I was checking out the Yellowstone National Park website and came across some fun activities for kids. You can also watch the webcam that's on Old Faithful. Here's a link for the kids activities (we signed up as web rangers) http://www.nps.gov/yell/forkids/index.htm There's also a link for parents and teachers.... but I haven't checked them out yet. So far this has been an awesome site and my kids are loving it. (we are making up a lapbook on Yellowstone .... so when we visit there this summer they'll be prepared)
I have been so busy since we started back from Christmas break that I have had little time to respond to posts but this one caught my eye. WE LIVE IN YELLOWSTONE!! If you want me to send you anything from here or you have any questions for your lap book or your trip, let me know. It is a great place to bring kids.
Hi Aggie! I live in SE Idaho but I haven't been to Yellowstone since I was little (it's been a few years LOL) Can you tell me the best hotel to stay (that's mid to low price) and when is it the best time to visit during the spring, summer or fall time? Kristina
It's my understanding that all the National Parks have junior ranger programs online - could be very worth checking out. Yellowstone is on my son's to-do list, so we are planning to go there on our way south next summer/fall. I haven't been there since I was a kid, so I'm excited!!
I wish I had seen this before our trip last fall. We had an amazing time anyway and both kids got sworn in as junior rangers. Yellowstone is glorious. Thanks for the link.
In addition to the Junior Ranger Program, Yellowstone started a Junior Scientist Program last summer. We have not done it yet but sounds really cool. Kristina, I only know about Gardiner as far as hotels go. We live in Mammoth Hot Springs. Go to Yellowstone.net forum. Those people are Yellowstone fanatics and they can tell you about lodging. I know Super 8 in Gardiner is reasonable and has an indoor pool and breakfast. In park lodging can be high and fills up fast (probably close to booked for this summer). I think alot of people base out of West Yellowstone or Gardiner and drive in ($25.00 for 7 days). West Yellowstone has an Imax and a Bear and Wolf Discovery Center. Gardiner has rafting but few other attractions. As far as time of year, in the spring (May - June) there are lots of babies, the weather is generally good and few people. By Memorial Day weekend most of the park roads are open. Spring is the best time to see bears. Summer is hot and several hundred thousand people make it a little crazy. End of July through Mid August are the busiest. Fall colors are beautiful but some of the roads and ammenities close in early to mid September. Elk rut is from early September to early October. In Mammoth, the bull elk are everywhere. Hope this helps, Judi
Thanks Judi. All that info is really helpful. Next time we will plan a spring trip, the kids really want to see the bears if we can. How long do you think you will be living there?
I have been to Yellowstone many times. The last time was about 9 years ago. We stayed in West Yellowstone Montana and loved it! I can not remember the name of our hotel but it had an indoor heated pool and hot tub. Also do not miss the bear and wolf preserve in West Yellowstone. And the museum there. Those were two of my favorite places. Also Old Faithful is really nice and you have to tour the hotel there. We had lunch there once. I can not wait until dh will take enough time off work so we can go!
another place to take the jet. Do they have a landing pad.. we can just enroll all the kids from the spot in the program at the same time.
We have been here 9 months so this is our first winter. Being a Texas girl, this is a bit of a shock. -12 this morning, but we are blazing toward a high of 12 this afternoon.
Last time I was there was the end of October of 98 I think. I got to talking to the lady at the museum in West Yellowstone about temps there and in Texas. I told her it is nothing for us to have lots of days over 100 degrees and she told me that in winter it isn't uncommon for them to have temps of -30. She said that being on the west side of the mountain range they get the brunt of the frigid temps. Now that's cold!!!
Thanks Judi! I think that we'll try to plan for spring time but it sounds like we'll need to plan going during each season ;-)
I almost forgot to add that I got a National Geographics dvd on Yellowstone from the library yesterday. I'm gonna watch it later.
Thanks for the link. I don't know why I never thought to look at the park website before our last juant up there. Our last trip through was just a day trip so we didn't get to spend much time on anything. But it was the first time the boys remember seeing Old Faithful and it really impressed them. My oldest had been there before, but he was only 2 at the time. We got a national parks pass this year and will be going to Yellowstone and Teton often, and hopefully make it to a few other parks too.
We seem to go to Yellowstone about every five years or so, I saw my first Moose there it was a young one and it actually walked through our camp site! We had the camper then so it was really cool! That was my first vacation with hubby too, and my first time of pulling my ankle out of the socket! Wee! We were going to the big waterfall and I looked up at a sign as dh read it and managed to step my foot into a pot hole on the trail.. fortunately there were two hikers coming down the trail and dh and the two of them managed to get me up top to our truck, then they took me to the little emergency fix me uper place haha. They gave us ice and a wrap that got us to SD! My kids loved it when they were there last we actually camped in a spot with a bear siting, but all we got to see up close were the deer moose and of course the tons of Bison! we love to camp there, I never thought of staying in a hotel there though?
We did that this morning.... got home and went to watch the DVDs and the librarian had forgotten to put the movies in the cases... LOL luckily we also got some VHS tapes so we're watching those today and we'll have to make another trip to pick the DVDs up. (I just started laughing when we opened up the cases)
I was thinking about getting the parks pass this year..... not sure how much we'll use it though. (I'm hoping for lots of camping though)
