Yellowstone National Park is home to one of the largest populations of grizzly bears in the United States. These majestic creatures play an important role in the park’s ecosystem, and are a must see attraction for visitors.

Inspiring travel stories, tips, and guides from a couple exploring the world one destination at a time.
Yellowstone National Park is home to one of the largest populations of grizzly bears in the United States. These majestic creatures play an important role in the park’s ecosystem, and are a must see attraction for visitors.

Last Updated: October 11, 2026
The Grand Loop Road was not built for cars. Army engineers laid it out for stagecoaches, and for its first decade nobody was allowed to drive an automobile on it at all.

It is the figure eight of roughly 140 miles that ties together every major feature in Yellowstone, and driving all of it in one day can take four to seven hours depending on wildlife and traffic. We spent the first part of June 2022 working through it from West Yellowstone, Montana, about an hour and a half from Fishing Bridge. We were last here in the fall of 2020.
[Read more…] about Grand Loop Road, Yellowstone: A Stagecoach Road, a Basin That Blew Up and the Head of the MissouriLast Updated: October 10, 2026
Since 1995 the National Park Service has killed more than three million trout in Yellowstone Lake on purpose. It does it with gillnets, from contracted boats, every summer, and the whole point of it is to save a different trout.

Fishing Bridge is where the lake turns into the Yellowstone River, and it is the place where that story is easiest to see. We spent a week here at the end of May and into June 2022, parked in the RV park just east of the bridge, and it snowed on us.
[Read more…] about Fishing Bridge, Yellowstone: The Bridge Closed to Fishing and the Trout Nobody InvitedLast Updated: July 17, 2026
Grand Teton National Park is in northwestern Wyoming, just south of Yellowstone National Park, established in 1929 and covering approximately 310,000 acres of some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in North America. We hadn’t been here in over ten years, and were looking forward to reuniting with the striking Teton Range — though wildfire smoke from blazes across the West would test our patience, nearly obscuring the peaks on some days. From Thayne, Wyoming it was a two-hour drive north along the Snake River corridor.

Last Updated: May 2026
From Banff we drove four hours north to Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada along the jaw-dropping Icefields Parkway. The parkway is an absolute must when visiting the Canadian Rockies — do not rush it.

Last Updated: May 2026
From Missoula, Montana we headed north to Glacier National Park. The rugged, snow-capped mountains straddling the Continental Divide were breathtaking. The drive from Missoula was scenic throughout, especially along the western shore of Flathead Lake. We stocked up in Kalispell — it has a Costco — though we had to be strategic, as fresh vegetables, fruits, meat, dairy, poultry, and alcohol are restricted when crossing into Canada.
