Albright Visitor Center — Attraction in West Yellowstone

Our first stop in Yellowstone and we were pleased. Inside there was a monitor with the predicted next eruptions of several geysers. How cool. We waited at the information desk while Ranger Grace White (see photo) gave 3 little kids in a family the oath (Raise your right hand. Repeat after me...) of the JR Ranger and presented them with stickers. When our turn came I offered praise for making the kids' visit a lot more fun. She explained the whole process I needed to follow if I wanted to be a JR Ranger, I thanked her, but declined. There was a big herd of elk grazing in the nicely mowed lawns behind the building and another ranger was reminding the tourists that were getting too close that elk are wild animals and they might be hurt or killed if an elk suddenly got irked. We were sitting in the our very green Charger rental car reviewing maps and making a plan when a woman stuck her head in the driver's side window and announced, "I don't want to alarm you...," TOO LATE--she alarmed us. Turns out she was letting us know she had the same car in the same color and our...

I visited the Albright Center over memorial Day weekend. It was busy, but not oppressively so. I had no wait at the gift shop or to speak to a park ranger, and there was no wait for the restroom. There are two areas upstairs with displays showing the wildlife of the park to better help identify the animals I saw. There was also an exhibit in the basement of the history of Fort Yellowstone and how it became the park headquarters. The ranger I spoke to was helpful in showing me where to go to see certain animals, and identified a photo I had taken on the drive into the park as a female elk. There are restrooms and drinking fountains in...

This was a rather helpful location, but that closes only at 5:00 p.m. It's a great place to use public restrooms that are clean (and even scented.) We found very helpful the displays about information on animals and geothermal activity (in addition to even a map of all of the national parks). It was well worth our time ... We had only intended to spend a few minutes there but ended up spending the better part of an hour looking around and reading the information. As a side note, there was also an interesting register of people where individuals and families can write where they are from. We counted over 20 different countries...