Yellowstone National Park, Montana

America is unequivocally the most wondrous land of natural beauty. Our trip to Montana and specifically, Yellowstone National Park did not disappoint a bit. Of course, we only got to see a very very tiny portion of the park on the Montana side. But we were left in fascinated awe of its diverse and gorgeous beauty. 

First let me say (on account of enormous rush and crowds) what we did not see and the sites that are on my bucket list, the Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic Spring, Mammoth hot springs, Snake River and more. None of the disappointments took away from the amazing sites we did see.

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Norris Geyser Basin is the hottest, oldest and most dynamic of Yellowstone thermal areas. It is also the most acidic.  The Porcelain Basin was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. Devoid of trees, it provides unique sensory experience of sound, color and sulphuric smell. Back Basin was more heavily wooded. Gibbon falls on the Gibbon river, gently drop down 84 feet. All throughout we saw a variety of geysers, springs, vents and mudpots and saw steam rising from thermal waters below. In some places, we got sprayed by the sulphuric waters.  

I have always loved caves and naturally air conditioned caverns. The Lewis and Clark limestone caverns are spectacularly lined with stalactites, stalagmites and helictites and it was a beautiful walk to the entrance on a trail that provided some of the most amazing views of the surrounding mountains.

Day trip to Helena from Big Sky and Bozeman was long but lovely. Helena is the state capital and it’s capitol building is absolutely spectacular. The city of Helena extracted millions of dollars of gold from the mining camps and perhaps some of the prosperity is evidence of old money. The architecture of century old cathedral of Saint Helena is gorgeous and inspiring. We had a delicious dinner at one of the many lovely outdoor restaurants on the main street.