Two Moose and not a picture to show!

Okay, today we went up to West Yellowstone then took State Road 191 toward Bozeman Montana - I wasn't expecting to see any wild life just beautiful scenery - which we did see - a sample of the wonderful water is shown in this picture. However, Dan and I were just driving down the road with the pups in my lap - I figure I'll take pictures when we stop to let them out for a potty run - when what should appear but a MOOSE right beside the road - Now this is a state road - not a little country road so, of course, we can't stop and I don't have the camera in my lap and I can't get to it right away. Now this moose was feeding right beside the highway - we are not sure if it was a cow or a bull because we couldn't see it's head as we were driving by, but it was definitely a big moose. Now, I'm talking to Dan about who would have thought we would see a moose right beside the highway and we are just tooling along when I look out my window and right beside me is another MOOSE - this one is definitely a cow - she is just walking along the side of a stream. I couldn't believe it - we have seen not one, but TWO MOOSE and I don't have a single picture. Well, guess who went in the back seat for the rest of the trip and who had the camera out and ready from then on. Of course, we didn't see another moose, but we couldn't believe how fortunate we were to have seen two in one day. But that was not the end of our seeing wild life.

When we went into Yellowstone from the north (the Gardiner entrance) we drove along and the first thing we saw was a herd of elk up on a hill. Dan was able to stop and I did take pictures of the herd (I'll post them in the web album). We continued on and went to Mammoth Hot Springs. You would not believe it, but right in the middle of the "town" there were about 10 female elk just eating and lying in the grass. Cars and motorcycles were going right past them and it wasn't bothering them at all. We stopped at the Terrace Grill and had a cheeseburger and fries with a coke - probably the best value we have had at any place in Yellowstone - it was less than $15.00. After we ate, we drove on down the road heading toward the Madison junction when what did we see but THREE Bull Elk all together in this meadow. Dan was able to stop and I have some awesome pictures of two of the three - the third one went into the timber line and wouldn't come out - in a couple of the pictures of this elk you can see part of the third one's body in the trees. The other one laid down in the meadow and I have some good head shots but this one was one of the best shots. These guys are still in velvet - I'm not sure when they will start 'rut' but someone told me that it would be soon. So, I guess today was really a day for seeing Elk and Moose.

We also stopped by the upper geyser basin and the terrace ledge and took some unique pictures. I wouldn't call these 'pretty' but the landscape around these geysers and hot springs is really unique. It has somewhat of a 'ghost' look to it - most of the trees are dead around the geysers and hot springs and the smell is awful - like rotten eggs, but it's from all the sulphur. Anyway, I thought you might like to see one of those shots.

When we got home we decided to splurge and go back to the Island Park Lodge and eat dinner - it was prime rib night - so we did - the prime rib was yummy!!!! (It was a splurge though $57.00 with tip) We'll eat at home the rest of the week end and the probably most of next week. Tomorrow we go to work - but Dan is already planning what we will do next week. I'm going to sign off for tonight - while in Yellowstone today I started with a headache (only the 2nd one since we've been gone). I don't know what caused this one, but I have taken one of my pills and I'm going to hit the sack. Will post the pictures from today in tomorrow's blog. Hope everyone has a great weekend and I'll be looking for your comments.