Yellowstone

Yesterday we dragged the kids out of bed, packed up the van, and headed North to Yellowstone National Park. It is wonderful to be so close to one of God's great masterpieces. It has been many many years since I last visited Old Faithful, and I'm sad to say that I don't remember it much. I was blown away by the geysers and pools that we saw as well as the magnitude of the park. It took ALL DAY just for us to go around the bottom loop of the figure 8. We decided to keep track of all of the animals we encountered. Shortly after we got into the park, we saw a coyote slinking down the road. We also saw:
an antelope
a bald eagle
a rabbit
many geese
a hawk
a beaver dam
dragonflies
a snake
a lizard
many giant crows
a lady bug
chipmunk
ducks
many herds of buffalo
a pelican
a buck (I think)
a squirrel (inside the lodge)
sparrows
and a tiny mouse flew across the road in front of the van!
We crossed the Continental Divide twice.



DANGER: STAY ON PATH. said the signs every 5 feet. It was so tempting to reach down and touch the bubbling pools. It was difficult staying on the path. We read a sign that said you could be seriously burned or killed if you walked away from the path. Of course, we stayed on the path, but at one point I secretly touched a stream of water and it was cool.

The bacteria in the water makes the orange color.
We took my little Canon PowerShot along and I must say, it took some pretty *awesome* photos. I'm proud of the little thing. If you click on the pictures, you can see their full glory.
This was an amazing sight as we rounded a corner and saw many cars backed up.
We just about rolled the van when we saw this buffalo. We pulled off to the side of the road along some other people. They made fun of us and our desperation to get a glimpse of a buffalo. A mile or so later, we saw many herds of buffalo. Boy did we feel sheepish. They are incredible animals! This park really puts the zoo to shame! It's wonderful seeing these animals in their natural habitats.
We flew out of the park and made it home at 9:05 PM just in time to watch the finale of AVATAR! It was an amazing day!