Monday, July 27, 2009

Day 2 In Yellowstone and Having a BEARY Good Time!

Miles: 501
Low Temperature: 49
High Temperature: 71

Today was our last day at Yellowstone and after a magnificent thunderstorm last night we were well rested and ready to tour one more time. We decided today we would just do the lower loop of Yellowstone and then start heading home. We ran into the same herd of buffalo from yesterday, however overnight they had crossed over the road and were all heading towards this small lake.
These two were still on the same side of the road as yesterday and enjoying the sun!

Here the the herd!
We finished the loop and decided to start driving back home. We drove through Idaho and just before Idaho Falls we saw a "drive-thru" bear park. Since we did not see any bear in Yellowstone we thought it would be fun to drive through the park. There are only three areas in the park that the animals are behind a fence and the rest of the drive the animals, including the bears, they can walk right up to your car. Inside the park are over 30 black bear and 3 grizzly bears. We both really enjoyed it... in fact so much that we went through a second time! If you are ever driving through Idaho Falls, Idaho this is a must see!

Look carefully for the bear! This one is like Where's Waldo!
These are some of the bear cubs we saw. One was sitting up eating a snack!
In the beginning of the park there were Elk, and a rare White Elk, Deer, Turkeys and some other creatures!
Some of these bears were really cute and had cute personalities (from what we could see). The photos are not great because we were not allowed to roll down our windows so the flash kept reflecting off of my car windows. Yes....I tried to take it without flash but some of the areas were to dark!This guy was scratching his back on the tree!

And the grand finale was the moose that I have been waiting for the entire trip!! Although he was behind a fence I was still happy to see a moose!

Well our coach turns back into a pumpkin tomorrow! We have had a very fun trip together, one I know we will both always remember!

I am so glad you guys have taken the time to read our travel blog!

Love,

Christie and Grandpa

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Yellowstone

Miles: 178
Temperature: 68-71 degrees

Grandpa and I took on Yellowstone today! We entered in through the West Entrance and started with the upper loop and then traveled the lower loop. We hope you enjoy the pictures from our drive today!

Just about 10 minutes into the park to the right of us were some stopped cars and a large eagles next and this beauty in a tree!

One of the many geysers throughout the park!
We saw a lot of elk during our drive today, but no Bucks. Grandpa really wants to see a buck elk and I really want to see a Moose.... hopefully tomorrow!



We decided to take this road called the Blacktail Plateau Drive which took us on a gravel road for about 6 miles. We did not see any animals during our drive but there was a lot of beautiful flowers and mountain scenery.


In the photo above this is inside of the Mammoth Hot Springs.
Back on the main drive we ran into (well not literally!) a herd of Bison! Check out this guy and look for more below!
Just as we were entering into the lower loop of Yellowstone we spotted a wolf in the middle of the field.
I had a really hard time leaving this view - and in fact we found this by accident. There was a car behind us who apparently did not care about the views and just wanted to drive through the park like a mad woman so I pulled off to the side and here was this glorious raging river. Grandpa sometimes doesn't get out to look at all of the sites, but I made him get out for this one! I could have stayed there all day long just looking!
A thunderstorm brewing.... we got it later!
The upper and lower falls!





Here is the herd I was talking about earlier.....


Old Faithful


I'm sorry, are we in your way?
We didn't see any bears inside of the Park, but right across the street from our hotel there is a Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center. It was pouring rain and hail while we were there.... the photo isn't great but they were beautiful bears!



Well we are going to do the loop again tomorrow and then head home. We really enjoyed ourselves today and look forward to seeing it all again tomorrow! Hope you enjoyed looking at the pictures!

Love,

Christie and Grandpa