Turquoise blue hot spring boils in the hot spot of Yellowstone National Park (Photo by Andrew Evans, National Geographic Traveler)

Welcome to Yellowstone

ByAndrew Evans
August 20, 2012
3 min read

“So, where do you go on vacation?”

I get asked that question a lot. I guess people are eager to know where you travel “for fun” when you’re already traveling more than 200 days out of the year.

Personally, I find that all travel is fun–even when it’s horrible–but not all travel is relaxing. To travel whilst maintaining a general state of relaxation is called vacation.  And so after several recent and amazing trips to Switzerland, Norway, Africa, and across the ocean, I am finally taking a brief vacation. And so where did I go?

I went to Yellowstone National Park.

Few realize that America invented the whole concept of the public national park and that Yellowstone was in fact, our very first national park, designated in 1872 for the “benefit and enjoyment of the people”, with specific instructions that it should be “as free as the air or water.”

I have only been to Yellowstone one time before, when I was barely twelve years old, and I still have fond memories of my fascination with the intense geothermal activity, the range of wild American beasts and the unfettered nature of the Rocky Mountains.

This is a quick trip–more of a long weekend away from home–but it’s a trip I’ve been wanting to make for a good long while. All travelers should travel in their home country, if only to remind oneself that home can be as exotic as the world’s faraway destinations, but also, Yellowstone is one of the world’s great natural wonders, not to be missed.

Nothing recharges my soul faster than a good stint with nature, so I came to the place where nature is big, the earth is alive, and the animals are in charge.

Along with my broken-in hiking boots, I arrived well-equipped to explore America’s first national park, traveling with National Geographic’s Yellowstone Trail map and our all-new National Parks by National Geographic app, complete w/ my digital guide to Yellowstone.

Thus I began my vacation inside America’s treasured park, ready to explore one of the wildest places in the lower 48. So welcome to Yellowstone everybody–this is going to be fun.

Arriving at the south entrance of Yellowstone National Park (Photo by Brian Gratwicke).

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