We had SNOW much fun in Yellowstone! ...Day 3 of our "Grand" holiday!

Our 13 hour Yellowstone National Park adventure was one for the Rahn memory books! Definitely a day full of fun and LOTS of snow!!

We awoke to a winter storm warning for Yellowstone and Teton National Parks and reassurance that excursions don't cancel unless there is a "crazy" amount of snow...so we were on!

6:00 a.m. and we were in the lobby of our  hotel waiting to be picked up by Scenic Safaris for our 12 hour Snowcoach tour into Yellowstone to see Old Faithful and other stops along the way.

We were picked up and driven in a regular bus/van type of vehicle to the boundary of Yellowstone. It was about 1 1/2 hour drive in pouring, blowing snow and dark...luckily Cooper, our guide for the day was ready to go and not worried at all.

We arrived at Flagg Ranch, 2 miles outside of Yellowstone to transfer to our snowcoach. First we had a delicious hot breakfast buffet that was included in our package. The ranch was the home base for Scenic Safaris and there was a row of vehicles ready for the many tours that were scheduled for today.

eyes closed, but great breakfast!

We boarded our vehicle for the rest of the day! It was an oversnow vehicle because Yellowstone is closed to car traffic from Dec. 15 to March from the south entrance. The only way to get into Yellowstone from the Tetons in the winter is with a tour like this one or a snowmobile tour.

Our first stop at a valley as the sun was trying to pop out as it continued to pour snow!

Cooper our tour guide, checking out where the cliff started in the deep snow...so that we wouldn't get too close to the edge. He works winters doing these tours and summers at Signal Mountain Lodge.

The beginning of our winter wonderland adventure! SOOO much snow!

We made it to some of the geothermal sources in the park that are visible in the winter. Pretty amazing how the hot water/ground surface just keeps bubbling with all of the snow around it!

This tree below is covered with the frozen water from the little geysers that constantly erupts and sends hot steam into the air. It was so pretty!

It was pouring snow and blowing it sideways as we posed in front of a geyser that was erupting while we were there. If you squint you can see the steam in the background from the geyser erupting.

We then headed to Old Faithful and tried to catch it's eruption. The times are publicized and are within a + or - 15 minute window. We arrived at the beginning of the window and it was going off. We didn't really see it, except for the end....below is Carleigh walking up to the spot and Old Faithful is finishing in the background.

After Old Faithful, we had lunch that was included in our tour and then began the LONG journey back! Being on the snowcoach with the track tires was very beneficial for the snow we had today and for traveling over the snow that hasn't been touched in Yellowstone AND it is one of the slowest moving vehicles I have ever been on. They can go up to 25 mph and due to all of the soft snow it was fighting against, we were nowhere near that for the entire trip.

On our way out we stopped to watch the lonely bison in the distance. He was beautiful and probably very cold.

that was about how far we were from him. We were up on a bridge.

 Our next stop was at a waterfall. It was so pretty, looked like a postcard.

the winter scenery is so beautiful

We then found Lewis Lake and Lewis falls. More great photo ops and the scenery looks fake - like we are standing in front of a fake background. It was truly magical with the snow pouring down on top of us.

I think this pic in particular looks fake!

 As we were finally exiting the park at 5:00 p.m. we stopped for the obligatory picture at the park entrance.

We drove the additional two miles to the Flagg Ranch and were never so happy to see this little guy!

While we waited for Cooper to clean off our snowcoach, we hung out inside. He finished his "chores" and then we transferred back to the bus to shuttle back to our hotel. We forgot that it was ANOTHER 1 1/2 hours through the Tetons to get to our hotel.

We finally arrived back at Teton Mountain Lodge at about 7:45 p.m. and ordered carry out dinner from another restaurant across the way for dinner and relaxed.

It was a beautiful and LONG day!! Tomorrow is a relaxing day and the last day of 2018.

Stay Tuned as we hang out in Teton Village all day with many New Year's Eve activities including:

• riding the Tram to the Top of the World

• riding the Bridger Gondola to mid-mountain for lunch

• watching the Torchlight parade down the mountain after dark

• watching the New Year's Eve

• Watching New Year's Eve fireworks over the mountain 

It's always Seldom A Dull Moment with the Rahns as we welcome 2019!!