Gardiner, MT

Month - October
Destination - Gardiner, MT
Travel Mode - Flight

Duration - 5-6 hours + 1.5 hr drive

I can tell that the Greater Yellowstone from the Tetons, to the Lamar Valley where wolves howl and grizzlies roam, acts as my spine, my range of memory that ties me to landscape of Other. And that the ocean from the rocky coast of Maine, to the Florida everglades, to the looming cliffs at Big Sur, sustain me, remind me we are nothing without salt water, wind, and waves. - Terry Tempest Williams

Our trip to Yellowstone was fascinating on many levels and we are so glad that we planned to see it, which happened quite randomly. We were exploring a Europe trip, Hawaii but they both seemed a lot to travel to with a 1 year old, also expensive. Then out of nowhere we picked Yellowstone - Madhu had always wanted to go there. As an immigrant, national parks are always something one wants to see and explore because in India there is no concept of national parks and it's not a common theme to preserve land and animals in the same way that the Americans do (so she says). For Jes, this was an adventure of sorts…

For this trip which would be a trip also to celebrate Nio’s first birthday, we went all out and decided to travel in the most comfortable way we can. First class it was. We had several thoughts after we bought the tickets that what our fellow passengers would think or respond to a one year old in first class. The best thing would be to not think about it much, also perhaps stop projecting and take it all in stride. A LOT of PLANNING was ahead of us. We had planned to flyintoMontana, and stay near the north entrance in Gardiner, MT - the entrance of the park was 5 mins from our hotel, but Yellowstone is so huge that to see anything we had to drive at least one hour. Our flight that morning went fairly smoothly, Nio was charming the pants off everyone and received first class service. It was really comfortable and Jes did such an amazing job to keep him breastfed and comfort him the whole time. When we finally reached Montana, the first thing you see are the grand mountains, wow!! it took our breaths away. It was one of the most beautiful things we had seen. We were talking that this was so much like Patagonia only drier. While we were descending, Jes got a peak at the mountains from the window and actually got teary eyed. This is the first time she ever responded to a landscape like that so she chalked it up to the Prosecco and exhaustion and kept it moving along. 

We have to say, sometimes there’s really nothing like a small airport. No shuttles or trains to get from your gate to baggage claim, not as much chaos. Leaving the Bozeman airport was as smooth as smooth gets (in an airport with a wriggly almost 1 year old, haha). From the airport to the hotel was a 90 ish minute drive but the landscape was so gorgeous that it went by in a flash. We found that although our trip involved a ton of driving, it always went by quickly because of the incredible views and breathtaking landscape. Even Nio, infamous for his hatred of car rides, was unusually forgiving of the long stretches we spent in the car. 

When we reached the hotel, we were greeted by Elks! They were literally right there, just grazing some grass on the front lawn, lounging around. We went on a hunt for food, but it being a small town, delivery was in short supply so we wound up at the local grocery store for dinner plus supplies. A great way to save money while on vacation is to buy and keep supplies for a few meals in your room/on the go. 

The next day, October 14th, our episode of If These Ovaries Could Talk aired. Yes, you read that right, we were in an episode of If These Ovaries Could Talk!! If you haven’t listened, find the podcast wherever you listen and (SUBSCRIBE and) listen to our episode called "Homo-steading, Pigs & Chickens"

You’d think that morning took us by surprise with how little we were prepared when we went out. But between being really excited about our episode and also so excited to get into the park that we just went! Driving into the park, Jes was again taken aback by her emotional response to seeing the landscape. She just sat quietly taking it all in, unable yet to articulate her inner world. Our first adventure was Mammoth Springs, which are hot springs and there’s a center there with a gift shop. The center was great for planning the second half of our day and we took a little jaunt up to see the hot springs. When we talk about poor planning, we mean that by this point Nio was more than ready for a nap as we were exploring the hot springs.

Mammoth Springs

Post seeing the springs, we decided we’d go back to the hotel for our other supplies and nap in the room before our next adventure out. After resting we head out to Lamar Valley, which is famous for wildlife sightings, especially bison (which are LITERALLY EVERYWHERE btw), wolf, and grizzly bears. The thing about Lamar Valley, is that you just have to keep driving through and hope to see something. There isn’t a particular destination with this one— a great lesson in enjoying the journey. One tip is, if you see a bunch of cars on the side of the road, that’s a great indication that something is there or coming so definitely pause to ask what everyone is looking at. 

On this trip back into the park, Jes brought up in conversation with Madhu how she had been feeling every time she took in the landscape. Madhu’s first reaction was that Jes had clearly been here before, in a previous life. Hearing this out loud made Jes’ breath catch. Even now, just thinking about it makes her tear up. It may sound a little woo, but Jes has never had such a deep reaction to a location before in her life. Two recurring thoughts came to her: first, that these mountains are the original gods; and second, that it was like looking at a piece of herself that she’d never seen before but was deeply familiar with just the same.

Montana Sights

Hoping to see some bears and wolves, we went about as far as we could into the valley. On our way in, we saw a few cars parked on the side of the road but couldn’t see a single thing in the valley or mountains surrounding the area, so we just kept going.  After seeing many bison, some very up close and personal, which was really quite spectacular, as well as the most extraordinary mountain ranges and plains and rivers, we decided it was time to head back. As we were driving along, we came upon a rather large gathering of cars on the side of the road and realized this was the same gathering as earlier but much larger! So of course we stopped, parking practically vertically on a hill in our teeny Ford rental, got out and rushed to look in the same direction as everyone else. And we saw BEARS! Beautiful, majestic grizzly bears—one big and one smaller, so presumably a mama and her mostly grown cub. I think we ended up taking a gazillion blurry and pixelated pictures of this event as well as some closer, better quality pictures as they got closer. What a treat!! Happy as can be, we head back to our hotel.

Buffalo/Bison everywhere

Day 3, Oct 15, was Nio's first birthday and we wanted to check out The Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone. Keeping our streak of grizzly sightings going on, this seemed the most apt event for the day. On the way, we saw some of the most picturesque landscapes, it was truly breathtaking. Bison everywhere. At the center, we saw a couple of grizzlies, and then the stars were the wolf packs, they were incredible. Nio was definitely enjoying and taking everything in. On our way back, we stopped at a couple of places to take some pictures and hang with the Bison. We also had some elk and bison burgers for lunch.

Often as a lesbian couple with a child, we are guarded and less of ourselves especially when we visit states which are not known to be liberal. It happens that we were bang in the middle of one. However, everywhere we have been so far, the people we met have been nothing but kind and gracious. Of course our conversations have never been deep enough to know what they truly believe and think or how they would vote but on the surface it's been cordial and free of judgment. And for that at least, we’re grateful. Jes thinks it’s probably her white woman privilege bumped way up by having an exceptionally cute baby. 

After lunch in West Yellowstone we headed to The Grand Prismatic Spring, something we had on our list of ‘would like to hit, but not totally necessary,’ but we’re really glad we went! Our plan at the Grand Prismatic was to actually hike to a vantage point a little further up from the geyser and was a bit of an uphill climb - we did not truly know how much the uphill was going to be. We had planned to use the Deuter for carrying Nio up this hike which was a great plan except the wind was wild that day. Also, there was some snow and sleet on the ground. When we started to climb up, we saw the ice on the ground completely covering the path ahead and we were like newp! We are not doing this with a one year old on our back. So we headed back to our car and went to the main geyser parking lot. From this spot, you can see the geyser but not fully. We were definitely able to appreciate the beauty of the place though. There was a lot of mist/steam and it was bit dystopian to be honest. Lots of selfies followed. After this, we were all pretty damn tired and decided to head back.

We ended the day with an ever popular “cake smash.” Neither of us is entirely sure what that trend is about but we took a cute video of us singing to Nio and then him mooshing around some icing before hopping in the bath.

Next day we went to see Artists Falls, glad we did, we were almost skipping it. After the falls, we drove to Yellowstone Lake and boy, this is some of the most beautiful parts of the park. We had initially planned lunch at a restaurant near the lake but turns out it was closed when we got there. Anyway, we changed tactics and decided to drive around the lake towards Yellowstone’s most popular geyser—Old Faithful—and get lunch around that. This drive was one of the most beautiful drives we have seen. Yellowstone Lake is as blue a blue lake can be. With the mountains at the back, and the vastness of the lake and the quiet of the land, it was just the best experience. 

Last day in Yellowstone, we decided to take it easy and decided we would just do a simple hike and spend most of the day in the hotel, perhaps even go to the pool. We ventured out into the park to look for a spot to take a hike, this was all without any plans as to where we would actually go. Finally after some driving around, we saw this hiking trail and decided to check it out. It was quite nice to get out even though it was quite cold and windy. Among all three of us, we thought, Nio had the most warmest suit - his bunting suit which also makes him look like an adorable balck bear cub. Anyway, after this short drive and hike, we were back in the town for some shopping and some grub. WE found this cool place to eat, farm to table and which also happened to serve their own beer. No further research was needed. This was our place. Post lunch, fully satisfied, we went back to the hotel. Later that evening, Jes realized she was missing her wallet - panic had set in eventually when we looked for it everywhere and did not find it. Thankfully, we were carrying her Passport with us and that would get us through airport security. After this adventure, we were all quite done and called it for the day and night. Next morning our flight was around 11 am and we had an hour and a half drive ahead of us. The drive was not too bad at all, Nio was just hanging out with us and at some point dozed off. 

It was one of our best trips we took and though we pushed the limits in terms of traveling longer distances with a one year old, we absolutely planned well as much as we could. We saw some of the most beautiful sights, experienced wildlife in its element and felt one with nature. We feel fortunate.