Yellowstone or Bust: Day 3

(Monday, August 24)

We were beat from our long day of driving, so we planned to sleep in, swim, relax at our place, and explore the town. We did all of those things, and then it was still early afternoon and we were all excited to get into Yellowstone! We bought our ticket, received our map, and hit the road!

We were majorly on the lookout for wildlife, and we were not disappointed! A few minutes into the park we saw several elk grazing in a meadow. The kids were thrilled. We checked out a ranger station and decided that was a good intro for the day and headed back to the condo for rests.

Once we got up, it was such a gorgeous evening, we decided we'd better go back into the park and see what we could see. We saw the elk again, along with a bald eagle, some opsrey, and many chipmunks. Whenever someone spotted a bird, Carter would yell, "BIRDS DON'T COUNT!"

We hit the wildlife mini jackpot though when we came across a herd of bison grazing. (I say, 'mini jackpot, because obviously the grand jackpot would be a grizzly or a wolf!) What I don't understand is all these people getting out of their car and walking up to these 2000 pound bison. Hello? When we entered the park they gave us all this paper work about goring and trampling and all those other lovely things, complete with clip art depicting someone flying through the air after getting charged. Maybe I'm a wimp, but it was enough to scare me. (Although herding cattle when I was a kid scared me to death also.) It was cool to see them though, and the kids loved seeing them up close (from our car, where we could speed away at any second), and seeing the babies.

Terrifying!

We also visited several springs and mud pots. So incredibly cool. I forgot how unreal this place is. It was even more magical in the pink evening light. We drove around Old Faithful, just missing the geyser, and then headed back for the night. Happy parents, happy kids, good day.

Not blurry- the steam was so thick at this hot spring, for a bit I couldn't see them at all, even though they were just a few feet in front of me! It was a cold evening though, so the hot steam felt good, even if it was a little stinky!