Day 10: Yellowstone National Park

 Last night we finally built a fire and make smores.  Eating smores is one of the best things about camping.

It doesn't get dark around here until after 9:30 but we were all tired and in bed by 10:00.  It was a cold night down into the 40's so we turned on the furnace when we got up just to warm up the motorhome.

Up early and on the road to Yellowstone by 7:15 a.m.

On the way we came across our first group of elk.  The mommas were on one side of the road and the babies on the other side.

Here we are - Yellowstone National Park.

The north entrance to the park is the Roosevelt Arch.  It is really neat.  There are doors with a passageway through both legs of the arch.  In all the times Carol and I have been here we have never stopped at this arch.

One of the many buffalo we saw.

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Baby Bison looking for his mom.

Old Faithful before it erupts.  Not that interesting to look at.

Old Faithful.

The Old Faithful Lodge.

Keegan got his lunch in this replica of the yellow tour buses that are seen on the roads around here.

Keegan loves to leave the trail and explore.

Keegan showing off his balancing skills.  Oh, to be young and balanced!

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On some trails like this one, Papaw and I stayed at the bottom and Keegan hike to the top.

Paint pot.

Purple flowers that fill the meadows.

Got a quick shot of an elk as we passed by.

This is the 150th anniversary of Yellowstone so I wanted a tee-shirt to commemorate it.

I found tee-shirts two for $25.  Carol did not want one so I got one for Keegan.  Here we are modeling them.  We got back to camp about 4:30.  The traffic and parking in the park were terrible.  We saw one line of cars bumper to bumper nearly five miles long.  Several of the parking areas for hikes were full with people parking along the roads.  It has been a long time since we have been to Yellowstone in the summer and now we now why...crowds.  All the campgrounds were full which we found out when I began to make reservations.  The closest I could find was 45 minutes away.  The neat thing about being here this early is that there is a lot of snow on the mountains.

Keegan kept saying that the snow looked fake but when he actually stood by a pile and touched it, he could not say that.   I think we are all tired and after smores and a game or two of Uno, we will be hitting the sack. Tomorrow will be another day to explore Yellowstone.