We wanted to see the classic sights of Yellowstone and we wanted to be touristy. We wanted to see the Fall colors in the Tetons. We wanted to stay in a nice place a night or two and camp a night or three in the midst of the park among the animals, waking up to cold air and an immediate sky. Some days we wanted to go from sight to sight; others, we imagined, could be spent in one place exploring on foot or even watching the same group of bison or pronghorn for hours.

We got what we wanted; all of it was grand. Some of our experiences tested us (two solid days of rain and camping in that rain at 32 degrees) and others awed us (two wolf packs and a grizzly bear in one day). At the end of six days when no one wants to go home, you know it's been a good trip.

On this trip, we tested the new Yeoman Duffle (as our checked luggage, it packed our tent, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, and Skeletool) and a new backpack design for kids aged 4-10. We made Packing Cubes out of sleeping bag fabric that held our jackets and served as pillows on the nights we camped. The Yeoman Duffle is now available for everyone to try out for themselves; the new backpack for kids may debut this year or next. (It's so cool we might just make a version with longer straps for us adults too.) As for the sleeping bag fabric packing cube/pillow: we just made these for our trip, but if you think you'd want to use them too, let us know and we might just make more and offer them to everyone.

Shout-outs to our favorite places and people on the trip: The Wild Side Tours (wildlife watching tours in Yellowstone; our excellent guide was Bonnie), Yellowstone Grill (Gardiner MT), K-Bar Pizza (Gardiner MT), Lotus Cafe (Jackson WY), Old Faithful Lodge (Yellowstone National Park), and the Slough Creek campground in the Lamar Valley (Yellowstone National Park).