Hello Yellowstone

We left early in the morning to make sure we had the entire day to explore Yellowstone for the first time this year. Another reason for leaving early is that there are more chances for wildlife viewing earlier in the day. We were not disappointed.

The drive through the Tetons was beautiful on this clear, crisp morning. We made stops at several places to view the mountains and to get some shots of wildlife.

Our first stop was at the Oxbow Bend area of the Tetons:

 

 

The snow and ice was even more evident in Yellowstone than in the Tetons. These shots are of the drive from the south entrance to the first Visitors Center at Grants Village:

 

 

 

We stopped at the two lakes on this section to take photos of the ice. First was Lewis Lake:

 

 

 

 

followed by Yellowstone Lake:

 

 

 

We knew that a couple that are good friends of ours was working in one of the stores or visitor's centers in the park. We found them working at the Fishing Bridge store, where they were working for the first few weeks of the season while waiting for their regular assignment at the Bridge Bay store to become available. Here are Scott and Valerie:

 

 

 

They, like us, are sold on this part of the country, and they plan to continue returning to the Yellowstone stores in the foreseeable future. We worked with them in each of the two years we worked at Amazon in Kentucky. They joined a church in Campbellsville, and return to Amazon each year for the peak season.

 

 

There were lots of wildlife out and about during the entire day. We spotted lots of elk in both the Tetons and in Yellowstone. Here are some photos of the elk sightings:

 

 

 

There were the normal sightings of bison, and these are a couple shots - close up - of those:

 

 

They are always around in most of the areas in both parks. The big surprise for us was our first sighting of a bear this year:

 

 

He was a big 'ol brown bear that was just walking along in the brush about two hundred yards from the road north of the Canyon Junction.

 

The Canyon roads were open and we stopped to get a few shots of the Canyon and the Falls:

 

 

No trip through Yellowstone is complete without looking at some of the geysers that are always active and colorful:

 

 

It is difficult to sort through so many good photos and decide which to include in these entries, but these give a good example of the beauty and uniqueness of this part of the country. It never gets old.

 

We made it home at around 6 PM and Josie caught this last shot of the cowboy on top of the Million Dollar Bar in Jackson:

 

 

 

The weather was perfect all day until we arrived home to a brief shower. It was another memorable trip through the great National Parks in Wyoming...