Our last full day in Yellowstone, after eating a large breakfast at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel, we moseyed over to West Thumb’s assortment of geysers, pools and mudpots with my parents. Right on the shores of Yellowstone Lake, West Thumb’s hydrothermal oddities seem like a replacement for a beach dreamed up by Dali.

Following their tour of West Thumb, my parents departed for home and Jason and I continued our park explorations on our own. We took what we thought would be a short stop at Upper Geyser Basin and ended up staying there the entire afternoon in a very ADD fashion.

First, we decided to hike to Observation Point, which gives a 160-foot perspective of Old Faithful’s bursts, and then we trekked to Solitary Geyser, a feature changed forever by us hopeless sapiens. After that, we thought we might as well stroll around and see if any features were currently erupting or would be erupting soon. We discovered that Castle and Riverside Geysers were scheduled to gush within the next few hours and, geyser gods permitting, we could probably catch both shows and read a few pages of some good books besides. It sounded like as decent of a plan as any.

I am proud to report that our reading and waiting were conducted expertly. We witnessed Castle’s ramparts flooded with insistent fountains and Riverside’s rainbow gracefully arched across the Firehole River. It was quite the double feature.

In total, we wandered about five of six miles around the basin, often in circles, before the sun called it a day and we had to too. I guess time flies when you are staring at pressurized water heated deep underground by magma from an active volcano.

So next time you have a family member cancel on the same vacation two years in a row, be unperturbed. Be happy in the knowledge that your trip will go on and your enjoyment of it should too. For life is too short not to stop and smell the sulfur.

Last summer, a portion of my family traveled to Yellowstone National Park together. This made other segments of my family wish they had gone instead of canceling at the last minute. Which led to the planning of another trip to Yellowstone this year. That eventually resulted in certain parts of my family once again canceling. However, I am not the wishy-washy type so, despite this about-face mayhem, Jason and I enjoyed another outing to Yellowstone with my parents. Hooray for my committed streak!

We stayed at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel this time. The citron exterior of that massive guesthouse has juxtaposed the woody shores of Yellowstone Lake since 1891. Like most Yellowstone accommodations, our room was too small to fit a regular queen-size bed but the building’s Colonial Revival grandeur and incredible views made our teeny mattress easier to ignore…though the lack of cell phone service was a little harder to overlook.

We met up with my parents at Bridge Bay Marina. There, we rented a motorboat and took it across Yellowstone Lake to Steamboat Point, a noisy group of misty vents on the water’s edge, with a couple detours for islands and shipwrecks along the way. The lake was predictably unpredictable. We reached Steamboat Point on glossy waters but dealt with wind-whipped whitecaps our entire return. Talk about more swings than a monkey with a hammer!

After those gusty exploits, we decided to give our sea legs a rest. We voyaged in vehicles without rudders across the entire northern loop of the park. We paused to inspect Tower Fall, Calcite Springs, Undine Falls and a 50-million-year-old petrified redwood before finally reaching Mammoth Hot Springs.

Jason and I checked out the tumultuous colors and living terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs on foot while my parents regarded the setting from the reclined seats of their car. Mammoth is a completely unique piece of nature’s artistry and a worthwhile reason to drive beyond the Old Faithful area.

Check in next week for the second half of this adventure. I can guarantee that conclusion will be steamy and explosive.

For the last six years, Jason and I have gone camping every summer with the same group of people. This August, we continued the tradition with an overnight outing at Ponderosa Campground, which is located in Bear Canyon near Nephi. I was the one that suggested we pitch our tents at Ponderosa; I must be a genius or something because Ponderosa was pretty wonderful.

Ponderosa’s campsites are shaded by a stately grove of Ponderosa Pines that were planted a century ago. Under their protective canopy, the temperatures remain cool enough in the morning for sleeping in late without tent scorch and just chilly enough at night for appreciating a cozy fire. Yup, genius.

In way of evening entertainment, we gorged ourselves on our customary hotdog and s’mores roast, along with a heaping serving of campfire ghost stories dished out mostly by Drew and me. Our longest tale involved Stinky Joe, cacti monsters, zombies, kitty cats, logs and mummies, AKA a bunch of incongruent elements requested by the children. We had a flavorful and colorful night.

Before we came home the next day, we checked out a couple of close curiosities. A section of the forest adjacent to Ponderosa has lovingly been converted into Winnie-the-Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood. Over the years, visitors have added items and built houses for Piglet, Christopher Robin and the rest of the Pooh characters amongst the pines. The Wood was quite darling and popular with both the kids and adults in our group.

We also took a short hike to a nearby onyx quarry. Although some of the younger children complained through the entire trek about having to use their legs for moving, clearly a function those limbs were never designed for, their grievances were forgotten once we reached the quarry and an all-hands hunt began for the coolest pieces of Bacon Onyx hidden amongst the rock rubble. (Naturally, some ice cream bribery was involved.)

Our convoy decided to return home via the Nebo Loop Scenic Byway, a genius idea that I can’t take credit for. We ate a snack in the Devil’s Kitchen, a peculiar cluster of red conglomerate stone reminiscent of Bryce Canyon, and gawped at Mount Nebo’s geological magnificence.

Ponderosa was a satisfying continuation of our camping ritual. There were s’mores, shade, stones and Pooh aplenty. And what’s a camping trip without Pooh?