Yellowstone

I was really hoping to do a camping trip up at Yellowstone this year, but it didn't work so we decided to just make it a day trip. I know we go there a lot, but we just love Yellowstone. We love driving through the park and enjoying the sights, the animals, trees, mountains, lakes. It's just beautiful. I remember going as a kid after the wildfires destroyed so much of the forest. Now, all these years later, young trees are flourishing but you can still see burned out trunks rising above them. It is a beautiful natural process. When we were kids I remember it was Grandpa Bruderer who could always spot wildlife in the mountains. I'd stare and stare and see nothing. Now it's Darin who has wildlife radar, he sees stuff I would have missed if it was staring me in the eyes. But that's okay, he always helps me find whatever is hiding. This time around though, I did spot a few deer before he did, and a moose just a few feet off of the road as we were leaving Jackson through Teton Pass (no pics of her though, we were speeding past her too fast). And now for our trip, in pictures.

Naiya wanted a picture of her snuggling the bunny but Calin kept photo bombing.

Striking back at her pesky brother. Love the face!

You already know I'm a fan of the flowers.

This pretty view is from a side dirt road that takes you a bit off the beaten path.

Petrified Tree.

I didn't feel like walking up the hill to see a tree, so I waited in the car. While I was sitting there I spied a still unidentified animal running around on a log in the field below me. Several other people saw it too, but no one was sure what it was. It definitely wasn't a marmot, so I thought it may be a badger, but the face markings weren't quite right. Someone else speculated a wolverine. Darin had taken the camera, so I couldn't snap a pic to zoom in on. Then some people decided to venture down there and to get a closer look, so of course it went into hiding and we never saw it again.
Some people at the tree tipped us off to a black bear sighting nearby so we headed over to see if it was still there.

This is where we found her, so pretty.

At Yellowstone this is how you know there is a bear sighting. A line of cars on the side of the road and people everywhere.

There she is, 3 cubs in tow.

As you can see, we were smitten by their cuteness so we watched them for a long time. Next we happened upon some mountain goats, a mom and baby. Baby goat couldn't get up the mountain and we watched for quite a while until baby found another path to take to reach mom.

They're so hard to see, but they're there.

On a cliff near the goats Darin spotted this little fox.

Just enjoying the view.

Canyon Visitor's Center