We soon were on the road to Yellowstone and in a few minutes were passing under the famous Roosevelt archway. We took the obligatory family photo of us all of us together. Gin sets a camera and runs like the dickens to get in the shot! This time it was just to far to make the run and Dane was called in as substitute runner. But we got it done!
We weren't in the park but about ten minutes and we spotted people stopped and gawking across the way. Of course we stopped too, and a man with a powerful telescope allowed us to peek through it and see a grizzly bear! How exciting! He told us he had been following her with her cub for several hours. She was quite far away and as you couldn't really enjoy seeing her without the scope we moved on. But getting to see a grizzly was very special as many do not get to see one.
Our first major stop was the famous Mammoth Hot Springs. What a spectacular sight! It is a huge formation of thousands of years of mineral build up which comes from the ever-flowing water that boils out from the earth. The boardwalk took us all around it and we marveled at all of it. It is always flowing, changing, and growing and I am eager to compare my photos with Grandma Alice's. What must she have thought when she came upon this in 1932? I have had the pictures and videos of this marvel in my life always. She would not have had that privilege and perhaps have only heard stories of it. Gosh, I wish I could hear her memories of it!
The colors and shapes and enormity of Mammoth Hot Springs is truly spectacular and I hope you all may have the opportunity to see it at least once in your life! Go west my friends, go west!
As we headed for the next park feature, Dan spotted a cemetery tucked back in the pines. Tim turned the church van around and we all clamored out for a look-see. It wasn't terribly large and was surrounded by a sturdy metal fence to keep the animals out so the stones would remain upright. As sexton of a cemetery I am always interested in them and find the old monuments beautiful. As always in the old cemeteries, may of the stones were for infants and several of them were surrounded by a metal child sized bed frame. The most elaborate one was black metal with curly-q's at each corner and dangling ornamental balls. The stone itself was topped with a baby lamb, which was commonly done during that time period. Rest in peace, little one.Waterfalls were next on the agenda and not too far from the turn-offs. Beautiful sights to behold! Back in the church van we headed down the road and ran into a lot of cars parked. I saw what appeared to be a big black stump of charred wood. But as I was pointing it out it moved! A bear! It was a black bear meandering through a grassy meadow and was easily seen from the roadway. We stopped with the rest of the gawkers and watched it going about its business of life. It was a black bear and we were really excited to have two bear sightings in one day! Awesome!
Our next stop was at the famous petrified tree. This was especially important for us to see because Grandma Alice had taken a photo here in 1932. We stood in the exact same place Gram stood to photograph the tree 81 years ago. It was a very special moment and I again found myself wishing she was here to talk with her about it. I wish I had taken this trip with her about 20 years ago when she could have enjoyed it with us.Back into the church van we went and viewed a few more pretty sights. Pretty soon we ran into another traffic jam and bailed out. Not far off of the road was a black bear although its color was more brownish. It was hunched up with its shoulder against a tree just sleeping. It was so close to the road that there were rangers there keeping folks away and keeping the traffic moving. We were allowed to stand there just a minute or two and take a few photos and had to quickly move on. What a great sighting!
Up, up, and up we went and traveled through Dunraven's Pass. It was quite cold and windy. We marveled at the views and could see the damage and the restoration that has occurred from the huge 1988 forest fires. There are so many downed trees here in Yellowstone and it bothers me. I told my fellow travelers that I would love to have a huge work crew of convicts clean up some of this. We have had huge discussions of the pros and cons of this plan. We know that the forest needs to be allowed to regenerate itself in a natural way but as we travel along we often see things that the convicts could be improving! It has become a running joke amongst the travelers...we see work that needs done or something that need improving and someone will pipe-up and say, "Let Deb's convict crew take care of this." And we laugh and laugh. It seems the stupidest things are the funniest!
As our afternoon progressed we saw several male bison, some of them very near the roadway. We see the small herds of females and babies further off in the distance. They are staying in a protected group while the males hang out elsewhere. Wish we cold see the babies closer up.We headed back to our cabins and rounded up supper. The kids played put-put golf and I did some housekeeping and organizing of pictures on the computer. It was soon time to head to bed 'cause another adventure awaits tomorrow!
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