to waste any significant time to reach our resting place during this leg. But, we had to finish our lunch at Reno, Nevada, due to long weekend traffic that caused the delay.
So, we spent a quick one and a half hours at Reno. I was already familiar with this place due to my visit here a few months back for one of my friend’s wedding. After our dinner, we started again.
The landscape started to change as soon as it crossed Reno. The above picture showed the starting of our first-day final leg journey. It took almost 6 hours to reach our first stop at midnight.
We reached, but nobody was there in the reception areas. So, my buddy called the hotel staff. And, ten minutes later, one person came & handed over the room keys to us. As we were already exhausted, we went to our room, took a shower & then went to bed. We wake up at 6 AM local time & prepared ourselves within 7 AM. Then we went to the Hotel lobby & took our morning breakfast. My buddy took some tea in his thermoflask bottle. In our car, we had a few paper cups. And we started from there.
I was looking at the landscapes & went to some illusional place. At last, we reached Wyoming. Again, we’ve seen a different view. Surrounded by hills, farmers grew their crops, which added a beautiful glowing yellow layer in it.
Finally, we reached Yellowstone after 7 hours. At last, our day two final leg came to an end. It was time for exploration. But, before that, we had to do one more task.
We had some traditional outstanding breakfast that includes sandwiches, egg poach & french fries & fresh bacon. And, on top of that, we had some strong, locally brewed coffee. It was delicious!
We decided to get the room keys first & put our few belongings into our room & then we would start our Yellowstone journey. So, we did our check-out in the hotel. My buddy decided to fresh while I was exploring the authentic mid-west hotel.
It looked like the design & look of the hotel was directly came out of a “Wild Wild West” movie. That adds another flavor to our journey.
Almost every night – we had a pleasant leisure time sitting with a cup of coffee & other beverages.
The hotel downstairs also had some gift shop as this hotel itself quite old & it has its history in that area. I bought a few items from this shop as well.
After a gap of half an hour, we started driving towards Yellowstone as the hotel was near to one of the main entrance of Yellowstone National Park. We took the main one-lane road surrounded by trees & hills. Next two days, we visited almost all corners of the Yellowstone. The first memorable place that caught my attention was Mammoth Hot Spring & it’s surrounding areas.The above picture took my breath away. It is not Ice. Probably, it is Sulfur composite – I guess. The next one was the Grand Prismatic Spring, which is the living example of how nature can be dangerous & yet so beautiful in creation. For the best view, we trekked to a separate hill, where one can see the entire spring from a far distance. They created a wooden platform surrounded by all these springs. People needed to walk on top of it. Rests of the place were highly unstable & acidic. I had a telephoto lens. So, I couldn’t resist the idea of taking a zoom & tried to capture some of these people on that wooden platform.We decided to view it from close. So, we went to that place. It felt like one was walking through the heavenly atmosphere touching their soul after crossing the adjacent river through a wooden footbridge.Once we crossed the above river, we encountered with this gorgeous boiling & colorful place –Please share your view regarding this particular site. I would like to hear from you, as well.The next beautiful place inside the Yellowstone was Lamar Valley. We had seen many majestic animals. I felt that the time has stopped over there. And, the animals were ruling the entire valley on their terms—some of the snaps posted here.
Apart from that, many such mesmerizing places that we visited. One such site, which looked like a big bowl of boiling water. It had a strong sulfur smell.
One more place I have to mention where it welcomed us with a mystic door. It was relatively less known for may. But, I felt the presence & as a photographer, I took this picture that would associate with me as long as I live.
Besides the forest, Yellowstone offered us some of the gorgeous waterfalls. And it was not so easy to view them. We had to climbed-down to a couple of hundred of miters to see those stunning waterfalls. But, the challenge was to climbed-up with your photographic gears. Here are a few of my snaps of waterfalls –
The left side was the upper falls, whereas the below picture represents lower falls. I was surprised to see the force of water at this place. It was flowing down through this valley. And, the sound of the waterfalls was extreme, that you could hear even a loud shouting by a person beside you.
Beside it, we went to Old Faithful. It was perhaps nature’s one of the brilliant creations with precision. In this place, we’ve witnessed hot springs spewing hot steamy air after a specified interval. How it happens & why it happens perhaps one of the bigger mystery. People were so excited that even they didn’t care much about the heat. All they cared about was to capture some of the rarest moments.
The above pictures still refresh my memory. These are kind of experience that you wouldn’t want to miss. It will live with me forever.
Many visitors like us waited to view that remarkable phenomenon. It was an electrifying atmosphere to capture a glimpse of such events in their own eyes. Of course, people like me waited eagerly to capture some of the moments through their lenses as well.
Another place that we visited was the Morning Glory Pool. It was another gem & might feel like a little replica of Grand Prismatic Hotspring.
The love shape was the main reason for all the couples to pose one of their best shot for their social media account – I guess. After spending over three days & two nights, we left the Yellowstone & started for another mesmerizing journey to Grand Teton.
I will post that in my next blog. Let me know – what do you think about this one?
I’ll be eagerly waiting for your comments & feedback.
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