Nel's Nook: How to See Yellowstone in a Day {Part Two of Our Cross Country Move}

Yellowstone is just a short drive from Livingston, Montana. Neither of us had been to Yellowstone before so we were excited but didn’t know what to expect. I wish we would have done some more research before we left but we just ran out of time. So if you are going to Yellowstone for the first time - please read this before you go!

Learn from our Rookie Mistakes (or tips on visiting Yellowstone):

1) Get there early in the day especially in the summer – there will be more animals to see!

One of the many picnic areas

2) Pack food and drinks to take with you – there are tons of great places to picnic in the park. There are a few places to buy food in the park but they are expensive and far and few between.

3) Be prepared to stop and get out of your car A LOT! Yellowstone is HUGE and there is a ton to see but its not all conveniently located (God Bless Mother Nature!) so be prepared to do a lot of driving and a lot of getting in and out of your car.

Bison cruising down the road next to us - clearly I did not have the camera ready!

4) Make sure your camera is charged and ready to go! There is usually no warning when an animal is going to cross your path so be ready!

5) Stop at the visitor’s center at the entrance you come in and ask where the most animals have been seen that day. They have electronic maps that update frequently so they will know the best places to go! We ended up missing the turn to go to the area where a lot of the animals were and decided not to turn around - big mistake! If I could change anything about our trip that would be it – we did see a few animals but nothing compared to what we were hoping! We still are talking about how we wish we had turned around.

6) Wear good shoes – you have to walk to a lot of the sites so good shoes are must!

You can get really close to a lot of the sites using the boardwalks - if you don't have your dog with you!

7) Pets are not allowed anywhere except for paved areas - normally this wouldn’t be an issue but since we were moving we had our dog with us. This limited what we could see because we couldn’t go on any of the boardwalks that led to the really cool stuff.

8) Prepare for a long day – you will be driving a lot and a lot of sites to see especially if you are doing it all in one day!

9) Use the map they give you - you will be lost without it!

10) Fill up your gas tank before heading into the park! We only saw one gas station in the park (I'm sure there are more) but it was a lot more expensive than outside of the park.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day: