We’ve finally reached Yellowstone National Park, name after the river Yellowstone, not after the color of the rocks.

We got welcomed by bisons hanging around next to the roads, fumes, traffic jams… yes, it is packed with people just like us.

We took a first walk around the mud volcanoes in the Hayden Valley, and went for a hike on the southern rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

The kids then participated to the Rangers Olympics, and earned two stickers! At the visitor center, we learned about volcanoes, caldeira and hot spots.

Next stop were the Midway Geyser Basin and the iconic Grand Prismatic Spring. The ranger we talked to at the visitor center sent us to a hidden overlook, with a beautiful view over the spring.

On our way to the hotel, we stopped by the Old Faithful. We just wanted to check whether the geyser would erupt soon – they predict eruptions with a 10min accuracy – and we got lucky: the next eruption was just 10min away. We parked, rushed to the geyser, and waited for 10min. We’ll probably come back tomorrow, there is much to see in the area.

We ate diner at the restaurant next door to our hotel.

We’re staying one day in Cody before entering Yellowstone. We thought we would need a day off to relax after a long drive yesterday.

In the morning, we visited the Old Trail Town, a collection of old log cabins from different places in Wyoming, some with historical significance. A very nice dive into the time of the pioneers and of the famous outlaws, like Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid.

Swimming pool in the afternoon, and preparation of our next three days, with a more challenging logistics.

Late afternoon, we went for a short excursion to a beautiful overlook at the Dead Indian Pass.

And of course we couldn’t come to Cody without attending a rodeo show, at Cody Stampede Rodeo.

We had a nice breakfast at the hostel (coffee + waffles), where we met Lori, an American lady living in Clermont-Ferrand, would you believe it!

We then hit the road, stopped at Cheyenne for a second breakfast.

For the next 6 hours, we drove through Wyoming. We saw buffaloes, nodding donkeys, a few ranches looking just like the Playmobil farm, but mostly a low relief terrain, no trees. Thanks to erosion, we cut through part of the stratigraphy, exposing calcareous and shaly formations of various color.

I (a geologist) find it quite amazing to drive 100s of km on these sedimentary rocks. There used to be a sea, there, that explains the deposition. But you also need sediment supply, enough to fill 1000s of meters of stratigraphy. Imagine the size if the mountain range that got eroded!

Anyway, that reflection took me through the day. We arrived in Cody at 17:30, and enjoyed a swim at the hotel before eating diner at a nearby bbq joint.

We’re leaving Denver, and starting our road-trip. First stage is at the Rocky Mountains National Park. We left very early, worried to have read everywhere that it was extremely busy in the summer’s weekends.

We stopped at the Bear Meadow Visitor Center for planning our day, then took the bus to reach a starting point of a 6k hike along 3 small lakes. It was raining a little bit, nothing unusual for our kids.

Back to the car, we went to the Junior Rangers center where Sarah, Tim and Hugo earned their Ranger badge.

We then drove in the clouds all the way to the Alpine Visitor Center.

The road back home to Fort Collins was the surprise of the day. A long drive in a narrow valley, ending on a beautiful plain cut by red rock beds. We then drove through the suburbs of Fort Collins, stereotypically american.

The hotel also was surprising, with a giant greenhouse in the lobby, a nice big bedroom. We ate takeaway for diner, on the terrace outside the greenhouse.

And yes, we did miss the world cup final… completely, as we didn’t even have network. We got the result in a text message, 1hr after the game.

Spending the day at Denver Museum of Nature & Science. We’re sunburnt from yesterday (great parenting) so we stay indoor today. We started with the Space Odyssey, then the kids went hunting salmon in the bear’s room.

We had dinosaur for lunch… sort of… ok it was chicken. Kids portions were big enough for 3, we’re slowly getting used to it.

Spending the day at Waterworld. We had to buy Star Wars, Pokemon and Paw Patrol beach towels for the kids. Had to!