Yellowstone Nat'l Park Part III

Today was our last day in Yellowstone Nat'l Park... and it was a fabulous day! We drove along the eastern section of the Grand Loop Road because we were told that we would find alot of wildlife on that route... and we did!


We had three different bear sightings! The first was of two black bears, one which climbed a tree while we watched; the second was of a lone grizzly bear feeding in a field; and the third was the most exciting... a grizzley bear walking on the road towards us... not more than 10 feet from our car! Although there were probably 15 cars parked along the road, this bear couldn't care less! He rambled along the road past all of us until he found a spot to head down to and cross the river... he was truly beautiful!









We also had our first and only sighting of a moose... completely by accident! We had decided to take a detour to find the petrified tree and saw several cars parked on the side of the road, with camaras aimed down over the side. So of course we had to stop the car and see what was going on (visitors do alot of that in Yellowstone!). And there was a lone moose munching on grass! Amazing!


We also saw several antelope, which we hadn't seen before, as well as a zillion buffalo and a million elk... but three of these elk had antlers... another first!


Halfway through our drive, we ended up at the northeast entrance to Yellowstone. About 4 miles east of the entrance is a small town called Cooke City, consisting of a block of rustic buildings... and that was it! It was really cute, and really snowy and not someplace we'd choose to live!

So as we leave Yellowstone and continue home, we'd like to share Ed's theories about the park:

1. The geysers consist of hoses that the park employees have planted throughout the park, and hot water is run through these hoses and out manmade holes in the ground.

2. The Indians left the area because of the rotten egg sulphur smell created by the geysers.

3. The animals in the park are all union employees and are paid on a hierarchy of fees. The elk, deer and buffalo are lowest on the totempole because there are so many of them and they are easy to find. The moose is the highest paid because they're so rare to find. The bear is paid pretty well too because they're almost as rare and beautiful. And the wolves are on strike and are not making an appearance until they are offered better wages.

Ed has also decided that he cannot live in Montana because there are too many excellent microbrews and he would never leave the bars! As it is, we have a couple of cases of Moose Drool in the car, and several different brands in the fridge!

Tomorrow we continue our journey home, with our next stop Mt. Rushmore and Crazyhorse... we'll miss Yellowstone!