Yellowstone (not the show)

On By Chelle B.In Our "Backyard"

I can see the tops of the Tetons on a clear day and even on not-so-clear days I am surrounded by their foothills on one side and the other mountain ranges that make up the central part of our state on the other. It really is a lovely little valley we’re in on this side of the Wyoming border in eastern Idaho.

And, Yellowstone park is literally RIGHT THERE. I can almost throw a stone and hit it! It’s pretty incredible that I somehow ended up here of all places, considering how my life started out, and I am eternally grateful to be here.

Like many people who live right next to a famous destination, we don’t go often. In our minds, it’s mostly for the tourists. We go to Island Park, Idaho or Jackson, Wyoming far more and we may meander up into Grand Teton park now and then when we’re there, but to go into Yellowstone proper itself is actually quite rare for us.

One of my neighbors recently asked if I like the show Yellowstone and I told her I don’t watch television so I’d never seen it. I asked if she liked the actual place and she told me she grew up here and she’s never been to Yellowstone.

She knows of other locals who also have never been. I was a bit shocked! I asked her if she just didn’t want to go or what and she said she did, but just hadn’t done it yet. Maybe this year they’d take the kids she said.

I walked away thinking to myself, “how can you live so close but have never been to Yellowstone?!” and then I remembered that I grew up next to Yosemite, left in my twenties and to this day I’ve still never been there.

So yeah. I have no room to judge.

I do encourage everyone who can visit our “backyard” though. It’s just one of those magical places you have to see to believe and I don’t know anything about the tv series, but I guarantee it’s not at all what life is really like here next to Yellowstone.

At least not for most of us. 😄

14 thoughts on “Yellowstone (not the show)”

  1. Yellowstone looks beautiful! We’re hoping to visit the area this summer, actually.

    I’ve lived in Phoenix my entire life and first visited the Grand Canyon in my 30s. I guess when those destinations are so close, it’s easy to tell ourselves we’ll get to it later.

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  2. Too late for me to visit now but a couple of young friends have just returned from Yellowstone where they hiked and camped and loved it so I’ve had your opinion seconded as ’twere. Is that you looking incredibly glamourous in the above photo?

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    1. That is me, a bit bedraggled after hours in the car lol. I’m glad your friends enjoyed it, it’s such a great place for younger people. I can’t hike much now but I do love to drive through now and then to see the sights.

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      1. Bedraggled, nonsense. You look positively starlike beside that lovely white car and the snow-capped mountains behind. Sure that isn’t a fake backdrop, it is just picture-perfect? I’m so glad to see a picture of you looking incredibly well, reading your blog sometimes I do wonder how you are coping but now I’ve seen proof that you are in blooming good health, all is well. Keep on doing whatever you’re doing, it obviously agrees with you.

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  6. Our family vacation this year is a 10-day spring stay in and around Yellowstone – the park, not the show. We’ve come a few dozen times in the summer over the years – this is our first Spring trip. Can’t wait to spend time soaking in the beauty without the typical summer crowds.

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