Yellowstone National Park

I toured from one side of Yellowstone to the other to the other.  I must admit that I am exhausted but had a fantastic time.  Yellowstone is very beautiful and eerie in spots.  There are so many hot springs that you turn a corner and are greeted by steam when you least expect it.  There are these twisted and/or massive white mounds formed by the steam cooling.  Some of them look like marshmallows after they've been in the fire before they become S'mores.

I actually did better yesterday at seeing animals up close.  I also learned I have no patience.  There are people who come to Yellowstone for two or three days.  People will stay at an overlook waiting for an animal to come by.  The thought of doing that would drive me crazy.  If an animal isn't visible I move on. I saw a lot yesterday because I went through late in the afternoon when the animals were fed and relaxed.  Maybe.  I may have just been lucky.  Today every animal I saw was at a great distance.

I saw a large herd of Bison.  I realize that Bison are not all that much larger than cattle.  They are taller in the front because of their shoulders but their hind ends are lower and narrower.  I also saw a bear with her two year old cub eating in a field.  They were very far away so it was safe to get out of the car.  Later in the day there were two bear sitings but the Rangers were moving people along because the bears, who had new cubs, were too close to the roads.  As I was leaving I saw a group of 5 Bison near the road so I approached to take a picture.  They were down a hill so  I figured I was safe and I took my picture and walked back to my car.  As soon as I got back to my car I saw one of the Bison climb the hill and stand in the middle of the road.  He could easily have charged me.

I went to see Old Faithful being very skeptical having seen it on film a million times.  I got lucky because I didn't have a schedule and so had no idea when it was due to blow.  It only goes off every 90 minutes.  My luck held up and I had time to get a hot chocolate and two postcards, get into position and there it went.  It was wonderful.  It lets off steam all the time but when it really blows there is this whooshing sound and great amounts of steam.  There were no crowds so everyone got to see with plenty of room.

The weather has been really crazy today.  It started out sunny and cold, then it rained then the rain stopped long enough for Old Faithful and some more sightseeing.  Then it rained with a terrible wind and the sun came out again.  Then there was a thunderstorm and as of now the sun is shining as though nothing had happened.