Yellowstone - Canyon Village & Falls

Located in the Canyon Visitor Center is a great 3-D
relief map of the whole park.

The Canyon Area, on the eastern side of the park from Fishing Bridge north to Canyon Village is an area where you will want to spend unhurried time exploring. Plan to spend longer than you anticipate at the Visitor Center in Canyon Village as it is the best and most informative one in the whole park. Don't miss the free film "Yellowstone: Land to Life" or the 9,000 pound rotating ball which demonstrates volcanic hotspots around the globe. It is here you will also be able to see detailed panoramas, dioramas, and cross sections of life in Yellowstone's lodge-pole forest and grassland-habitats. And don't forget to check out one of the world's largest lava lamps which is used to illustrate how magma rises to the earth's surface by heat convection. While there, go ahead and pick out a book or one of the cool t-shirts, hats or jackets for a souvenir. 

Another interesting section of the Canyon Visitor
Center is the exhibit of the animals that live within
the park. 

In Canyon Village proper, you can do some shopping and/or provisioning at several small stores and a sporting goods store. If it's about lunch time, stop at the Canyon General Store which has a nice 1950's style diner with really good burgers.

Lunch at the '50's diner inside the Canyon Village
General Store 

Be sure to take the South Rim Drive to Point Sublime and be prepared to park your car and do some short and mostly easy paved-path hiking to see Lower Falls, Upper Falls, Artist Point and spectacular views along the Yellowstone River.

Upper Falls - 109 feet high

Lower Falls - 308 feet high

Yellowstone River view near Artist Point