Yellowstone National Park

I've been out and about roaming around this great country of ours for the past few days. My mom decided it was a good idea to wake us all up at 3:50 am to start out. I was not a happy camper. At all. In fact, it wouldn't be too inaccurate to say I reverted back into a two year old and had a straight tantrum. (I thought we were waking up at 6 or so.)

Anywho... drama aside, we made it to the park about 9 am and immediately saw a herd of elk camped out where all the picnic tables were behind a "don't approach the wildlife" sign. There was one that walked right on up to this old Asian lady sitting at a picnic table in the shade minding her own business, and licked her in the face 4-6 times. It was really funny.

We saw a ton of animals over the two days we were there. It felt like we were on a safari. We saw lots of elk, lots of bison, some pronghorn sheep, some deer, some prairie dogs, what we think was a marmot, an otter, a coyote, and a bear!!! (who was happily nomming on some purple flowers). The only thing we didn't see that we wanted to was a moose.























Another major reason people visit Yellowstone is for all of it's unique geologic features. It's a very active area. Boiling ponds of acid, rainbow colored hot springs, steaming vents, bubbling mud puddles, exploding geysers. We found a vent that had opened up right in the middle of a parking area. And of course there is the incredible natural beauty: waterfalls, streams and rivers, mountains, cliffs, rolling grassy hills...