Yellowstone National Park

Our short trip through Wyoming, Pinedale, Jackson Hole, Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park and home via the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway, Cody, Casper and Cheyenne was fabulous!

We spent the first night in Pinedale Wyoming, south of Jackson Hole on Route 191. Hotels in Jackson were just too expensive. We LOVED Pinedale; it's a super clean and friendly mountain town. We stayed at the Best Western and shared a delicious bison burger on the new deck of the Wind River Brewing Company. (...and, yes, their beer is yummy!)

Fremont Lake is located just outside Pinedale. We headed out shortly after arriving to walk the trails, do a little birding and get some exercise before dinner.

Every time I see an interesting butterfly I think of Megan and just have to get a good picture for her. I'm sure she will help with identification.

What a treat to spot this Yellow Warbler!

This Song Sparrow was singing his heart out.

Once he turned around so I could see the prominent central spot on his chest, I could make positive identification.

Swallows were everywhere! This is a Tree Swallow.

Another Tree Swallow.

And Another...

I loved the beautiful wild flowers!

This is our first look at the Grand Tetons. Wow. This picture was taken from Jackson Hole where, in the Fall and Winter, thousands and thousands of Elk gather. I would love to see that!

A little further up the road we saw a mamma Black Bear with 3 cubs. It's not a very good picture - but you can tell it's a bear.

Once inside Yellowstone, we went to see Old Faithful. We arrived just as she was about to spout.

It was interesting but a little anti-climatic after seeing so many pictures and videos over the years.

The Old Faithful Inn was far more impressive!

There were lots of waterfalls throughout the Park and we saw most of them!

How cool is this? We saw the most game early in the morning - including this impressive herd of Elk.

An Elk calf with mom close by.

Bison! We saw hundreds - maybe thousands - of Wood Bison.

We thought this bison was a statue because he was very still - and very close to the Lake Yellowstone cabins. He wasn't.

This is a typical vista in the park.

There were quite a few bison calves.

Another typical park vista.

More wild flowers.

A very friendly Uinta Ground Squirrel atop Mount Washburn. I'm still editing images from our trip including all the fabulous geo-thermal features, the Grizzly Bear, lots of ducks, a fantastic Life Bird and a close encounter with a coyote.