First day in Yellowstone Park

July 14 – What a great day we had!  We had decided to get some things done at home, have lunch, then head into Yellowstone and end up back in West Yellowstone for dinner.  I made a rhubarb crisp, while Bill cleaned the inside of his truck. 

Bill with the Holtzworths

When we were ready to head out, Bill said he needed to stop at the office for a minute.  After a few minutes he came out and told me to come inside.  There, in the Laundromat were Mr. and Mrs. Holtzworth.  Bill coached her daughter in high school and she was his hair dresser (and mine) for many years until she retired and sold her shop.  They had seen on Facebook that we were at this campground and when they came to do laundry they asked if we were here.  The person working the desk didn’t know our last name and she got one of the managers who confirmed we were here.  Then right after that Bill walked in and saw them!  Can you believe that?  Their daughter and her husband are here also and they both are camping across the road from us at Henry’s Lake State Park.  Too bad we just found out as they are leaving tomorrow!  We visited for a quite a while, then Bill and Mr. Holtzworth went over to the state park and surprised the daughter, Shawn and her husband.  Bill was very excited to see her!  She also works at Health Central in the ER and has taken care of him there on a few occasions!

So we got on the road later than we planned, but it was well worth it.  After a quick stop for

The serene Madison River

gas before entering the park, we were on our way.  It was about 3 by now and more vehicles were leaving the park than entering, a good sign for us!  About 7 miles in once we were along the Madison, I spotted a coyote and grabbed my camera, but by the time Bill could pull over I could see it for a bit but could not find it in the lens to get a photo.  This is only the second wild coyote we’ve ever scene.  They’re pretty scrawny!

VERY popular sign here in the
restrooms!

We went left at the Madison intersection and right at Norris heading to Canyon Village.  There we went north to Tower-Roosevelt.  This leg of the trip was not good for me.  I got really nauseous due to the curvy roads and looking out the window.  We stopped at Tower where there’s a walk to Tower Falls, but we’ve been twice and I was really not feeling up to it.  We had a bathroom break and looked a bit in the shop there and I was feeling better.  We sat out front in the fresh air and enjoyed ice cream sandwiches.  (Guess what flavor?).  Then we headed on to Roosevelt

Yep, feeling better!

Lodge area.  We stopped several times before there where I got some beautiful photos of the hills, valleys and Tetons in the distance. 

We stopped a few times going down and it was just as bad for me as going up!  When we reached the area of the lodge and the corrals there were a few male buffalo dotting the area.  We took the turn off to the Petrified Tree

Chowing down!

and hoped to see a bear as we did last time we were in this area.  No luck today, just the tree.

Petrified Tree

As we pulled by out on the road there was a trail ride group out in front of us.  Now we think we might want to do that!  We did spot another buffalo not too far down the road.  Apparently we missed seeing a bear as there were folks parked along the road and a lot

Trail riders

walking back to their cars and we knew this was a popular bear hangout.  Not for us today!

We barely got over the disappointed of not seeing a bear in either spot, when traffic came to a halt!  Low and behold there was a black bear grazing on the left side of the road and the lead car in our lane refused to move on!  We were all for getting some photos but seriously, by the time they moved so we could creep up and

Yeaaa my first bear so far!!

get better shots, there must have been 30 vehicles behind us who had no idea what was happening!  I was very excited to get my bear shot my first day in the park!

Next stop on the route was Mammoth Hot Springs.  It’s a very nice village setting and you can see the Mammoth springs from a distance and then once you get closer you

One part of it!

see the steam rising and the magnificent colors of the formations.  It’s gorgeous.  You can take several different pathways around it to see it up close.  We did that before and today was more about wildlife viewing.  But this view couldn’t be beat either.

Just as we were leaving the springs we spotted a young elk

Bridge we crossed to Mammoth

buck with tiny antlers with the velvet still on.  He was tired and laying down in some high grass.  I’m sure there were others nearby as this is an area we have seen many elk in the past.  We couldn’t stop there for a photo, so next time!

There were lots of places it would have been the perfect time to stop as we now circled back south to Madison.  Many places had no tourists at all as it was approaching 6 and after playing tourist all day I think folks were ready for dinner.

This is where the falls from Tower Falls
ends up!

Traffic slowed up due a line of us due to a Cruise America rental RV who was in the lead and didn’t have the courtesy to use one of the pull offs and let the 15 – 20 of us get around him.  Finally as we made the turn at Madison headed back to West Yellowstone, they turned into the campground.  Bill was just sure they were headed to West Yellowstone and we’d never get there!  We pulled in to town at 7 and it was humming with walkers and cars and RVs!  Bill dropped me in front of Bullwinkle’s to get in line for a table while he parked the truck.  Since we were a party of 2 and everyone else was 3 or more, we got a table right away! 

I was feeling a bit queasy still so did not what a huge meal.  Bill had a huge burger with fries and I had a delicious chicken appetizer with prosciutto, cheese, spinach and a heavy cream sauce.  It was yummy.  I’ve had it before and will probably have it again!

We managed to get home before full fledged darkness hit, as we don’t much like driving out here it total darkness for fear of hitting something way bigger than a breadbox!  We had some rhubarb cobbler and called it a night!

Oh, and we saw a hawk diving for food but I didn’t get a photo!