Day 2, Part 4 - Yellowstone Trip

Day 2, Part 4. This should be the final blog for Day 2. Katelynn was still doing really well, the dogs were doing good, and Chris and I were still on cloud 9. Our "final" stop for the night was Mammoth Hot Springs in the NW corner of Yellowstone. It was cool, but like the "mud volcano" area it smelled like sulphur (rotten eggs). There was a huge boardwalk that we didn't have nearly enough time to complete. I found it funny that there was a huge hotel right by the hot springs - YUCK! Could you imagine waking up to that smell every morning? UGH! No thank you! Although, since we were on a time restraint, maybe, just maybe, there was a really cool part to the hot springs that makes people want to stay there?!? It was very pretty though (never saw a part of the park that wasn't pretty in its own way).

I think this area made for some really unique photos. The next two are by far my favorites. I might have to frame them...

Katelynn was getting around really well, and wanted "down" so she could walk most of the way. I think I like this stage!!

A quick shot of Mommy and Katelynn...

And another one of the hot springs area.

Then it was back into the car to drive the loop around the hot springs area. We came up on the Orange Spring Mound. This thing looked like a giant orange volcano.

One more shot before leaving the hot springs area.

On our way to the Tower-Roosevelt area (NE side of the park and the exit we were headed too), we saw some elk! Cool - something other then buffalo! I jumped out of the car, stumbled, and almost scared them all away...you should've seen the looks my klutzy self got! Aw well, at least they didn't run away. Here they are...

When we got to the Tower-Roosevelt town, there were more elk. Only this time they weren't even startled by cars.

This one was grazing right by the stop sign!

So we had about 5 more miles to go before leaving the park, and another hour and a half to get back to the hotel (since we were exiting at the NE entrance and not the E entrance), but we got to exit in Montana! Another state checked off the list. :)
We came upon a crowd on the way to the exit, so we pulled over to see what was going on (anytime you see people in camouflage with cameras with HUGE scoops on them - PULL OVER!).
Do you see what we saw?

Yep! A bear. A ma-ma bear...look closely at the next photo...

Can you spot the little guy? That's the baby black bear!!! I would've taken more photos, but after I snapped this one my camera died. Guess that's what I get for taking almost 700 photos in one day. Hope you enjoyed Day 2. We got back to the hotel around midnight, I charged the battery in my camera, and we got a few hours of shut eye before venturing out on Day 3!