Yellowstone Road Trip

Long Ass Drive

The drive from Portland to Yellowstone was not something anyone should look forward to. The trip started with a long morning of trying to get all of our stuff together that we had forgotten to get the days before. As we left the city I was excited for the chance to see one of the greatest parks in the world. Then I realized just how long I would be sitting in a car, sadness. At this point in my life I had just gotten my license recently so I made it clear to my parents that I was going to do all the driving, big mistake.

Driving into Boise the first night was an interesting experience. It was dark and the roads were pretty much empty. Just as we got into the city it seemed as though there were hurricane force winds and I really struggled to keep our SUV in one lane. Finally we got to the hotel and I had a chance to breath and release my death grip of the wheel.

We started the morning early packing all of our things and getting back on the road. By the afternoon I was getting tired just because of the boring scenery I had to look at. At this point I began to fall asleep while driving.

One of the worst experiences I had was falling asleep then waking up not knowing how long I was out and trying to figure out how I didn't crash. A few minutes later my dad asked if I wanted him to take over but being me I said hell no I'm fine. Falling asleep of and on went on for about an hour until I finally decided to pull over and let my dad drive. I know now that I was a complete idiot for trying to sleep and drive.

Hell Pays Off

Finally we reached our hotel just outside of Yellowstone on the second night. We were just minutes away from seeing amazing sites but that would have to wait for the morning. The next morning I woke up ready to go exploring. As we entered the park it was clear that it was going to be busy. The road through Yellowstone is basically a giant loop that takes you around the park. The wilderness you drive through is amazing.

Soon we started to see animals. Buffalo are everywhere. When you see one there is usually about 200 more over the next hill. He ran into a few large groups along the circle. We also saw a lot of the common animals and even some bears. We were able to get out a lot and explore different areas off the beaten path and some of the sights were amazing.

 Next we stopped to see Old Faithful which is definitely something you need to see in person. Unfortunately for us there was a section of road being repaved so it was just gravel. As I was driving along the car in front of his shot a rock right into our window and lodge itself there, thankfully it didn't crack the hole window. Towards the end of the loop we could see where a forest fire had burned a lot of the forest, the change was like night and day.

A few days later we began the boring and long drive home. This time we decided to take a route through Washington on our way home. As we crossed into Oregon we hit a bump and the tiny crack from the rock quickly spread across the entire window, great way to end the trip.

Yellowstone is a must see for everyone before you die. The Forest's and landscape are amazing. The animals are really cool to watch, you have not lived until you see a full grown buffalo swim across a river like no big deal. All the driving was defiantly worth it and I would definitely do it again. This long ass drive was a great success.