June 27, 2013...WOW! What a day! Yellowstone is absolutely one of the most
awesome places on this earth! From the
beautiful lakes, to the bluest skies ever, the green forests, and the rocky
terrain everywhere! I absolutely cannot
say enough about it! Today was a day of
wonders!
Waking up in Gardiner this morning we packed up quickly and
ate a cold cereal or sandwich breakfast.
We are making great time now with the packing and really have found our
rhythm. Our little group and our church van headed into Yellowstone to see what
we could see.
We stopped at a store to buy ice and Dan came out with a
cupcake with a candle stuck in it. You
see, today is Sandy’s birthday. We sang
to her as she made her wish and blew out the candle. The cupcake was not nearly large enough for
all the candles we would have needed, had we used one for each year! Happy Birthday, San!
Bison were plentiful today and we saw many of them while viewing thermal features. At one particular sighting three big males
were grazing near a water feature. Most
of our party headed to the right along the roadside. But I had spied a trail to the left which
took me out closer to the bison. I
snapped away until he decided to amble towards me. I backed up some and he stopped. I waited.
He began to walk toward me again and I backpedaled. He stopped. I took pictures. He started towards me again and seemingly was
headed right to me. That was it! I got outta there fast and my loving family,
down quite a distance, laughed and laughed!
I guess the picture of chubby Debbie running from a bison was a sight to
behold! They were
wishing they had video. I was
glad they didn’t! But I got some great
photos!
At another stop we encountered three buffalo grazing pretty
close to the road and stopped to watch them.
That’s the funny thing about Yellowstone…people just stop everywhere,
all the time, wherever they want, to watch what’s going on. Anyway, one of the buffalo started to wallow
in a dirt patch. He rubbed and scratched
and finally was satisfied and got up and ambled off. Gin was all excited and ran across the meadow
over to that spot and snatched up a handful of buffalo fur. A prize for sure!
Soon we encountered three large male elk placidly eating
foliage under some pine trees. They were
beautiful and their antlers were in full velvet. The largest one was a twelve pointer and he
came so close to me I could have reached out and touched him. We had a sturdy fence between us but I was
ready to back up at a moment’s notice!
It was almost difficult to remember that he is not a cow in the barnyard
that I am able to pet if I wanted to, but a wild creature that has simply
become accustomed to lots of people staring at him.
The wildlife here is abundant. We saw brown jays, pelicans, osprey, and much
more. We are looking for moose as we
have yet to see that and of course, wolves.
That elusive creature is still on the wish list!
Now let’s talk about the mud pots. Oh my gosh!
I cannot get enough of looking at these features. Some of the blurping, bubbling, mud looks
just like stuff Dan buys in buckets and slaps on walls. It was really fun to watch and we all wished
that we could feel it….minus the burning hot part! Waterfalls and more beautiful scenery than I can possibly describe to you completed our tour for the day.
Supper took us to town in search of supper and
shopping. It was Sandy’s birthday and
she got to choose the place. It was a pizza
and pasta place and I had buffalo ravioli.
It was yummy! Then, going along
with the buffalo theme, Gin and Tim purchased a buffalo hide to place on their
floor in the great room as a rug. Very nice!
We finished off the evening with ice cream cones. I had peach cobbler ice cream. What a great day in this little piece of heaven on earth!
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