YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

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The crew, minus me. I'm behind the camera of, course.
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The first thing we noticed, was the flooding throughout the park. Remember, we've been getting a lot of spring rain.
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. A swan, swimming in the usually water-free plains.
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But we've never been here this early in the season. So, maybe it's normal?
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Our first exciting sighting of the day was a pair of wild wolves.
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They looked like a couple of German shepherds to me.
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But I guess it's still pretty cool.
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After driving past many beautiful views...
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. We arrived at a whole bunch of hot springs.
(see Lane, Becca, and Andrew?)
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They were really cool. This one was blue and bubbly. We saw so many hot springs that day I'm not going to even try to remember all of their real names.
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I'll call this one: Bubblin' Blue.
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This one was orange and steamy.
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I'll call it: The Orange Steamy.
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This was was blue and bubbly too.
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I'll call it...never mind. It was very beautiful...they all looked the same.
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Becca and I in front of another steaming' hot spring.
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A geyser.

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This hot spring was somewhat unique. Its orange color looked like a lava flow.
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There we are. A happy family.
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Next, we visited this place. A series of clear hot springs emptying into this lake.

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It all looked like a strange mix of the Caribbean, with its white beaches, and Alaska, with its snow capped mountains. (Do you see the hot spring caldera?)

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...Not to mention the COLD wind! Don't let the sunshine deceive you.
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As for the rest of the day, we spent much of the time staring through binoculars.
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We found a black bear,
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(I wanna hug it!)
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Waterfalls,
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Leftover cinnamon rolls,
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And pretty rivers.
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.This spot was fun because three rivers joined together into one. We sat there a long time enjoying the view.

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We were enthralled.

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Or maybe we were just happy to be out of the car. It's hard to tell.

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My paparazzi shot. Lane and The Beckster hiking around.
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Lane's hero shot.
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I took this picture with Travis and Brittany in mind. But mostly Travis. He and Andrew got WAY TOO CLOSE for comfort about three years back. I cringe every time I think about it.
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Next, we arrived at these hot spring falls. The wind was so cold I wanted to jump right in!

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But I probably would have been thrown in jail. And fined more money than I'll make my entire career. They're pretty strict about stuff like that here.

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We should know. Becca almost got arrested for eating her tuna fish sandwich on the board walk.
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.They sure are pretty though.
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Did I mention they were pretty?
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In Yellowstone, you see LOTS and LOTS of buffalo. But after awhile, they lose all of their appeal, because they don't so anything.
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So I was excited to see these two big bulls fight. I though it was interesting to watch them paw the ground, snort, and butt heads.
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Near the end of the day, we finally say our heart's desire: A grizzly bear and her cub!

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Well, sort of. It was REeeeALLY far away.

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And again, we barely avoided the weather that could have been made our trip super miserable. Just as we were back in the Jeep and leaving the park, heavy raindrops began to fall. I'm thinking that the rainbow the day before was our lucky charm.

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Signing out,

Yellowstone Navigator

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