The Best Seat in the House

Upper Falls of the Yellowstone

I've been counting down days to this weekend for three weeks now! Of course, that was just the countdown to the specific date ~ I have been pestering Dan about a snowcoach ride in Yellowstone for much longer than that.

We were picked up at our motel on Friday morning. As our guide, Pierre, walked us out to the snowcoach, he commented that ours was a small group, and it certainly was ~ just four of us! Pierre said that one of us could ride in the front passenger seat, and since I am prone to motion-sickness, Dan promptly put me up there. I truly had a front-row seat for all the action now. 

We were hardly through the gate to the park before we made our first stop. It was "just" a buffalo, but it really was pretty in the sun, as were the surrounding mountains. The road soon crossed the river and we stopped again for swans and ducks. The next stop for ducks (at my request) held a surprise for us. As I was photographing the beautiful mallards, Pierre pointed out a great blue heron. Well, then... shift of focus. As we watched the heron, it suddenly snatched a fish! It held the fish in its beak for several moments before swallowing it down. 

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone

The whole point of taking the Canyon Tour was waterfalls, and our first was Gibbon Falls. I don't think we have ever before had this point all to ourselves! After spending some time there, we traveled on to the Canyon Village Visitor Center, where we ate our lunch. Then we made our way to the Upper Falls (of the Yellowstone) Overlook. Then, finally, we arrived at the Lower Falls Overlook. This was the shot that Dan had been waiting all day to get! The falls, surrounded by ice and snow, were gorgeous, but the wind was cold, so I headed back to the van. Eventually, I was joined by the others, and we began our return journey. We were given one more photo opportunity when someone spotted an elk in the river. 

Seeing pictures like this online finally got Dan
to agree to the trip. He needed his own! 

Saturday morning dawned cloudy and much cooler than Friday. (Oh well, if I was only going to get one sunny day, I am glad that it was the day in the park!) We packed up, and over breakfast, we debated on which way to go to get home. Breakfast finished, we hit the road. Within a few minutes, we were in Idaho. Dan spied a coyote (or maybe it was a wolf?), but by the time we got turned around, it was disappearing over the hill. A few minutes later, we were stopped to photograph a moose resting under a tree. Then an old building, then three more moose. The cameras were definitely put to good use on this trip!

Gibbon Falls