EXPLORING YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK IN OUR OFF-GRID TINY HOUSE DURING THE PANDEMIC

She's gonna blow! If you saw those little elf hooves in the ground that we showed you. Elk hooves not elves. Did I say elf? Elf. Keep going. There you go buddy. Wow. Make sure we can go. But he's still so close. Wow this is the best sight ever of this thing. We are Brittany and Drew and for the past six years we've been exploring the world by van. From the U.S. to Canada, Europe to Africa, finding so much peace, inspiration, and joy in immersing ourselves in the great unknown. But now with our world changing what feels like every single day. In last week's episode we made the tough decision not to drive to Alaska and have instead settled on the gift of being able to explore some of our world's most incredible natural places that are a bit closer to home. From the bottom of the Grand Canyon to the hoodoos in Bryce Canyon, the lesser known gems in Capitol Reef, and now in today's episode we're taking you with us to the very first national park that our world has ever known. Yellowstone, here we come. We invite you to subscribe and buckle up as we embark on yet another adventure together. And now it's time to enjoy the show. Rise and shine. Here's one of the perks of waking up so early. There's the sunrise. So beautiful out here. We're all packed up and ready to leave this beautiful spot. Ready to hit the dusty trail. And head to the first national park in our nation. Yellowstone. Back in 1872 it was deemed the very first national park. All 2.2 million acres of some of the most diverse landscapes and unusual geological features. It all sits on top of a geothermic hotbed. And there's so much wildlife. It's amazing. Hey big buddy. Everywhere. It's amazing. The police are running them off the road. Yeah we pushed them off the road. Drew and I first discovered Yellowstone back in 2015 during our first year of van life. And we're back on a weekend. I remember just saying we need to go back to see the wildlife. If you want to go to any park in our country you need to go to Yellowstone for the wildlife. The bears. We saw grizzly last time. Who knows what we'll see this time. But like I said we're going on a weekend which we usually don't do as we try to avoid the crowds. We might see some wild people. But we got our masks handy. This was also the first national park to open back up during COVID. So yeah let's just go see what we have to enjoy. This park deserves at least three days of exploration. It's a really unique park in the sense that it splits between three states. Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. And only one of the entrances was opened based on the state regulations with COVID. But now all five entrances are open and we are heading in via West Yellowstone. And we got an early start. Yay we did it. Bye cows. The line's not too bad. Lots of happy campers. Thank you. Likewise. Happy fourth. As we mentioned Yellowstone is ginormous. Right now we're driving on the Grand Loop Road. A 142 mile road that goes in a figure eight throughout the entire park. So we just went through the entrance and it's another 40 minutes until we arrive to Old Faithful. Did you bring the pizza ingredients? We cook our pizza on those hot pots. Old Faithful. We're coming for you. Along with getting a map something else you want to make sure to do is download the Yellowstone app. It shows you all of the major landmarks along your trail and geyser eruption predictions. So right now we have one hour before Old Faithful erupts. So what do you think? Should we go to the top of observation point? Go spend our time wisely and do something cool. Bummer. But look right on time. There she is. All these people are waiting. Half a mile. How much time do we have on the clock? At about 30 minutes. I think we can pull this off. All right. The view is amazing from up here and you can see everybody congregating because there's about nine minutes until it goes off. And when she erupts she's going to expel between 3,700 and 8,400 gallons of steaming water. Which is going to be amazing to watch. I can't wait to see this. Look at this view. Look at this. There she is. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. There she goes. Wow, it's huge. It's incredible straight up. She is still blowing after six minutes. She is doing her geyser thing and it's incredible to watch. She's geysering. It is pretty incredible. Yeah, especially from this overlook. I really like being up high but we will take you guys down low with us and probably watch her blow on the next 90 minute mark. Because I guess that's why they called her Old Faithful. She's very consistent. You can always count on her. And if you can see over here, this is Old Faithful Lodge. It's a super beautiful lodge made entirely out of wood from the trees surrounding this area. There's a lot of special unique handcraft that went into making it and it was really special last time we were here and able to go in it. But unfortunately it's closed right now due to COVID. So as beautiful as the national parks are, it is a little bit sad that the visitor centers and dining areas and lodges are closed. But that's all right. It's still super special. It's just a big day. It's a great day to be outdoors anywhere. And now the crowds have dissipated as well as Old Faithful. So there's a little trail that meanders along all of the geothermal features that are around Old Faithful. So while we wait for her to erupt again, look at this thing. It's so beautiful. This is solitary geyser. Super cool. Look at that crusty edge. How clear that stuff is. Little guy. Now we got a boogie around this boardwalk. We don't want to miss Old Faithful's faithful blow. Good little boogie. Little boogie. This one has pretty colors. Yeah, I love the runoff. Oh, a real stinky one. Oh, it looks like an ear. When we woke up, it was in the 40s and it was really dark skies coming in the park. So now there's not a cloud and it's what, like 80 degrees? Oh, look at that. Cool. There's things everywhere. Everyone's waiting. This is the Grand Geyser. It's actually the largest geyser eruption in the world. It's the strongest, right? The largest. Largest. Yeah, and it'll erupt for like nine minutes and it just like bursts. It doesn't like go as high as Old Faithful, but it like bursts. It's supposed to erupt in about 40 minutes, but it says plus or minus 45 minutes. So it's a really big window. That's why everyone's waiting. We decided to test our luck with the timing of Grand Geyser's massive eruption and opted to meander along the boardwalk a bit further, keeping our distance as we took in the mesmerizing technicolor hot pots that prompted the 26 Native American tribes who originally inhabited the area to deem the land of smoke as sacred and its waters powerful and sacred too. Some geysers bubbled ever so gently while others were bursting with excitement. Each feature so uniquely and appropriately named and the colors glistened brilliantly in the midday sun. Pretty sure we found the most beautiful pool in the entire park. You know what I think? I think the old settlers who came here a long time ago carved in a jacuzzi seat over in that corner because there's no way that seems too perfect to be a seat. Who doesn't want to sit right there? I bet it's the perfect temperature. Oh no, this is so sad. Morning Glory Pool is losing its brilliant color because people have thrown objects into it and it's clogging the vent. The future is uncertain. Look, every year the park maintenance guys come in and they suck out the rocks, the coins, the objects people are tossing in there. Oh coins, people are making wishes. They're making wishes. Do that somewhere else. Just wish that this gets all better so that everyone can enjoy her forever. She's gorgeous. Those colors are unlike anything else. This is our favorite. We then found ourselves face to face with perhaps the most unusual of Yellowstone's geysers, Grotto Geyser, who is said to have emerged out of the stump of a dead tree and through time deposited layer upon layer of silica over the stumps and branches forming what we see here. It's the Liberty Pool. We have a perfect heart. Just for you. I made it. We just learned too that because there's a bunch of algae around it that means that it's not so hot. Fun fact. We are approaching Grand Geyser. And we're putting her on our way to Old Faithful. If she could just erupt right now, that would be epic because we're going to miss Old Faithful if we wait for the Grand Geyser. But maybe we can get both. That's the hope. I'm so excited to get the geyser. Wow, that is amazing. Well, Old Faithful is erupting in the distance. So we missed her this time. But we'll get her up close again. I think you'd be having a lot more fun if you were like these guys over here on their teeter-totters. Yeah, that would help. That would help. These kids look like they're having a blast. She's gonna blow. So beautiful. It's so good. And it's still going. Wow. After a quick intermission, we found ourselves back on the boardwalks exploring more of the Upper Geyser Basin which is actually Yellowstone's and the world's largest single concentration of hot springs. With several groups of hot springs and over 150 geysers all situated within about one square mile along the Firehole River. I was eavesdropping on the guy over there who's leading that group and he said even the water just trickling here is over 80 degrees. So that water in there must be like in the mid-100s. Look at this. I just saw a bird snag one. They're little baby strawberries. Little baby strawberries. She's so cute. Do we eat it? Try it. Look, there's another one. Wild organic strawberries. It definitely tastes like a strawberry. Yellowstone. Cool. That is really hot. To the next one? To the next one. This is a very unique geyser. They call this parking lot geyser. It's really hot. Wildlife. Look right there. Little bison or a big bison. Look, you're just chilling. Wow. We just made it to the trailhead for Ferry Falls where we can hike to the Overlook Trail for Grand Prismatic Springs and to one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the entire park which is Ferry Falls which sounds really pretty. Are you excited? Very excited. We just took a dip and we're nice and cooled off so it's time to get our hike on. It is. We went for a little swim in the river so we can hike. Let's go. We actually attempted to see Grand Prismatic Spring first thing that morning as it tends to be the most crowded area in the park throughout the entire day but Mother Nature had different plans. Welcome to the largest hot spring in the entire park. It's 121 feet deep and about 300 feet wide. The Grand Prismatic Spring is also known as the Rainbow Hot Spring because it is like beaming with these incredible colors which right now are a little bit fogged over. And if you saw those little elf hooves in the ground that we showed you. Elf hooves, not elves. Did I say elf? Elf. Their feet don't get burnt because of their hooves so they're able to walk on top of these hot surfaces. They're bacterial mats actually that form the colors. Wow. This is the best sight ever of this thing. Incredible. The different colors that you see are created by a buildup of algae and bacteria. Fascinating. The view was incredible. That was exactly the view I was hoping for of that thing because when you're just down next to them you can't see all the colors. You don't get the same perspective and angle that you get from above. And you're not allowed to fly drones in national parks so only if you hike to a viewpoint are you able to look down on the amazing structures. That was the next best thing. Wait, there's another clearing through the trees right now. Wow. And there's the boardwalk we were talking about where you just don't get the same perspective. I love how you can see the smoke dam too. Did you have something else to add to that? Fairy Falls. On to our next destination. He's right there. Hey buddy. That was really cool. Super cool. That was so close. I thought he was going to cross the road and then he just kind of started nibbling at the grass right there. Wow, they say to stay 75 feet away or something? 25 yards. We were safe in our van at least. That's like the closest we could be. I felt like Spirit was our security wall. Yeah, we added bonus. We just found where we're gonna have dinner and we're at the Great Fountain Geyser and it's about to erupt. Everyone's in lawn chairs. The eruption lasts for an hour. I had to give you a beautiful spot to dine this evening. Look at this. Voila. Parks and Van Life. Wow. Now that is a good view. I think it's erupting. Wait, is it doing something? The pool fills and then overflows right before it erupts and it takes it an hour to fill. Okay, because it was bubbling up right there filling. Any second now. Drew and I were saying that it is great that there's so much to do in Yellowstone. Not only because that's really fun, there's a lot of options for fun and everything's so different and unusual and odd and splendid. But it really spreads out the crowds. I mean, you go to Old Faithful during peak hours, you're gonna be surrounded by people, but you don't and you just kind of... There's so much to be seen here. Yeah. It's all mesmerizing. She's erupting. Oh my goodness. This happens for the next hour. Wow. We should be on the roof of the van right now. Oh my goodness. Except, nevermind. She's overflowing. Yeah, we would be getting soaked. Look, we're getting rained on. Spirit, you're getting blessed by Yellowstone. Sulfur rain, that is cool. The pool is overflowing. My cup runneth over. This is an ad for Spirit. All those people are taking pictures of our van right now. Yeah, they probably have some great photos of our van actually. It's literally raining. Just, we're getting geysered on. And now we have to cook and that's very difficult. We should just eat cereal for dinner. A repeat on lunch? Yeah. Can you guys see that? There's another geyser. I didn't even know there was one. So many things to look at. So many things. Look, and this one's going off again. No way. Oh, and yours on the oven. Oh dear. You made your own geyser. Keema geyser. Whoops. I'm loving this. You can hear the kids laughing. Look at the dance of the geyser. Never did I imagine we could park so close to such a cool attraction in a park. We're literally getting misted by the geyser. We're getting sulfur rained on. We were saying how incredible it would be to have been an explorer back in the day and just discover this in the wild. Could you imagine? I couldn't even imagine. They had no idea something like this existed. And especially like Morning Glory, like those colors, they're unreal. It's like, it is so odd and so spectacular. No wonder this is the park that inspired the United States of America to create something like the national parks to protect land. Yeah, I'm so grateful they did. These lands are incredible. We love our national parks. We do. And honestly, we wish that they charged more. The annual pass is only $80. It's too cheap. It should be at least $150. Like a day at Disney World is more than that. And not to even mention the cost for retirees and people over 65, what they pay. They pay $80. For a lifetime. A lifetime. Once you turn 60, right? Yeah, it's crazy. It might not even be 80, but I know it's some crazy deal. It is. So anyways, we got some grilling to finish. We're going to enjoy this geyser and we're going to say goodnight. And also, I wanted to mention that Drew and I can try and think through what an episode is going to be. And it doesn't matter because it is all in God's hands. Yeah. It's all in the hands of our creator. He made all of these amazing... All this beautiful landscape. Yeah, and he's telling our story. So thanks for letting us share. And we get blessed with things like this. Look at that. What is that even? Are we on Mars? So cool. If only we saw a bear walking up here. That could only make it just that much better. But you know what? If we're not careful, there's going to be a bear right there. Are you calling me a bear? I'm saying that porridge is just right. Reflection. Wow. So good. You can see spirit right there. Yeah.