Final Destination!

Here we sit in a fancy loudge at the most popular site in Yellowstone Nat’l Park. We arrived at the Old Faithful geyser ten minutes before it blew! Today has been a day of impeccable timing and astonishing encounters. Our hour-long drive to the geyser turned into a two hour trek due to amazing sitings of wildlife, etc. Five minutes after leaving our camp site we were in a back up on t eh road, we waiting impatiently. As we came to the scene, we saw the most beautiful elk right on the side of the road! After grabbing a quick pic the animal corssed the road directly in front of our car! Timing…..

Moments later we came across a studding bald eagle sitting by the river.  As Jameson and Liz walked closer to get photos, the eagle seemed intent on sitting and waiting for lunch by the water.  They waited patiently, as just as they turned to head back to the car the eagle took flight!  Jameson captured it on video.

So off we went. Tne minutes later we see a huge herd of bison scattered in fields on either side of the road. We watched an in credible demonstration of buffalo in the wild. They were “rutting” , where the males posture and then engage in head butting in order to win the female for mating. The kids loved watching the scenario play out for 20 minutes, and were thrilled to see the “alpha male” mount his prize as they ran about in this posture trying to avoid the encroaching jealous male bison!  It was amazing to witness. So, today, so far, was one of great timing and great experiences.

We’ve been here in Yellowstone for four days. It started with the most beauftul mountain scenery I’ve ever seen. We drove from Red Lodge, where we walked right passed a black bear at 10pm, (he was eating garbage and we were terrified). What a cute town, a mix of different walks of life. We Bear Tooth highway travels from there for about an hour and half to the entrance. The valleys and peaks, and high plateaus were breath taking We had to pull over in awe several times.  On our first day here we  walked a short distance to the  Gardiner river.  The water from the amamoth hot springs runs directly into this river,  resulting in water that is like a hot tub and the coolness of the river water only a stroke away.  In some spots, there is a wonderous swirling of both hot and cold water.  We floated, happily, for  almost an hour before heading to the site to cook up some dinner.

We set up camp a mile from the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. You can hear the 100+ foot falls from our campsite. On our hike up Mt Washburn we had views of the entire valley, learned about the caldera that is Yellowstone. This is the largest active volcano on earth! The ground in spots moves up and down an inch yearly! At the end of the hike we saw a sow and her cubs, a beautiful mother grizzly and her two cute cubs. I could actually smell them from down wind. I’m sure if the wind were backwards, she would have noticed me! People were so close to this trio. At one point the mother stands up and turns to look at all the “gawkers” – seemed like a good time to walk away! People seemed very unaware of the actual danger in front them!  Jameson video taped the entire scene from only 10 feet away… too close for my comfort!  But we love the footage, so I guess that is what is required of a good filmmaker!

Last night was 33 degrees in our site, and rain, rain, rain.  We woke up this morning to see a fresh blanket of snow in the nearby teton mountains… where we are soon headed.  Still hoping to camp out… but we did not bring winter things… other htan fleece and wind breakers so we shall see how we all hold up!

I wish we could post some of our fab. Pictures, but the internet is slow, and very hard to find around these parts.  So, we will come back and add a few choice pics. When we get to Jackson.

On to Grand Tetons tomorrow early morning. So much beauty, as the kids say, “so wildlife”