Yellowstone: what's the big deal about it?

rexlion wrote:
I would like to ask those of you who think Yellowstone NP is worth 3, 4, 7 or even more days of a vacation, what do you find so interesting there? Maybe I'm missing it, and you can help me know what I should be seeing there.

I've been to Yellowstone twice. First time was at about age 12 with my parents. With a 22' Winnebago MH we drove across Canada (starting in Michigan), through Banff and Yoho, then to the Seattle area where we visited with my eldest brother for a day. Then we returned east through Montana, went into Yellowstone for a day, continued east to Mount Rushmore, and eventually back home to MI. After seeing the spectacular snow-capped Canadian Rockies grow ever larger as we moved west from Calgary, and then camping near the foot of Takkakaw Falls, and seeing Lake Louise and Emerald Lake and the hoodoos, the US Rockies seemed like plain vanilla by comparison.


Then about 14-15 years ago my wife and I towed a popup and spent a day in the Tetons (which I really liked and want to spend more time at), then a day in Yellowstone, then headed to Idaho to visit the same brother (who moved from WA eventually to ID). We saw Lewis Falls, the paint pots and steaming pools near Yellowstone Lake, the big waterfall in the canyon, some bison, a couple of bears, and Old Faithful. Old Faithful was not very faithful to us, BTW; when it was 40 minutes overdue we headed back toward the van, only to have it blow when we neared the parking lot. After one day we felt like we had seen about everything worth seeing. What did we miss?

*****

Pretty interesting comments here - lots of difference of opinion. So, Monkey44 will give one more. If you need to ask why Yellowstone is such a great national park, you probably shouldn't bother going because you'll never "get it" ... some folks enjoy the wilderness, the beauty of it and it's critters and vegetation and geology, some don't. If you don't - then best to stay home and leave room for those of us who do enjoy it.