yellowstone part two

okay here is yellowstone part two.....   so a blog post about yellowstone wouldn't be complete without some shots of the wildlife.  lots of beastly bison, a few majestic elk and one of riley laying on his belly looking at wolves through his binocs (big highlight...huge!).

the sweeping landscape was stunning...i can only image what the views looked like when the plains were full of animals.

   ....the last day we spent in canyonlands of yellowstone with amazing views and waterfalls. there were a few hikes, one down to the river (that's me and the kids down there)

 ....one hike lets you stand right on top of the waterfall.

 ....the view downstream

and upstream.....

.....and on the other side of the canyon you can hike down (some 308 steps...we counted) and get gorgeous views of the lower falls.  you can even see all the people at the top of the falls.

the final stop that day was artist's viewpoint which is understandably one of the most photographed spots.  

 overall a really wonderful trip.  we have been home now for over a month but just looking at these pictures warms my heart.

yellowstone part one

yellowstone, yellowstone, yellowstone....amazing!  such a wonderful trip!!  we pulled the kids out of school just two weeks in and it was absolutely worth it.  as todd likes to say, we didn't take them out of school, we took them into school.   the first day we drove to missoula and stayed with our friends aaron and caitlyn and their kids emma and wilson.  man all these kids are getting big!

  the next day was on to yellowstone with a quick stop for lunch outside of bozeman where todd's highschool buddy julie lives with her partner mike. 

then we arrived!  ......

by the end of our first day in the park we had seen bison, a bald eagle, a coyote and old faithful go off. 

the first night was predicted to be very cold (down to 19 degrees!) so we opted to stay in the old faithful inn...the rafters just went up and up and up....what a grand old lodge!!!

the next day we took a long walk through the geyser basin and saw many geyers, pools with spectacular thermal colors, and even bubbling mud. 

the second day we traveled up to the mammoth springs area. this was like thermal pools turned inside out forming these great massive structures.    

just outside of mammoth we found a sweet little natural hot springs that fed into a river and the combined temperature made the perfect hot tub. it was a delicious way to spend a fall afternoon!

i realized this post has gotten quite long so i will save the rest of our trip for part two.....

second and fifth

well we have officially ended the summer catch up with this 'first day of school' post.  riley started his last year of elementary school (wow!), and lucy started second grade.  both of them look so unbelievably big!!   

    ...next up is yellowstone (finally right?)