Yellowstone National Park

Our day visiting Yellowstone National Park was quite an adventure! (Everything that occurred happened throughout the day, not just at Yellowstone.)

First it started off with us staying the night in Montana, to travel to Yellowstone (Wyoming) for the day, back to Montana to spend the night and finally go back to Wyoming on the next day. Also, I was still not feeling well with a sore throat. I was given some disgusting red throat soother thing that worked wonders on some other people who had been sick as well.

Old Faithful erupting

Next, the bus started beeping and stuttering to a stop in pretty much the middle of nowhere. However, there was a gas station and a small laundromat where we got to use the bathroom and wait until the bus was fixed. It was a temporary fix and we continued on our way, but the bus came to a stop close to 20 times throughout the day. It got very annoying quickly. As the day progressed, we began to groan when the bus began to beep. 

Yellowstone was beautiful! We started our visit by checking out some of the hot springs. They were pretty cool! Next, we drove the two hours to Old Faithful. I had no idea how big Yellowstone actually was. Based on our previous luck, we probably weren't going to make the closest eruption of Old Faithful, but we made it in time to watch it instead of having to wait another hour or so! It was really cool to watch it erupt! I also bought some good ice cream at Yellowstone that definitely hit the spot!

After Yellowstone, we took a short drive up to the Buffalo Bill Dam to daven Mincha (say the afternoon service). The dam was next to a tunnel which was super cool! The wind blew hard, but as we started to recite the Amidah (leads up to silent meditation) the wind picked up even more. A rainbow appeared above the water and water from the dam sprayed us. The wind was so strong it pushed us back. I still felt awful and was freezing even in a sweatshirt and sweatpants. The girl leading the service was crying after we got back on the bus because it was so beautiful. Somebody believed that God was watching us pray and that his presence came through the wind. I missed out on fully embracing another bus bonding moment because I was wasn't feeling well and shivering. I wished to get back on the bus asap!

Overall, I give my adventure at Yellowstone and throughout Wyoming and Montana a 7/10.