Fun in Yellowstone Park

Hello everyone...

West Yellowstone, Montana is such a quaint little town! Last evening we walked into town and it was like walking right into the past. Small, old-fashioned little shops and cafes, old cars.....there is a hotel in town......Madison Hotel....that was built in the early 1900's. The inside of it was incredible....just like stepping into an old Western.












We had dinner at a little BBQ place in town called Buckaroo Bill's. Chuck tried buffalo and I tried elk. Both were excellent. All the shops and eateries looked similar to this. Just a really cool little town.









The weather report was bleak.....predicting 40's during the day with rain and snow overnight. So, that kind of put the kibosh on sightseeing on the bike. So, today, we took a bus tour of the 140 mile upper loop of Yellowstone Park. Our tour guide was so knowledgeable and really made a very long day on a bus fun and interesting. He even stopped to let some kids who were from Florida and had never seen snow, get out and play in it. We were disappointed that we didn't see any grizzly bears, but we did catch a glimpse of some moose, lots of bison, lots of elk, and a coyote. And, actually, the weather did cooperate for the most part. It went up into the 50's and the sun even shone most of the day. It would have been very pleasant if not for the constant breeze.













There are signs all over the park warning tourists that although the animals seem harmless, they are not and to stay a safe distance from them, etc. Well, Chuck and I almost, accidentally, found out the hard way. We had just finished lunch and were returning to our tour bus, which was parked behind a hotel building. We were a little early in returning to the bus, so there were not many people around the bus at the time. We were totally oblivious to the mama elk who was on the hill behind the bus, staring us down the closer we got to her 2-day old calf who was in some tall grass right behind the bus. We were just chatting away and walking toward our bus when suddenly this park ranger came out of nowhere and told us to quickly move away from Mama Elk and her baby before she charged at us. Thank goodness he saw us heading toward her because Lord knows we were clueless! Check out Mama Elk......if looks could kill........




Yellowstone Park is pure natural beauty. They don't remove dead trees or do anything to disturb the natural landscape.












We saw some amazing things on our tour of the park today, but the most amazing were the hot
springs.






















Today, the sun is shining and it's supposed to go into the 50's again.....a heat wave, from what the locals are saying. How do people live here??? :-) This is our last camping day here in Yellowstone. Tomorrow morning we plan to leave bright and early and tour the lower loop of the park and then it's on to Cody, Wyoming.