Day Trippin' with friends......

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8:51 am - Wednesday - September 6th - 45º F, humidity 66%, wind 2 mph out of the east southeast.....partly cloudy and hazy....forecast high for Gardiner, MT is 86º F, and 82 for Mammoth Hot Springs, WY.

Tuesday we decided to do a little touring with our friends Charles and Bobbi.....we left YRVP around 11 am and made our first stop the Albright Visitor's Center in Mammoth Hot Springs.  Walking through the displays I learned something I did not already know....Yellowstone was the first National Park in the world, not just the USA!

One more thing I did not know, or maybe forgot, is that all the buildings in the Fort Yellowstone sector are the same buildings dating back to 1909....below is a picture from 1910.....it still looks much the same to this day....they built things to last back then, right?

Next we took them to the Upper Terrace of Mammoth Hot Springs where we took the one way drive seeing new features TLE and I had not seen before......

 

The two large steaming pools at the very top

.....when we first set out at 11 am it was obvious that some of the smoke from the day before had dissipated as the clarity was actually significantly better, but as the day wore on the smokey haze returned to the Mammoth Hot Springs area, however, as we drove (Charles did the driving this day) out to the Lamar Valley we noticed a big improvement in the air quality once again....

.....of course, any visit to Yellowstone National Park must include some bison sightings and we finally began to see some bison in the distance about half way to Cooke City.....

.....another few miles later, just as we were getting ready to turn around, we finally found a lone male bison about 100 yards off the road.....thinking this was as close as we might get to a bison this day we stopped to snap a few photos.....

.....after the photo shoot we turned the truck around and began our drive back thinking this was going to be as good as it got, but we were in for a surprise......first we saw one bison just a few yards off the road so we stopped......

.....while we were stopped the large herd we had seen on the way out had begun to feed up towards the highway while we were gone....suddenly we were surrounded by bison on each side of the road and actually crossing the road in places......

.....this was our first time being caught in a bison jam, and we were so thankful Charles and Bobbi were able to see them 'up close and personal'!  So, our goal to see bison up close actually came to pass.....then on the way home there was another wild life traffic jam....just off the road was an, obviously, young mountain goat of which TLE was able to get a good picture.....

.....these mountain goats are quite illusive, so being able to see one, again, 'up close and personal' was quite a bonus!  We were home by 5 pm after 6 hours of site seeing feeling quite satisfied with ourselves......what a day!

We walked over to Charles and Bobbi's Landmark 5th wheel for dinner around 7 pm....Bobbi had prepared Caesar Salads followed by scrumptious salmon and a side of green beans, potatoes and radishes.  We drank a lot of wine, and laughed a lot....a wonderful way to end a very fun day!

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission.