Perfect Moments in the Wild: Our Serendipitous Yellowstone Experience

Is it easy Traveling with a baby?

No, not necessarily. But someone once told me, “having a baby isn’t easy in general so you might as well travel.” This is the kind of advice we liked to hear; Opposite of everyone who said “you won’t be able to travel once you have kids.”

So with the mindset that we can still travel, it might be hard because having a baby is hard, and it might look slightly different, Ross and I planned a trip out west.

Keep in mind, this trip took place at the end of April 2023 when Roger was just 6 months old.
People have told me time and time again, it’s okay to share something that happened a while ago — It’s still fun to relive and read.

I have been to a few places around the world (over 40 countries by now) and yet have never seen some of my own country’s national treasures. Ross knew I wanted to see Yellowstone National Park, and he thought it would be the perfect place to take a little trip. He also reminded me that just because something is scary, it’s okay to do it anyway. 
I was a new mom with a baby only 6 months old— one who was fully breastfed and just starting to dabble in solid foods, not fully sleeping through the night, with a routine that barely resembled a routine at all. I don’t think I even had my ‘sea-legs,’ AKA ‘mom-legs,’ under me yet when I agreed to travel across the country.

We couldn’t commit to going international with Roger just yet due to Ross’s job, although a big international trip was in the works [see: Taiwan, Australia, and Argentina]. The perks of Ross working remotely meant that spontaneous trips out west were an option. Ross thought that a little jaunt to Colorado and Wyoming might be enough of a warm-up for what was to come. It was far, but still within our safety net. Yes, I realize our safety net is much larger than most (Ross’s is the largest I’ve ever seen by far!), but if you ever find yourself wondering whether you should travel or not, just ask yourself if future-you, you in 30 years, is going to remember the week you spent slaving away at work or the week you spent gallivanting around geysers. Or if you will remember the money you saved by sitting at home versus the opportunity to see a herd of buffalo right outside your car window. If it’s the latter, go somewhere. DO SOMETHING. Ross loves to remind me when I am hesitant that I will never, ever regret traveling. I am so thankful for a husband who isn’t scared to take risks because he knows the rewards are worth it.

Roger and I jetted off to Denver, Colorado via the Pittsburgh Airport. Ross, of course, drove across the country and picked us up. We were planning a three-week trip, and it would be far cheaper to have our own car packed full of things we would need for a baby than for Ross to fly with us and then rent a car on arrival. So if you are wondering if the first time Roger ever flew on an airplane it was with a solo parent, you’d be correct.

I received many compliments from strangers for taking such a young baby alone through the airport, with some even calling me an inspiration. It was only when stepping off the plane in Denver that I fully breathed a sigh of relief. The plane ride was uneventful, and Roger slept most of the way, so I really can’t complain, but it was still mildly stressful nonetheless. I like to think all of those walks I took with him asleep in the carrier strapped to my chest made this feel like just another walk in the park for him.

Colorado & The Tetons

We first visited friends in Colorado for five days before setting our sights on some of the wildest places America has to offer. I am not sure if we got sick on the plane or if we had been sick beforehand, but not long after arriving at our friends’ house Roger threw up for the first time. Initially, I dismissed it as spit-up. It wasn’t until I started throwing up too, complemented with full body chills, absolutely no energy,, and complete inability to keep anything down, even water, that I realized he and I might be sick. THANK GOD for friends who can watch your baby all day when you are incapacitated. 

Brooke, a seasoned mother of 3 boys who were all under the age of 3 at one time, strapped Roger into the carrier and took him for a walk while I lay in bed all day. Fortunately, our illness lasted only 24 hours, and Roger appeared largely unaffected by it. Despite the sickness, it was great to see our friends’ newly renovated house and hike some of their favorite local mountains.

One of the biggest highlights of the entire trip, not just the Colorado portion, was witnessing a lek of Greater Sage Grouse performing right outside our car window. In spring, male Greater Sage Grouse gather in specific locations known as leks to display and compete for the attention of females. If we ever leave the east coast, I think we’re headed to Colorado.

From Colorado we drove across state lines into Grand Tetons National Park. Ross opted to sandwich Yellowstone in between the Tetons to give him more off-days (aka 2 days of vacation and 2 weekend days) in Yellowstone. We were in the Tetons for just 2 nights before continuing onward and would circle back again after Yellowstone.

While Ross attended work meetings, I took Roger on a hike in Grand Tetons National Park. Unlike Ross, who relishes solo hikes to observe birds, I find it less convenient to venture out alone, especially with a baby. Nevertheless, Roger and I embarked on a small solo hike while Ross worked remotely from the hotel. (Because like I said, the perks of working remotely mean you can do it anywhere, but the “working” park is still necessary.)

As I drove through a stunning Bob Ross painting, Roger slept in the backseat. I’m not sure if he saw the six moose grazing outside our car window or Grand Teton shimmering in the sunlight, but he was there. Even if he won’t remember these moments, I will. 

Encounters in Yellowstone

From the Tetons, we headed off to Yellowstone National Park, an absolutely fantastic place to visit, in case you were unaware. As the third-largest park in the contiguous United States, it boasts geothermal features and a vast expanse of wilderness that is home to many thousands of animals. The history of the oldest National Park in the world is mind blowing, and the more we learned about some of the first superintendents boasting about extirpating wolves, killing bears, and dismantling geysers, it’s a wonder it even exists at all. I’m so thankful that the wilderness was saved and that people wanted to keep it wild and appreciate its unique wonder so that future people like us could visit.

Visiting the park at the end of April/early May can be a bit of a gamble as not everything is open yet and the weather can still be extremely cold and snowy. The benefit is that “enough” is open to keep you busy and the number of visitors is just a fraction of what is present in the summer (only 50k visitors in April, 400k in May vs close to 1M in July!) We were extremely luckily and despite Yellowstone having some of its largest snowfalls this past year, the majority of the roads were open and during our stay we had an extremely uncommon “heat wave” for that time of year with temps in the high 60s/low 70s (compared to the usual 20°-30°F)! Instead of layer upon layer, we walked around in tshirts! Couldn’t have planned it any better if we tried!

The geothermal features sprinkled throughout the park were extraordinary. Grand Prismatic Spring, with its stunning rainbow-like colors, is the largest hot spring in the United States. The boardwalk surrounding Grand Prismatic was mostly empty so we practically had the place to ourselves. Definitely a perk of coming end of April! Old Faithful, while certainly the most iconic and predictable (every 90 minutes or so, without fail, it unleashes a powerful eruption), was merely a great way to start our day of geysers. But Grand Geyser, a less predictable geyser with a 2-4 hour eruption window on both sides of the predicted time, often means waiting around for hours to see the spectacle. Ross, Roger, and I had just finished up a hike around the Upper Geyser Basin and decided we would walk over to Grand Geyser and wait while I nursed Roger there. We were walking up and had just picked a spot to sit when gallons upon gallons of scalding water and steam spurted high into the sky in a mesmerizing display of nature’s raw power. For the next 12 minutes, I could barely contain my oohs and aahs. Couldn’t have planned it any better if we tried! And I think I said after that, ‘I’m not sure how it could get any better than this!”

Yellowstone is a place where surprises lurk just around the corner and without a doubt luck plays a very important role. For example, had we been driving past Blacktail Pond even a minute sooner, we would have missed the lone wolf that appeared out of the grasses, rolled in the mud, walked up and shredded what little remained of an old bison carcass, and disappeared over a hillside overlooking a mountain into a picturesque valley. But instead, at the very moment we had been driving by, the wolf appeared and we got to watch. Because we stopped, every passing car also stopped. It’s common in Yellowstone for the big mammals to garner a massive crowd. 

Perhaps it’s Ross’s innate knowledge of animal behavior, our experiences on safari in Africa, or a combination of the two, but knowing how to read topography and anticipate how an animal is going to respond allowed us to follow the wolf for far longer than any of the 100 other cars that had stopped. In fact, Ross had positioned us up the road so that the wolf came to us and crossed right in front of our car while nearly everyone else was still staring into a small valley still waiting for the wolf to walk by, not knowing that the wolf had slipped by them completely undetected. When an animal doesn’t want to be seen, it can easily do so unless you can predict its behavior.

Apparently we liked to set the bar early. I remarked after the wolf encounter that on our first full day in Yellowstone, we already had our best experience of the trip and we couldn’t possibly top watching a wolf from close range as he ate, walked, ran, rolled, and stared off into the mountains. Except… I was wrong. 

Two days prior we had found a bison laying completely on its side. We took a GPS pin of the location because we thought a dead buffalo would be a great place to stake out for predators, but when we checked on the buffalo the next day he had gotten up and moved. We jokingly named him Lazarus. We did refind him laying down on his side again not too far up the road. I checked with my binoculars and couldn’t tell if it was breathing. I hated to commit to the idea that it was dead because it had already fooled us once, but again we took a GPS point. We left the scene, moved on, saw some amazing geysers and had that amazing wolf encounter. It couldn’t get better than that. Oh, but then it did.

There are a few big mammals most wildlife enthusiasts want to see when visiting Yellowstone and surely Grizzly Bears are top of the list. The following day we spent looking for a grizzly that someone had mentioned to us was seen in a certain area. We didn’t find it but later ran into a wolf watcher who comes to Yellowstone to survey for eight weeks every year and found that she had a grizzly in her scope. We got out and watched for quite some time as the massive female walked the distant ridge. These were fine views of a Grizzly Bear but they were distant. We had seen a grizzly on a carcass significantly closer after first spotting the would-be dead Bison, but the bear was asleep, mostly obscured by trees, and facing away from us so we hoped that if we went back for an evening the bear (a massive male named 769 who famously killed a 3-year old bear cub in front of a group of 50 spectators the year prior) would be back to the carcass, but the carcass was nearly gone and our evening was a bust when it came to spotting a Grizzly. He didn’t return. 

The following morning we decided to check on Lazarus, the would-be dead Bison, but before we even got to the Bison, we spotted a Grizzly walking on the opposite side of the creek and we got to watch as he (or she?) trotted through the vegetation. This was a Grizzly on the move, at close range and offering up some stunning views. Absolutely amazing. What made it better was only one other car was present and few cars were driving by so no one else stopped. But soon the other car must have gotten bored (or lost sight as so many seem to do) because they left after the bear was mostly obscured in the forest, not realizing there were plenty of breaks in the vegetation and not knowing there was an untouched dead bison not far away. But we knew.  

We wondered if this grizzly was heading to the carcass. We weren’t far from our GPS point. So we positioned our car and waited. And sure enough, we got to watch as a grizzly approached an untouched bison for the first time. Seeing those massive claws rip into the flesh with such ease, as if it were nothing more than tearing into a present on Christmas morning, was truly a sight to behold.

I am also acutely aware that I could spend an entire lifetime in Yellowstone watching grizzlies, as some people do, and never get to see a large bear walk along the mountainside at such close range, cross over the road in front of our car, and go to an untouched carcass to rip into it for the first time. The fact that the carcass was just on the other side of a small creek, perfectly viewable from the road, meant we could watch at close range, yet from the safety of our vehicle.

The fact that we had this bear ENTIRELY TO OURSELVES is something that rarely happens in a place like Yellowstone, where millions of people flock to visit each year, and popular Instagram accounts like @TouronsofYellowstone have become viral sensations due to the stupidity of some travelers.

The ten months we spent seeing the big mammals of Africa meant we were a bit more astute to things like a side-lying bison. And it meant Ross knew how to maneuver our car so as not to interfere with nature. Perhaps it also made it easier to predict how the animal was going to react to the geography. But maybe it was a lifetime of loving nature that nature wanted to give back with an experience we will never forget for as long as we live. I hate that Roger won’t remember it, but someday I’m going to tell him that he soiled his diaper right as a grizzly bear ate his dinner. I don’t think there will ever be a more inopportune diaper change than that.

Now I like to joke that I can never go back to Yellowstone because our first trip there was too perfect. Perfect weather. Perfect timing. Almost unbelievable animal encounters. So perfect that a subsequent trip might tarnish that initial experience. So perfect that my expectations are set too high and I’ll be disappointed. But, I’ve been wrong before, so who knows, Yellowstone might continue to surprise me.