We have had 2 days of exploring mountains and lakes. Around here are 3 different great mountain passes. We enter Yellowstone by the East entrance and travel 50 miles through beautiful valleys and mountains with buttes and hoodoos.

Yesterday we went along the Chief Joseph Highway and then up the Bear Tooth Pass.

We have seen lots of wildlife especially bison and a few moose.

We especially were delighted to see buffalo swimming across the river

 

 

 

And a mother moose paddling with her baby moose

Today we stayed around the huge Yellowstone Lake.

Hope you like the photos…. xxxx

 

Hello Anona Lily Louis Otis Xavi and Alice(oldest to youngest!)

We got some good sitings of bears today. Grandad will send some photos too ( mine are not too sharp though)

We were nearly entering the lake area of Yellowstone when we saw lots of people with cameras so we stopped to see too. It was a grizzly mother bear and one cub!

They were at the top of a hill a good distance away from the road but we still managed to photograph them. What a lovely start to our morning.

After we stopped for breakfast we went up to the upper and lower falls of the Yellowstone River. The waterfall was very full with loud sounds of gushing water.

At one viewing station there was a steep path down. I stayed at the top but granddad walked down. The return up the path was very steep.

We continue to have hot sunny weather.

On the way back to Cody we again saw the mama and cub and stopped again to see them.

Here are some yellow flowers that grow all over the hillsides as you travel towards the park. They are very pretty and as big as marigolds. Oh and we saw a marmot, heron geese, buffalo, deer and chipmunks today.

Really looking forward to seeing you all again. We are having an amazing time but still missing you

Love from

Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Another early start today as we wanted to visit Mammoth Hot springs. We saw lots of wildlife on the way there and back, but no chances to photo as we were driving.

We saw deer, elk , 2 bears, 2 kyotes and many different birds. The wild flowers are so beautiful at the moment

. We also saw rapids on the Yellowstone River where the trout have to jump up stream. We saw a trout about to swim off but didn’t see him leap.

Yellowstone River Lower falls were terrific with very powerful water.

Next we saw the volcano area and the sulphur bubbling lakes. The hillside is described as a cooking pot.

Louis and Otis there is a dragons hollow where he breathes out steam!

When we got to the area around Mammoth Hot Springs it was very hot and sunny and as it is Sunday there were masses of people. We walked on the board walks and viewed the very pretty mineral staircases, sparkling in the sunshine. You would have loved it Lily and Anona …its very magical.

We were hot and tired so drank lots of soda with our lunch then set on the return trip.

Our sat nav took us back the quickest way on a fantastic road through Lamar valley where we saw hundreds of buffalo. I’m not exaggerating! It was so good to see them all and you could imagine how America should be if the pioneers hadn’t killed them all in the 1800s.

We then went up up up into the mountains of the Shoshone National Forest. The road felt like you were on top of the world looking over to the Rockies. It was like driving in Norway Alex and Matthew.

We went round many hairpin bends but felt safe as the road was wide and had crash barriers all the way.

Hope you like the photos. I shall never forget this road it was amazing.

The weather continues to please with blue skies and sunshine. We set off at 7am to go to the park and spent all day there. There is so much to see!

We found the snow and frozen lakes

Beautiful Lake Yellowstone was breathtakingly beautiful.

We saw an elk paddling.

We also saw mountain sheep and birds

Then we hit the geysers and bubbling waters with sulphur clouds.

Here is Old Faithful

We walked along boardwalks all day, looking at different geysers and features.

This is Castle Geyser it erupts twice in 24 hours. We watched it for over 20 minutes and it was still throwing water into the air for an hour!

I took far too many photos today, so I will have to delete loads and just keep the best.

Really looking forward to tomorrows adventure!

xxxxxx

We spent some time at Hill today and wished we had stayed in this town rather than keystone. It has a railway museum and nicer shops not tacky and commercialised like at Keystone

Did Grandad make you laugh squashed in the little train?

We saw a marmot on the road too although the photo is not too sharp.

And here are the other wildlife we saw! Buffaloes, deer of different types, many birds and baby chicks. Hope you like the photos, I had fun taking them for you. I think I like wild life photography best xxxxxx

You’re  all up to date with my blog now and love to you all!

xxx

We are now staying 5 miles from Mount Rushmore and near to Custer Park that has wildlife in abundance and 1400 bison!

Hi we have arrived safely in Cody which is about 50 miles from Yellowstone NP. Our hotel is lovely (much much better than the small room and motel we have been in with bad facilities and useless wifi).

We had a good journey. the temperature dropped 20 degrees as we journeyed over the mountains and we had a bit of rain, we were getting worried! As soon as we got to the plain between Big Horn mountains and the Rockies we got hot weather back again and its set to stay all week.

SO….. guess what we saw in the Big Horn national forest…. 4 different moose! this one was the nearest to the road

The mountain pass was beautiful as you can see from the scenery. We travelled round and down a very steep gorge with a river racing down it. The rocks have been forced up and show rock from 55million years ago.

The last picture is nearer to Cody and had sandstone features standing up from the surrounding terrain.

I will re send my other blog pages now I can access the photos LOL xxxx

 

Hi I did write yesterday but I’ve given up trying to download photos and script and decided to start again! We visited Devils Tower in Wyoming, Do you recognise it Anona and Lily. (hint der der der der der.)

We are now staying 5 miles from Mount Rushmore and near to Custer Park that has wildlife in abundance and 1400 bison!

Mount Rushmore presidents can be seen from a long way away too. We walked all around the trail taking photos but only including 2 here.

We are going to the night glow tonight at MT Rushmore tonight. I hope its good to see.

once again I can’t download photos so I’ll add them when I get a better wifi connection

We finally left Montana this morning and on our way to Mount Rushmore we stopped in Wyoming to see the mountain featured in the film “Close Encounters of the Third Time”.

 

Anona and Lily will recognise this mountain.

This is Devil’s Tower Wyoming.

We saw prairie dogs there and deer too. And Louis and Otis who is this with Grandma?

Our journey to south Dakota was smooth and ok. We went overland and not on the motorways. The road was very pretty and very straight!

So now we are 5 miles from Mount Rushmore and couldn’t resist a quick peek!

Tomorrow we will be back again and then go to see some buffaloes! we are here 3 nights

love from me xxx