We arrived in Bozeman after staying the night in Helena, and decided that we could keep the dogs in the room there while we went to Yellowstone. But they needed some exercise first and we found a dog friendly park called Bozeman Pond. It was an area that was fenced in on three sides with a pond that they could swim in. It was a brilliant idea! The only problem was that George and Jane already have a reputation of being escape artists. It only took them a few minutes to realized that if they could learn how to swim (they hadn't actually done more than running in water up to this point), they would be able to swim just far enough to get to the other side of the fence and have free reign of the entire park. We chased them through fields and into parking lots before they finally tired out and decided to join us again back near the pond where they originally escaped from. Here is a video of just a few of their antics:
We left the dogs in the motel and headed toward Yellowstone to see Old Faithful and create a game plan for the rest of the trip. As soon as we drove into Yellowstone, we noticed the landscape had changed drastically. Instead of the dense, bright green trees we were surrounded by in Glacier, we were now surrounded by thin darker green trees.
Within minutes of entering the park, we had our first wildlife encounter. Bison were grazing across a river we passed on our way to Old Faithful. We were astounded by their large frame and were careful to keep our distance on the other side of the water.
After about 30 minutes, it started to erupt.
We were amazed at the strength of the geyser and the height to which the water rose.
We were also amazed at the stench of the sulphur filling the air. Ewwwww.
The rising steam and water created a beautiful rainbow that only lasted for a few seconds. We were lucky to capture a quick photo before it vanished.
After we saw Old Faithful, we spoke with a Ranger who helped us plan the rest of our trip. We asked him to direct us to the most unique features of Yellowstone. He was very informative, friendly, and helpful. He let us know that we didn't need to do much hiking in the park and that almost everything was viewable by driving and occasionally walking a short distance from the car. He suggested we bring George and Jane with us so long as they could be left alone for 10-15 min at a time once or twice throughout the day so we could avoid the long trek back to Bozeman (where we were staying at a Motel 6 that was 1/2 the price of slightly closer motels). Our evening would consist of seeing several thermal features in the lower geyser basin.
Our first stop was Firehole Lake drive. There were several thermal features that left us speechless (and holding our noses!). It was amazing to watch the ground bubble and see the different formations the surrounding dirt made. Here are a few of our favorites pictured below.
As we were driving on Firehole Lake Drive, we passed another bison.
Sorry about the dirty windshield. The bugs were no match for the Camry!
When we got to Fountain Paint Pot, we couldn't help but wonder why Old Faithful is the most well known geyser in the world. We were in awe each time we turned a corner and saw another geyser. These seemed much more interesting than Old Faithful.
Luckily, he still has all of his fingers and hasn't gotten any strange diseases!!
The sun was beginning to set and we thoroughly enjoyed watching the sun peaking through the steam. We couldn't resist taking lots of pictures!
By the time we started walking back to the car, it was getting dark and the lighting had completely changed the look of the geysers.
As we headed back to the hotel happily chatting about how amazing the geysers were, we passed something that got us even more excited! A BEAR!!! It was far away and difficult to capture on camera. It doesn't come out clearly in the picture below but you can see it better in the wildlife video towards the end of the post.
We also passed a deer (or something in a related family!)
Just before getting to the west entrance (exit) to the park, we came across this pretty waterfall and had just enough light left to snap the following picture.
The following day, we took the dogs to a fenced in dog park that they didn't escape from.
After letting the dogs get some energy out at the park, we all made the drive back to Yellowstone. This time, we were only 1.5 hours away from our first stop at Mammoth Hot Springs. The springs didn't look much different from anything we saw the first day so we didn't take pictures, but we did get an amazing view. The northern portion of the park looked completely different from what we saw previously!!
As we drove on from Mammoth, we passed this cute coyote on the side of the road. George whined as we passed him. I think he wanted to play!!
We did a lot of driving to get to a few key destinations. The drive itself was an experience filled with breathtaking views. We captured a few of them through the car windows!
Of course, it wasn't long before we passed another one of these guys. They are EVERYWHERE!
Finally, we arrived at Artist Point in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We were told it was different from the Grand Canyon in Arizona, but we didn't know what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised that it wasn't just a hole in the ground. The rock formations were interesting and there was a beautiful waterfall in the background.
The remainder of the day was spent as though we were in a drive through safari. It took us HOURS to get out of the park because of Bison Jams, Bear Jams, etc. Here's a video of some of the wildlife we saw:
Here are a herd of bison hanging out right off the road that everyone had to slow down for.
The landscape continuously changed while we were driving so we kept taking pictures.
Before we were able to leave the park, we spent 45 minutes in a bear jam. A mama bear and her cubs were playing across a stream just next to the main road. People stopped to take pictures and didn't bother pulling over to the side. By the time we got up there, we could barely see and we definitely couldn't get any good pictures. The general inconsideration there is fairly astounding.
We did have a justifiable delay just near the exit of the park. Two bison were fighting right near the side of the road and then wandered to the middle of the street. It was a little nerve wracking to watch them and I am glad we were a few cars behind where we had a clear view but did not have to worry about them crashing into the car. Those things are HUGE!!
We FINALLY made it out of the park around 6pm and we thought our day was winding down. Little did we know that all of the motels in the town we were planning on staying in were booked to capacity because of a rodeo. Yes, a rodeo! We really are in the west! We called at least 10 places that were either booked or didn't allow dogs. Finally we spoke to someone (with broken english) who told us to come on over. The catch? The motel was 30 minutes away. We drove and weren't thrilled with the way the place looked but we were exhausted and HANGRY (hungry/cranky). We decided we would book the room and deal with it, but when we went inside the office we saw a sign that they did not allow pets. Apparently she didn't understand us on the phone and said they could only stay if they were in a crate. Ha ha ha ha. The room IS their crate!
We started calling several more hotels and we finally found one in a little town called Lovell. We drove another 30 minutes down dusty back roads to get to this motel. We passed through their downtown area but must have blinked because we missed it. We got checked in and went to a local restaurant. Our choices were quite limited because apparently this entire town shuts down at 8 and only 2 restaurants are open until 9 (it was just after 8 when we finally got the room). We had some pretty good sandwiches for dinner and were happy everything worked out! Tomorrow, we are planning on heading toward Rapid City, South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore and do a little spelunking!
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