Day 9 - Yellowstone

6:00 a.m. I'm watching the sun rise over the mountains and the full moon behind me.  I can hear wolves howling in the distance, and cows mooing.  Beautiful, chilly morning.

8:15 .m. Breakfast at Running Bear Pancake House in West Yellowstone, Montana.  Fantastic food and great bear-themed decor.  Outstanding.  Planning to go there again tomorrow. 

9:30 a.m. Entering Yellowstone.  The first thing we saw was a perfect specimen of a buffalo.

10:30 a.m. Turned off at Firehole Falls.  Pretty spot, and I saw a cute little chipmunk there.

We walked the path of geysers, boiling mud pits, and other freakish features.

Hoofprints in the bacteria mat at Grand Prismatic Spring.

Mike experiencing the strange sensation of hot steam and cold mist at the same time.

Boiling mud pits.

Opal Pool made me miss Grandma Opal.

Grand Prismatic Spring behind us.

Boiling water from the earth's core bubbles up and flows down into Firehole River, which is ice cold from water flowing down from the glaciers, and this is the incredible place where the hot and cold water meet.

We arrived at Old Faithful at 1:00 and waited for its next eruption, which was 1:40.  It seemed like every person on the planet was also there.

We saw a huge bull elk,

a trumpeter swan (we got to hear it trumpet too!),

large ravens,

buffalo with geysers in the background,

and sandhill cranes.

We drove to Yellowstone Lake,

and saw a mother elk

and her calf.

A buffalo escorted us out of the park, walking along the road right in front of us.

We both agreed that we like Yellowstone more than GNP, even though it's SO crowded that it's almost not enjoyable.  Wall-to-wall people and vehicles everywhere you go.  Long lines and lots of wasted time.

When we finally got out of the park, we checked in to the Days Inn in West Yellowstone, which is the best hotel we've stayed at so far, by far, and it's actually a little cheaper than the dump we stayed in last night 7 miles out of town.  That was a mistake.  This hotel is full starting tomorrow, but I was able to book a Super 8 near the northeast entrance to Yellowstone, so we won't have to sleep in the van after all.  Mike is planning a route for tomorrow that ends there.