Hello, life has been very busy lately, July has ramped up in visitation and we are all feeling the heat! However, having my family visit was the exact recharge I needed to get back on my feet. My parents spent a week at my place, and my brother Jacob and his girlfriend Emily were able to come through for a few days in that timeframe! It was an awesome mix of having the whole family together, plus this new exciting age of including significant others, and some nice 1:1 time with my parents.

Jacob and Emily had some flight complications, so we ended up having 3 full days together instead of 4, but we made the most of every moment! Luckily their visit overlapped with my days off, so Day 1 I took the family to all the classic touristy spots in Yellowstone: Grand Prismatic Overlook, Brink of the Lower Falls & the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and Lamar Valley. My brother and I couldn’t be more different in our interests, desired places to live and career paths, but it was so special to me that he still blocked time out to visit and had a blast!

We had pretty good luck with seeing wildlife considering it was July, and it was fun to hear my parent’s stories and recollections from our visit the year prior, during the flood to move me in, compared to July 2023. We saw tons of bison in massive herds out in Lamar Valley, Jacob and Emily got to see some bison up close and were astonished by the sheer size of these animals. We also saw: Elk, Deer, Bighorn sheep and a Mama Grizzly with 3 cubs.

That evening, I took the family back to my place and we had homemade pizzas for dinner, then my dad and I went to watch an evening eruption of Old Faithful!

The second day I convinced my brother to let me take him on a 6 mile roundtrip hike to Mt Washburn for gorgeous 360 views of the park. I knew it wouldn’t be hard to convince my parents, but I was so impressed with how well Jacob and Emily did, plus it was so much fun! I was able to bring Michael along on this hike which was an added bonus, but we still were missing Sarah. On our way up to the hike, we stopped at Fountain Paint Pots and got to see all 4 thermal features we have in the park, I think Jacob is really into geysers now!

We definitely had some fun with the snow, getting into a mini snowball fight, and the hike was well worth the views at the top. We saw a big grouping of bighorn sheep mamas and babies, as well as a Mama Grizzly and three cubs on a neighboring hill as we descended the hike. This was the best part, since last year my family did not get to see any bears in the park, and seeing a bear is possible but difficult depending on the season and considering our / the animal’s safety. This bear was a little distant, but still visible enough to check it off the list for everyone!

After a tough hike, we went out the North Entrance, saw the Roosevelt Arch and got to soak in some natural hot springs nearby which was a new experience for us all. We then had dinner at a local place in Gardiner, MT called Wonderland.

Unfortunately, that concluded Jacob and Emily’s portion of the trip, it was a blast but super short. However, I continued to get my folks to myself for a few extra days, which was really fun. I sent them on some nice hikes and even got to give them a tour of the Geyser Basin in full uniform, a special experience. I was able to interpret Michael’s Geyser Galore talk for them, we watched Old Faithful together and learned all about geysers thanks to me and all the knowledge I have obtained since working at Old Faithful.

Since this is more likely going to be my final summer at Old Faithful, having the family make time to come see me and share in the wonders of this park is a memory I’ll cherish forever. And to be completely honest, it was pretty nice to come home to a home cooked meal, clean laundry and a clean house every day, thanks mom and dad! 😉

Over my weekend, I had to go down to the best national park, Grand Teton, and do Surprise, Ampitheater and Delta Lakes! This was a doozy of a hike with 15 miles and 3,500 gain but we got to see some cool backcountry alpine lakes! We had quite the crew turnout: Me, Michael, Colin, Jessie (visiting from Big Bend!), Anna, Leighann & two of her pals visiting from home. It was a long but gorgeous day, we got to see several mule deer on the trail and a bunch of adorable pika. It was a very hard hike day but always fun to explore on another day off and enjoy it with friends!