Yellowstone: A Glimpse of the Earth's Soul

“Yellowstone is the place where the center of the earth finds an exit and gives us a glimpse of its soul.” ~ Anne Coe

An important part of the story of this road trip is that, over the course of many years, my family went on some version of it before. Many summers were spent packed in the back of a minivan driving across the barren wastes of eastern Kansas or Nebraska to get to some national park featuring calcite formations or sulfur pots or what have you. My sisters and cousins and I were not always the most enthusiastic viewers of calcite formations.

And yet, here I am, a couple of decades later, dragging one of my own loved ones to all the calcite formations and sulfur pots.

Yellowstone has a special place in my memory from past visits, and our two days here anchored Yellowstone in my mind as the gem of the national park system. There’s not much I can say that pictures won’t convey better, so below are some of my favorites.

(The only thing I’ll add is that camping in the Airstream at the Madison Campground in the park proper was a really excellent way to see everything. Significantly cut down on repeated travel time, and gave us the chance to build a toasty fire and chat up our neighbor campers, including a West Virginia couple on the way to their daughter’s wedding in Portland, and a birdwatcher visiting from Uttar Pradesh, India. The world is big or small, or maybe both.)