Okay people, did the entire world decide to wait till the end of the season to crowd into Yellowstone National Park. Traffic was busy. Heather and I decided on a 9 a.m. start and the line of cars was long. Our first adventure for the day was to drive through the original North Gate to the park.

The Park Ranger at the gate was not as friendly as yesterday’s Ranger. Maybe he needs a cup or two of some fresh brewed coffee. Hello, do you need a map, goodbye. Anyway, we followed the millions of cars streaming into the park. Up, down, twisting, turning, winding with the shape of the road. We saw a wrecker with a car being hauled away. The front drivers bumper and fender was crumpled pretty bad. We hope everyone was alright along with whatever it hit.

Our first stop was to get Heather’s park stamps at the book/gift shop. I asked the Ranger inside and he too needed a cup of coffee along with some people skills. My question was where do we get the park stamps? “The bookstore he snipped.” “Where would that be?” And without even looking an arm with a pointing finger popped up signaling the direction. I replied a “Thank you” and went wandering after Heather. She had her interest in some new stickers. We ended up asking the shop attendant and she was so helpful. Heather got her stamps, stickers and I got a bison.🦬 He stared down all the vehicles that were fortunate to have followed behind us for the rest of the day.

I dreamt about today’s route and how best to cover the park with the time we have. Today’s plan hopefully was to see some wildlife. We headed towards Lamar Valley. It didn’t disappoint us. Lots of great views and wildlife everywhere. There were plenty of bison, and white tailed deer. We got a nice video of a coyote stalking a young bison. I was extremely glad that he wasn’t stalking me this time.

We also got some good pictures and video of some white tailed deer locking horns, while we were on the Slough Creek Trail. A rough road I will add that it was almost an off road experience. We watched cars bottom out going down the trail.

We saw some people ‘doing not very smart’ things. I thought about taking some videos and decided against it. Just for the fact I didn’t want to witness the event. People leave the wildlife a wide area. If you get too close it’s your fault for encroaching on them.

Right after my hungry deer on the roads shoulder, Heather spied a herd of bighorns and captured some good pictures and a video.

Lunch was late. We had a picnic 🧺 in the Canyon Village. We borrowed a picnic table outside and fought off the giant grackles. One of the cleaning crew member came out and just mentioned one of his pet names for these giant flying rats. “Okay Steve” and all the birds 🦅 left. Heather joked that those birds knew what time it was!

With lunch down we headed for some waterfalls and a few thermal areas.

We ended our second day by checking into our hotel in the town of West Yellowstone. We have three nights here. Tonight’s dinner is McDonalds! Quick and easy. Our hotel boasts The Best Free Breakfast in Town! We can’t wait, I am hoping for some soft scrambled eggs, sausage patties, and some dark roast coffee before we head out to see Old Faithful, and a moose.🫎 I promised Heather I would show her the Grand Tetons Mountains through the East Gate. We will do the full bottom loop on Wednesday.

Mama bear and Papa bear are going through a messy divorce, so the judge calls Baby Bear to the stand to ask who he wants to live with. “Well, definitely not Papa Bear,” says Baby Bear. “He beats me!” The judge nods sympathetically. “So you want to live with Mama Bear?” “Oh, no way!” says Baby Bear. “She beats me even worse than Papa Bear!” Confused, the judge asks, “Well, who do you want to live with then?” Baby Bear smiles and says, “My Grandma Bear in Chicago, because everyone knows that the Chicago Bears don’t beat anyone!” Just Sayin’…