Day 31 - Yellowstone National Park

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Good morning Grand Tetons !! We woke up in Moran, Wyoming today at the Grand Teton Park RV Resort to a chilly but beautiful sunrise. We were both really excited to finish seeing the Grand Teton National Park as well as going back to Yellowstone. Tim drank his coffee while I sat just outside the motorhome and fed the ground squirrels some peanuts for breakfast. They are the cutest little things and I don't mind throwing them a little something to eat but I'm not about to touch them and let them crawl all over me like Tim does. He plays with them like they are little puppies or something and I swear he's gonna mess around and get bit oneday. Anyhow, we got everything all packed up and headed out for the Tetons. My sweet friend Robin's mother passed away a few years ago and had asked her children to have her cremated and to spread her ashes in the lake at the Grand Tetons National Park so i took a few pictures of the sight and sent them to her. Her brother spread the ashes for the family and Robin hasn't been out yet so it was really special to her to see the place where her mother was laid to rest. It is an absolutely gorgeous lake with the most serene look and feel.........very peaceful and I can see why it was her mother's favorite place in the world. Sending her the pictures just warmed my heart and she said it really made her day. I'm so happy I could do that for her and she was very very appreciative. After seeing a few deer and a couple of elk, we finished up at the Tetons and made our way into Yellowstone. Even though we had been to Yellowstone two years ago, we were both so excited to be back. There was so much we didn't see before and we were anxious to get to it. Of course we were on the lookout for moose, bear and rattlesnakes as usual but little did we know that just a few short minutes after we entered the park, we would come upon a black bear on the side of the road. Yep, there it was just as plain as day. It kinda shocked us at first because we just couldn't believe it but I did grab the camera and get a few shots before he ran off into the woods. Oh my goodness, we were so pumped !! What a way to start off the day, we were hoping that was a good sign of what was in store for us today. We caught our breath and gathered our thoughts and continued on into the park. As we drove through the Southside of Yellowstone we saw lots of deer, elk, bison and a ton of little ducks floating in the river. We rode around admiring all the beautiful scenery and wildlife and soon it was time for lunch. There's a place called Fishing Bridge Recreational Park so we stopped by there for a quick bite to eat and a little souvenir shopping. I had a bowl of buffalo chili and Tim enjoyed a grilled cheese sandwich and a brats. We continued on our path through Yellowstone and eventually made our way over to Old Faithful. Luckily we timed it just right and only had to wait about 20 minutes to see her erupt. A lot of people had been waiting for over an hour they said so I was pretty happy about our timing. There were a ton of people there and some of them were getting a little ill. One couple near us even put there legs out so no one could sit in front of them. Of course that made Tim want to go right over and plop his butt down where there legs were. Eventually a couple of young men walked over and sat down and told those people to go take a hike. We just laughed, plus the laughing helped drown out the blood hurling screams from the two year old sitting a few spots down from us. That dang woman would not get up and take that child off to calm him down so we just had to endure. It's moments like those that make me so thankful all of our children are grown !! Thankfully Old Faithful was right on time and did her thing, which was just as beautiful this time as it was two years ago, and we were up and out of there. We fought our way through the crowds of people and made it back to Bertha. Our next stop would be the Great Geiser Basin and the Paint Pots. I can't even describe how incredibly beautiful and amazing these things are to see so you'll have to be sure and take a look at the pictures. The water in the hot springs can reach up to 200 degrees and the blue and orange colors are just incredible. The Fountain Paint Pots look like a huge pot of bubbling paint and it's so weird to sit there and watch it and think that's it natural and coming from the Earth. This area of Yellowstone is my favorite and is absolutely a must see if you're ever there. We moseyed on along through the park and soon came upon bear number 2 for the day. It was another black bear and he was right on the side of the road. We pulled off to the side and before I knew it we had caused a traffic jam. Everyone was stopping to check out the bear. Of course the bear was just minding his own business while grazing on the green grass and flowers in the field. It was amazing to sit there and watch this animal as it just wandered around nibbling here and there and doing it's own thing. Some of the other people who had stopped actually got out of there cars and made there way over to the bear. So who do you think did the same thing ?? Yep, Tim got out of the motorhome and joined the crazy fools who all got within 10 feet of the black bear. Luckily the bear didn't pay them any attention and everyone made their way safely back to their vehicles. That was very exciting and we just couldn't believe we had seen two bear in one day. We have traveled over 30,000 miles across America and Canada and never saw a bear and here we were seeing two in one day. It was around 8:30pm now so we continued on following the map until we made it over to the Lamar Valley but not before stopping for two more black bears. I swear I am not lying, we saw two more bears on our way over to check out the bison refuge. That makes a total of 4 bear for the day and we were just speechless !! It was like everytime we turned a corner, there was a bear standing on the side of the road. It was pure craziness but we were loving every minute of it. By the time we made it out to see the bison in Lamar Valley the sun was setting and it was starting to get dark so we had to be very careful and keep a close watch out for any wildlife we may come across. We passed several deer and a few pronghorns but made it out there safely. As we began seeing bison in the fields, we look up and dang if there wasn't some of them slowly crossing the road right in front of us. We stopped, along with everyone else, and let them cross while we stared in amazement and took lots of pictures. We hung out there for a little while but it was getting really dark and it was time for us to go. We couldn't get a reservation in the park for tonight and the closest Wal-Mart was over 100 miles away. We made our way back to the main road and began our long and dark journey to the exit in the North end of the park. It was so dark and the road was very winding and curvy so Tim was having a hard time driving. I was so scared that a deer or something was going to run out in front of us on that dang mountain but much to my surprise as Tim took a curve doing about 35 miles per hour, I look up and there's a freakin buffalo standing right in the middle of the road !! Tim had to slam on brakes and swerve a little to miss it and I thought I was about to die right then and there. Thank goodness Tim is a great driver and was being very careful and alert or else we would have hit that dang thing head-on and Lord only knows what would have happened !! Well that was about all the excitement I could handle for the night and by this point I just wanted to get out there and find somewhere to sleep. We finally reached the exit to Yellowstone without taking down any wildlife and now we were on the lookout for somewhere to stay. We saw a few campgrounds but they were full as well as all the parking lots in town so we made our way down the highway towards the nearest Wal-Mart which was well over an hour away. Tim had to drive very slow because it was so dark and the time was passing us by. We drove and drove with no luck at all until we finally came upon a rest area. Although you're not supposed to spend the night in rest areas, there were several other motorhomes there so we decided to pull in and take our chances. It was almost midnight and Tim was worn out and sleepy and just couldn't drive any longer. We were in a little town called Crown Springs, Wyoming and that's where we were staying. We didn't even open the slides, we just put on our pajamas and was off to sleep. Hopefully no one knocks on the door during the night to kick us out ! I'm exhausted and I'm thinking we'll probably sleep late in the morning ! :-)

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