Just Another Day in Yellowstone

When the alarm went off yesterday morning, Dan rolled over and lifted the curtain. "THAT'S ugly!" he said, referring to the western sky. So I cuddled back down deeper into my blankets and thought that I might as well go back to sleep. But he got up, so I did too, and soon we were rolling down the interstate through scattered rain showers toward Gardiner and Yellowstone Park. 

Upon arrival at the park entrance, we actually turned away and continued down the "main" road toward the school, acting on a tip that we got from a local on our last visit. He was right about seeing lots of wildlife - the most we saw all day- but he missed the date on the babies. (He obviously mis-spoke himself in telling us mid-April for elk calves.) We took a side road off a side road off a side road, but eventually we turned back as the roads got muddy and slick. Ok, back to the park. 

When we stopped at the entrance, we were told that the roads to Old Faithful and Canyon Village were indeed open. But what the employee failed to mention was that the roads were the ONLY things open! We wanted to go to Artist Paint Pots, but when we got to the turnout, there was still a wall of snow. The snow was still deep all along the route, and there was not a living thing in sight, not even a buffalo. We decided to go out West Yellowstone rather

than just back-tracking. We were nearly to the town when we spotted a wolf trotting across a meadow, watching a couple of elk and buffalo. Dan pulled into the turnout, and we grabbed the camera and tripod and started snapping pictures. I even got some video. As we were leaving, Dan commented that the satisfaction quotient for the trip just rose significantly. (Unfortunately, once we got home and got the pictures zoomed in, we discovered that our "wolf" was merely a coyote! Oh well, he was still fun to watch.) Our wildlife viewing was not quite complete though, as we later saw a mama moose and her two yearling calves dining on brush along a river bank. 

After dinner in Bozeman, we turned our backs to the setting sun and enjoyed views of the glowing mountains. I had to stop and photograph the Crazy Mountains yet again. They are just so perfect with their snowy-white peaks rising sharply from the prairie floor. 

Once home, I spent the rest of the evening fighting with FaceBook to display the pictures I had uploaded to share. If you haven't already done so, check out our public FB page ~ Photography by Dan & Tammi Capron. Don't forget to like and share.