Yellowstone Day Two!

After a good night's sleep, a yummy waffle breakfast, dinner put into the crock-pot to cook all day while we were gone and a picnic lunch, snacks, water, sunglasses, sunscreen, bug spray, bathing suits, towels, cameras, "nocanillars" (binoculars, for those of you who aren't in the know), park map, and iPad all packed...we hit the road for day two of Yellowstone. It really is a bit funny how much "stuff" it takes for all of us to go out for a day of adventure! We should have had our first clue on how the day would go by the line of cars, a few blocks long, just to get into the park...there was ALOT of people in Yellowstone today!! We did make the best of it, but it took much more time than we expected :-)). Yesterday we took more of a southerly route, so today we went north. We went first to Tower Falls which was a beautiful, large waterfall just right off the road. Along the way we HAD to stop to see the pair of "ginormous" 6x6 bull elk hanging out near the river. They were spectacular!! Even though I have "Ed" the elk hanging above my own fireplace at home that I get to look at everyday, these were "way-cooler" and we got some great pictures of them. (I know, I know...you are wandering what everyone else is wandering..."where are the pictures??"). John is working on it, I promise. We purchased an app yesterday in hopes of ,using it to help us get our pictures from our iPad to our blog page, so hopefully pictures will soon be following?! After the waterfall, we decided to find a place to stop and have our picnic. Well, everyone else had the same idea at the same time so it was not quite the picturesque picnic in Yellowstone we had planned on, but it did provide the necessary nourishment to continue on. So on to Mammoth Hot Springs we went. I really enjoyed these, once we got there...as we had to wait in a large traffic jam as a mother bear and her two cubs leisurely crossed the road. Sadly, by the time we had gotten through, the bears had gone down the hill, so we didn't get to see them :-(. But we did get to enjoy the beautiful Mammoth Spring cascades and terraces and these are gorgeous!! These thermal formations change dramatically as time passes because up to 8 inches of travertine can be deposited along the terraces each year. Hopefully pictures of these will show up in the upcoming picture gallery! Now granted, the air totally reeks of hot, sulphur gas (aka...rotten eggs!), but these formations were definately worth seeing, even if you have to plug your nose, like Luke did!! So, day two of Yellowstone came to a close as we sighted more buffalo and cow elk and another bald eagle and lots and lots of people!! By the way, for those of you who have never seen Yellowstone (which was all of us), expect A LOT of dead timber. There was a devastating fire that occurred in 1988 (approximately 25 years ago) that burned about 35% of the national park and all of the dead timbers are STILL standing or laying around. Unfortunately, our family had decided that these charred timbers distract from the beauty of the area so we are brainstorming ideas of how to clean up Yellowstone and get rid of the dead trees that litter the hillsides. Perhaps this will become a future science project of one of our homeschooled kiddos?!? Well, again it's time to say good night. Tomorrow and Wednesday (the 4th) we will most likely not go into the park, in hopes to avoid some of the holiday crowds, so swimming and fishing may be in order for the next couple of days. Mama Lynch...just wanted to say a big THANK YOU for the baked oatmeal that soaks in my refrigerator over night and will await me for breakfast in the morning...I LOVE that stuff!! Blessings from the Lioness and her pride.