After falling fast asleep in our little log cabin, we woke ready for a full day. We were off to this place:
Disregard the "leaving" part of the sign. I promise this was at the start of the day. They just didn't want to wait until the front of the sign cleared out for a picture. We had things to see and places to go. And of course there were numerous places we could pull off the road and take in the sights.
Thankfully, our wait was less than 30 minutes. We were glad we hadn't just missed the eruption, otherwise it would have been a 90+ minute wait.
With the main attraction behind us, we were off to see how many other sights we could squeeze in before making the drive home. We saw geysers and paint pots and fumeroles and more.
It was an incredibly windy day, so every time we got out to look at one of the attractions or take a short hike on the trail, we usually found ourselves in the midst of a steam bath.
The bubbling mud pots were neat, though this picture hardly shows their bubbling action.
After all of the hiking and sights of the morning, we found a picnic site to stop for a little bit. Considering it was lunch time during peak season, we were amazed to find a place in the shade and much quietness during our lunch. We were entertained by these little guys- marmots- who were scavenging for food. Luckily for them, someone had left a few french fries on the ground, which they would grab, then head back to their home. They would run along the ground on 4 legs and then pop up on 2 while they looked around. It was thoroughly entertaining.
From our picnic site near Madison we traveled to the Canyon area. We first stopped to see the upper falls where we were able to look down upon the rushing water. I don't have a good picture of that, so this picture will have to do (it's the water coming down before the water fall).
Then we were off to our next destination, but not before finally seeing some wildlife. All day we'd been disappointed at not seeing more animals, but it was awfully hot for the area (pleasant in the 70s and sunny). When we finally saw animals, we were excited. Here's 1 of 2 elk we spied keeping it cool in the shade.
Now far away we saw a lone bison. A real rarity since they usually are found in packs.
Then we were off to inspiration point to view the falls from much farther away.
We saw the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone as well.
At that point, we decided it was late enough in the afternoon that we needed to start our way back home. We stopped at Arby's for dinner, which just so happened to be our anniversary meal (happy 5 years, dear!). We made it home by dark exhausted, yet thankful that we were able to share one of our favorite places with them. Dad and my brother joined us for church the next morning before heading to the airport and home.All in all, it was an extremely short trip, but a fun one. We'll take visitors anytime regardless of how short the stay might be!
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3 comments:
You don't appear to be very far from that elk.
I used my zoom lens. We were a considerable distance away. We're not the tourists who practically walk up to the wildlife like we saw others doing.
I'm not sure exactly what but I think there is something wrong with "much quietness." Or maybe it's right, but just awkward.
Yellowstone is awesome. At least you didn't have a bison strolling along the road causing havoc with traffic. Though it was really neat to see one so close.
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