The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone Day 4

Today was a relaxed day with only one objective in the park.  Due to not all of the roads being open, the only thing left to be seen was the Grand Canyon.  Growing up near a canyon, our hearts are drawn toward deep gashes in the earth's crust.  This is quite the canyon to behold.  It is so beautiful with all of it's many colors.  On our way in, however, we finally caught the eagles on their nest.

This nest can be found before you even get to Madison Junction.  All week I have been watching the nest as we drove in and out hoping to capture them on it.  This day I scored!  One of them were on the nest and the other was across the river in an old, toothpick, of a tree.  Once I had my fill of observation and photos we picked up and jetted on into the canyon.  One snag along the way is the new road construction I spoke of earlier.

This time we had to wait in line for what seemed to be an hour or so.  It felt like a long time!  It will be nice once they are all done with it.  Glad they are doing it early in the year and I hope that they get it done before the rush.  We arrived at the canyon and I took tons of photos.  It is so beautiful with all of it's colors!

We looked at the upper and lower falls.  Taking our time and having fun while out there.  The kids had fun playing in the snow, though they were advised not to play to long in it.  The one child that is allergic, yes allergic, to the cold was the one playing in it the most.  Her pants got so wet that we had to replace them with a sweater.  To priceless not to photograph.

This trip was a very healing trip for my family I feel.  It was a no stress trip that allowed us all to bond and get to know one another better.  It was well needed.  I hope that we can do it again in the future.

Hot Springs, Geysers, and Bears Day 3 in Yellowstone

Day 3 was probably my favorite of all days, we took off toward Mammoth Terraces.  The park is doing a major road overhaul just after Madison Junction along side the river, and well, we had to sit in line for quite a while.  While we were waiting though "Afro-man" decide to make an appearance.

Jentri only wishes that I could grow a goatee as good lookin as this guy had!  Talk about some major bed-head!  This buffalo gave us a good laugh and still is.  Well, once through the traffic jam at the road construction we were freewheeling on up to Mammoth Terraces.  If you have been to Yellowstone, but have never seen Mammoth, you are missing out.  They are just as much a "corner stone" to the park as Old Faithful and Morning Glory Pool are.  They are quite the sight to behold.  Your first time there you may think, "everything is so dead!"  Step back, look at the active area, and imagine the dead area just as active.  Mammoth Terraces change every time I go!  They are always transforming and moving around.  Such a beautiful place.

The whole gang..... minus me.

My beautiful wife and me...... dont look to close but I think I am carrying a spare tire.

So, as we were walking along we came across an area within the terraces that had just sprung up.  We found this very ironic sign posted just off the boardwalk.

If you dont get it, it reads "Danger, hot water will scald".  Yes that is snow in the background.  Yet another thing to laugh at and will probably carry on as an inside joke for quite some time.  I took this photo with the intentions of sending it to Jay Leno for his "Headlines" routine.  So, watch and tell me if it shows up, because we dont have TV.  Anyway, once we were all pooped out at Mammoth we made our way back to Norris Geyser Basin.  This is where my sister Jen made her swift exit and headed home.  We walked around Norris for a couple hours.  This is another place that keeps on changing each visit.

This was quite the sight to behold and it had us baffled when we first saw it.  There was this HUGE snow drift without any other snow around to be seen.  Then we walked by it and felt it.  The steam is coming from a couple large fumerols and freezing into snow.  Hence the fumerols were producing their own snow drift right around them and only them.  It was pretty unique!  In the same photo you can see Porcelain Basin, we proceeded to walk around there for a while and then called it a day.  By this time we were all so exhausted with all of the walking we had done.  On our drive back to the "hotel" we came across a couple cars pulled off of the road.  In Yellowstone this means there are animals to look at.  Well, as we crept up behind the car in front of us I could not believe my eyes!

It was a grizzly bear!!!!!  All of my childhood I have been told stories as to how the bears use to hang out next to the road begging for food from tourists.  Well, we feeding them ruined their natural instincts to forage on their own so rangers had to take measures to keep bears away for humans in the park.  So, I have always wanted to see a bear in Yellowstone and never had until this moment!  I was so excited, I jumped out of the car, ran to the back, got out my camera, and started to shoot away!  Now, this bear was only 20 or so feet away from me and I was very nervous.  Therefore, I was not able to get a very good angle and the one time I did........ it was out of focus.  Animals are hard to shoot, especially ones that might eat you for dinner.  This is why day 3 was my favorite!  Just a silly little grizzly bear.