Day 3 - Yellowstone Surprise

Sunday morning we packed up early and loaded the kids in the car. When we told them where we were going, they were so excited. We headed in the Western entrance, make a right towards Old Faithful and made a loop around the park, exiting at the North West entrance. We were able to see some tings that we missed last year on our trip.

It is just jaw-dropping when you come upon a stretch of the road and can see six or more geysers erupting in front of you, on both sides of the road. As one starts, it seems to trigger others close by. We saw some beautiful geysers and crystal clear 'lakes' that were bubbling from deep below. The colors in nature here are a Pantone dream ~ shocking blues, yellows, greens, oranges....

One of my favorite sites was at Yellowstone Lake in Big Thumb. There are geysers, paint pots, lakes.... all boiling and churning, next to this amazing lake. You can see volcanic activity at the edge of the lake with crystal clear blue waters. Beautiful scenery so hopefully the pictures can capture some of it!

We also visited the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The teal color of the water tumbling over Upper Falls was captivating. Not a 'dirty water' teal but so cystal clear and clean that it is teal.

Wildlife was out in full force. We saw elk, Canadian geese, and a herd of HUNDREDS of bison. Talk about causing a traffic jam. The bison were all around us, walking in front of our car to cross to the other side of the meadow. Four male bison were acting really aggressively with each other and were chasing one another alongside the cars. You could hear kids screaming two cars in front of us. I didn't think this could be topped but we saw a mother bear and two cubs amongst some trees fairly close to the road. Based upon her size and their coloring, we think they may have been grizzly bears. Wow!

Off we went to head back to Montana and towards Glacier National Park. Dan has been a saint with all the driving. Montana is a beautiful state. We drove for h-o-u-r-s and finally stopped in Missoula. It was pouring rain for hours and we saw a lot of lightning (very impressive!) We have collapsed at the Holiday Inn Express (and as I type this, Dan has fallen deep asleep ~ poor guy!) We're learning that there is great distance between 'big' cities which can sometimes make finding services difficult. Add in a Sunday when things close early, if they open at all and it makes it challenging.

Tomorrow we head to Glacier National Park. But not until we find Wal-Mart and get me the device to download pictures!