Yellowstone Epic Vacation - Day Three, Part 2

After our Old Faithful geyser walk, we drove to our scheduled scenic boat cruise around Yellowstone Lake.


Waiting for the cruise to begin:

These boys of mine are just so photogenic!

Yellowstone Lake:

Yellowstone Hotel:

A sunken ship from early Yellowstone Days:

The cruise was so interesting and informative - I highly recommend it!

We headed north through Hayden Valley - a supposed prime wildlife viewing area and it did not disappoint:

We were thrilled to turn a bend and discover a HUGE herd of bison!

There had to have been over 200 bison - it was awesome, but I have to admit they are the UGLIEST animals I've ever seen!


We headed up to see the Lower Falls, which were absolutely incredible:

Cole loved it!

Our guide book had a trail listed called "Uncle Tom's Trail" to go down to the bottom of Upper Falls - I wasn't too sure about it, since it stated several times that anyone with health, heart, or lung problems should NOT attempt it!  But Chris and my FIL Scott were going to give it a go, so I tagged along.  Going down wasn't a problem:

See, they even had a sign:

The way down included several steep paved switchbacks, followed by over 300 (we counted!) metal grate stairs.  We lost 500 feet of elevation in that half-mile trail! 

Yeah... see those people down there?  Notice the benches?  That's because climbing 308 stairs will make you feel as though your legs are jelly and you're about to collapse.  But the view was so gorgeous:

And since I was about to collapse (or throw up) from climbing all the way up and down in 25 minutes, we decided to call it a day!