Saturday June 21
After clearing our final hurdle in the registration process, the credentials, this morning, we headed to Yellowstone National Park with Alison and Linda. The ride through the park leaves me without sufficient words to describe the grandeur of the area. The beauty of the place fed our souls. The animals were another story. We were so excited when we spotted our first bison in a field. We yelled at Mary "stop, stop" so we could take pix. After the first one they were so plentiful we let them sail pass us. The hot spring area had a boardwalk around and through it because the ground was too hot to walk upon. A bubbling pot of boiling pale mud was neat to see, but did not photograph well. How the flowers were thriving in this hot soil we did not know. We made our destination in the park which was Old Faithful geyser only to find that the normal schedule for the eruption would not be for another hour and ten minutes and we were already running late for our "Meet the racers" barbecue. On the way out of the park, by another route we slowed to a stop behind two cars ahead and saw a herd of bison coming down the road in the left lane. This was a narrow road and they passed quite close to us. Moms and babies, and grizzly-looking dads. At least 50 passed us. To their right was a steep hill and to our right was a deep gulch so we were all stuck with one another. The next group was running because three motorcycles behind them were in a hurry. Shame on those guys! As the last group passed us a big old bison turned, as I clicked the camera (my window was closed) but he must have seen a movement. He gave me an evil-eyed look and then walked on. I said, "boy he was scary and mean looking ," Alison turned and looked behind as he was turning and coming around to her side, she couldn't get her window up fast enough. We were in the back carrying on, so Mary drove us as close to the car ahead to move a little, and our bison friend was left standing looking perplexed behind. Whew!
We saw elk in a field and a wolf that had come right down to the road edge. This was another instance of "stop, stop," and we took what pix we could out the back window. Mary did not have an easy drive. We arrived late but happy for the barbecue. Another joyful day, and back to the hotel to relax.