The next day of our tour would take us for the longest drive as we would be going up North to Idaho, and then East into Wyoming for some of the more obscure coaster credits because of their location. We would also get to enjoy some excellent views and opportunities to wander around. Along the way up to Yellowstone Bear World, we made a stop at Hell's Half Acre Lava Field in Idaho. It is located right off of Interstate 15, and features a trail where you can see the rock formations that were created by a prehistoric volcanic eruption. The main attraction of the park is their driving zoo, where you have an opportunity to see a variety of animals that can be found in nearby Yellowstone National Park up close from the comfort of your own vehicle. The first portion of the drive-through features animals of the vegetarian variety, such as deer, elk, prairie dogs and bison. The second part of the drive though is where you see the namesake of the park, bears. The park have several types of bears that call Yellowstone home, including black bears and brown bears. It's pretty cool how you can get so close to the bears as you drive, but it's definitely a good idea to keep the windows up throughout the course. After the drive through portion of Yellowstone Bear World, we went into main building for their other attractions and shop. Outside of the main building, the park features a few amusement rides that are included with your admission into the park (which includes the drive through animal exhibit), although most of the rides are geared more for the kids. Of course, when has a ride being geared more for kids ever prevented a group of theme park fans from riding at least one of them? That idea wouldn't stop us from going for another shameless coaster credit, with the one here at Bear World being the Log Roller Coaster, an SBF Visa 2-Loop Spinning Coaster that is becoming one of the most popular models of junior coasters for smaller parks because of the small footprint that it has with its figure-8 layout. Like others ridden in the past, this one provides a generally fun ride that can be enjoyed by the older crowd along with the younger kids. The visitors area of the park also gives visitors the opportunity to enjoy more close-up viewing of animals, including these adorable black bear cubs! We even got to see some good old-fashioned bear wrestling! They were too stinkin' cute. There were other animals that you could view in this area including a large moose and swans. There were also spots where you could potentially see the bears from the main driving area. There is also a petting zoo area of the park with a variety of barnyard animals as well as some deer. They were fairly tame, making it possible to get up-close and personal. Speaking of up-close and personal, that brings us to the incredibly friendly deer. This had to be one of the friendliest deer I have ever seen. Once you approached her and gave her a nice pet, she would latch on to you by licking just about every inch of skin that she can get to with her tongue as several of us would soon find out. In fact, she was so friendly, she even posed with us for a group selfie! So after going to wash our faces and arms and anywhere else that deer may have licked, it was on to the gift shop to see what all they had to offer. They had their own in-house fudge that was absolutely delicious! They also had a variety of plush animals including bears, and of course bear based t-shirts, some of which were really funny. And with that, we end our visit to Yellowstone Bear World. This was a really fun place to visit for the sake of seeing some of the area's wildlife up-close, along with a shameless credit. If you find yourself in Idaho, I would strongly suggest making a stop here, even if just for a couple hours. Up next, we head East into the Grand Tetons on our way to Jackson, Wyoming to visit Snow King Mountain. |
See more of Coasting with Culture's 2017 Utah, Idaho & Wyoming Tour:
1: Arrival Day / 2: Golden Spike National Historic Site / 3: Driving Trail & Brigham City / 4: Temple Square / 5: Yellowstone Bear World / 6: Snow King Mountain / 7: The Great Salt Lake / 8: Lagoon Amusement Park / 9: Smith's Ballpark |
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