The museum chartered a bus and took the honorees, family, friends, and guests on a guided tour of Yellowstone National Park. This was my first trip to Yellowstone (also my first trip to Montana and Wyoming) and the weather could not have been more perfect.

We stopped Mammouth Hot Springs first. The landscape was almost moon-like

We saw a Bison from the bus, and later big-horn sheep, elk, and ravens. We did not see a (live) bear (and did not rent any bear spray).

My favorite stop of the day was the Norris Geyser Basin, which featured a boardwalk around a huge basin full of gurgling, bubbling steaming geysers with brighly colored pools of water and sediment. It was a full sensory experience: you could see, hear, smell, and almost taste the geysers.

Our next stop was Artist Point, for beautiful views of a waterfall and canyon.

It was interesting to see and hear about all the different types of rock formations in Yellowstone. We also enjoyed making friends with everyone on our tour. At the end our tour guide suggested we take a group photo on the big “frog rock.” I think she expected us to climb on the rock, but our group wasn’t particularly into climbing so we all ended up in front of the rock.