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On day 07, we drove from Bigsky, MT to Salt lake city, UT. So we crossed Idaho state and visited Idaho falls.

The waterfall is man made one and was not that interesting to see. However it added beauty to the city center.


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The Mud volcano is a wonderful thing to see.

It is like a mud spring with boiling swirling mud.

We wish we had more time to spend in Yellowstone but it was getting dark and we had to turn back to the cabin.
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Dragon's mouth spring is another amazing place to see.

The spring which is inside a cave, contains of swirling hot water and you can hear a big explosion sound every 30 secs or so from inside the cave. 

Then we visited the mud volcano which is nearby.
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We drove through Hayden valley when we come back from canyon village. People were watching with big telescopes but we didn't stop and spend much time there.

We saw few deer drinking water from the river. The Yellowstone river is flowing through the valley and that was a really beautiful scenery.

Then we stopped on the shore of Yellowstone lake near the natural bridge.

We stopped at Dragon's mouth and mud volcano too.
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Our intention was to visit Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The drive from Mammoth springs to canyon village was splendid. That's when we saw a black bear too.

We visited Lower falls in the canyon. There was a short hike to the lookout point. 

Due to the time limitation, we had to skip upper falls and artist point. Then we turned back to drive through Hayden Valley.
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Our next stop was Mammoth hot springs terrace. It was a bit long hike and the atmosphere was full of sulfur smell.

It is actually a natural wonder.

It is a large area and we couldn't cover the full trail. It was around 2 pm and we were really hungry. Then we turned back and had lunch from the hotel near by.

Then we headed to the canyon village.
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On the second day, we entered from West entrance and took left from Madison junction. On the way to Norris junction, we got down at Gibbons falls.

The fall was beautiful. We didn't spend much time there though. We tried to cover the park as much as possible on that day.

We left Gibbon's fall and stopped at Mammoth Hot Springs.
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Old Faithful geyser is an active geyser and the visitor center predicts the eruptions pretty accurately. It was raining  at the time so we went inside the visitor center to watch the eruption from the inside. However, the rain ceased a bit after a while and we could watch the eruption at the geyser itself.

The eruption lasts several minutes and it is a really wonderful scene to watch.

Before visiting old faithful, we tried to visit Black Sand basin too but we didn't get down there due to heavy rain.

After watching the eruption, we turned back and drove to the cabin. We prepared dinner at the cabin and it was past mid night when we go to sleep.
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Grand Prismatic Spring is said to be a must see place in Yellowstone. It is located in Midway Geyser basin.

It was hard to find a parking spot there. Finally we got one and we started the short trail to the spring. The spring is magnificent. It is bit hard to see all the colors if the steam is too much but still it was radiant.

This trail also includes the Excelsior Geyser. This is not actively erupting geyser though. It is still beautiful with dark blue steaming water.

Our next stop was Old Faithful Geyser.
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We spent two days in Yellowstone and wish we were able to spend more time there. We didn't have time to see all the places and we missed visiting some places like Morning glory pool, Black river, etc.

For wild life, we saw many Bisons on the way. We saw one black bear too.

The first day was a rainy day so we had to turn back early. We entered to the park from West entrance and turned right from the Madison junction. The first stop was Fountain Paint pot but we didn't stop there because time was limited. We directly drove to Grand prismatic Spring.

This is an abstract map of Yellowstone national park. You can get a more detailed map here.

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In day 04, we drove from Whitefish, MT to to the cabin in Big sky, MT. On our way we stopped in Wayfarers state park. We had bought lunch on the way and we ate in the picnic area near the lake. The lake was named as Flathead lake.

The road to Big sky was also scenic. 

We arrived in our cabin in Big sky around mid night. Next day our plan was to  visit Yellowstone.
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It took another two hours to reach Many Glacier. That place was just magical. A crystal clear lake surrounded by bluish mountains was just gorgeous.

We had to drive 4 hours back to Big mountain lodge and our next day plan was to drive down to Bigsky, where we had booked a cabin from
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We arrived at Lake McDonald by lunch time. The lake was gorgeous with the mountains in the back ground. The water was like crystal and the shadow of the mountains on the lake was beautiful.

There was a cafe called "Eddie's Cafe" there and we had lunch from the cafe. Food was good. After lunch our plan was to visit Many Glacier.
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Our plan was to visit Glacier national park and come back to the Big mountain lodge for the night. It took around 2 hours for us to reach the park entrance.

The surrounding was really beautiful. The streams with cold blue water and huge mountain tops covered with green trees and bit of snow looked like a painting.

By lunch time, we arrived at Lake McDonald in Glacier national park.
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We went on a long train trip to Yellowstone in June, 2017. We started the trip on 22nd Thursday evening and drove up to Knoxville, TN where our friends live. We stayed the night there and on Friday afternoon, we drove to Bloomington. Some other friends were supposed to join from Bloomington. We stayed the night at friend's place.

We left Bloomington around 10 am heading Chicago from where we were supposed to take the train. We reached Union station around 12.30 pm. We got on the train (Amtrak - Empirebuilder) on time and our party of 14 could get adjacent seats in one compartment. Then the train started chugging...and went on and on for another day and a half.

The train seat was spacious and it had a lot of leg space. It can be tilted and had a leg rest too. You can sleep in this train more comfortably than in a plane for sure. There was a dining cart on the train and the food was good. My only complain is the bathrooms. They are so tiny and old. They get dirty quickly as well. Other than that, the overall train experience was a pleasant one.

When the train enters Glacier National park on Sunday evening, we were in the observation cart. The surrounding was really beautiful. We saw pale blue streams and green mountains. We felt like traveling through a paradise.

We got down from Whitefish, Montana on 25th Sunday around 9pm and stayed the night in Big Mountain lodge.

Next day our plan was to see the Glacier National Park. 
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We visited Biltmore mansion in Ashville in March, 2017. It was a 3 1/2 hr drive from Blacksburg to Ashville.We stayed in a cabin and went to see Biltmore next day.

It is actually a wonderful mansion. The garden is marvelous and huge. We wish if we could come back in a summer time.

Inside the mansion, there's a lot to see including bed rooms, swimming pool, gym, laundry room, servant rooms, kitchen, dressing rooms, etc.

We spent most of the day there and came back to the cabin. The next day, we drove back to Blacksburg.
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