Just past the gateway to north Yellowstone, we stopped for photos in front of the world famous Yellowstone National Park sign.
There may have been some gripes, grumbles and eye rolls from the male figures in the family, but they got over it and flashed a smile for the camera.
Shortly after arriving in Yellowstone, Keith found a one way scenic road.
We took this road less travelled, and it did make all of the difference.
The BMW on the road less travelled.
At the end of the road was a gorgeous waterfall.
This water fall was on the road travelled by all, hence, the large crowd admiring it beyond two handsome Ham Fam gents; Keith and Kellan.
In the gift shop, Oliver was gearing up with the Daniel Boone hats.
Finally, we started to see some wildlife.
It was so fun to see this big guy, but all we could see was his backside as he walked away.
A bit further down the road, another Bison butt.
Oh yes, this is a third Bison butt.
We were starting to notice a trend and we were wondering if the Yellowstone bison were shunning us.
As we were driving away from the storm and through a gorgeous valley, we were shocked to see a grizzly bear. We saw him as he finished swimming across the Yellowstone River and climbed the bank. This photo was taken as Keith was scrambling to get the zoom lens from the back of the car and the grizzly ducked down over the hill. You can kind of see him as the bank approaches what appears to be a plateau in the middle of the photo.
As I quickly changed the lens and the grizzly ducked over the hill, these ducks came rushing down the hill and into the water. We imagine that the bear shooed them away.
We were sad to not have more time to watch the grizzly, but we were fired up that we go to see him at all.
A bit further down the road, we ran across some mud pots.
Of course, we stopped to see them.
Kellan, Oliver and Keith observing the Dragon's Mouth Spring.
Rawr!! Dragon's Mouth!
As we left the mud pots in search of our campground, we saw a few more Bison butts.
This is no joke, really, none of them would look our way.
Maybe by the end of the day, they are over posing for photos.
Then, like magic, a second grizzly bear sighting. Again, it wasn't ideal for photos, but here is the one photo that we did get. He's the little spot in the middle of the photo, which is not in focus.
Again, we saw him just as he was tucking into the woods for the evening.
When we arrived at the camp site, we were thrilled with the location, but we weren't so thrilled that the storm had finally caught us and the rain began to fall.
The boys may have been thrilled to try out their new Yellowstone ponchos while Daddy set up the tent and Mommy stood in the dry space under the trees.
The rain passed quickly and the boys quickly dove into the "no shoes allowed" tent.
Are they the cutest campers, or what?!
Daddy was in his element in the woods with a hatchet.
We had our fire blazing and the hot dogs on our new grilling sticks.
It's a bit more work for dinner when you have to cook it yourself, but when you're cooking over a camp fire it's more fun than work.
Even Mommy got it on the hot dog roasting action.
Mmmhmmm Good Stuff!
Daddy wants dinner too.
There are no free meals in camping. You've got to fire up your own dogs.
We had a gorgeous camp site just above Yellowstone Lake.
Camping is always a lot of work and a lot of relaxation.
Some of us took the term "relaxation" more literal than others.
FINALLY... it was time for s'mores.
Mommy taught the boys the art of finding the right coals with patience for the perfect roasted marshmallow.
Mommy may have had plenty of roasting patience, but the boys weren't convinced.
We had such a great day exploring day 1 of Yellowstone on day 10 of vacation. We saw Bears and Bison, Volcanoes and Hot Springs, Wild Flowers and Water Falls. What a fantastic experience followed up with some camping, hot dog roasting, s'mores and sleeping by the sound of lightly falling rain.
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