Yellowstone – Day 3 – It's a Wonderful Life!

We seemed to be dragging butt this morning. Neither one of us moved when the alarm went off at 7am. It was somewhere around 7:30 when decided to roll out of bed. I had started packing some stuff last night so it really didn’t take us long to gather it all up and toss it in the car. We were so ready to get out of there and were on the road by about 8:15.

I snapped some beautiful scenery and bison on the side of the road during the drive to Mammoth Hot Springs. From what we had read and researched of this area we were excited see it first hand. I hate to say it but it was kind of a let down. There just wasn’t much going on to hold our interest. Not sure if maybe the pics we had seen were taken during a different season or what. So we didn’t stay too long in that little village. Instead we drove the next 5 miles to exit the park so we could see the original Roosevelt North Park Entrance. That was cool.

We found this little spot for lunch called Rosie’s Bistro. Food was not bad at all. But let’s be fair; our bar had been destroyed over the last two days at Old Faithful. So we headed towards Tower Roosevelt Junction next. Stopped at a couple of falls that were alongside the road.

Also had to stop and snap some more gorgeous scenery shots alongside the road. The terrain is just so different in this part of the park. We did see some more steaming pots by the road and off in the distance.

Another few miles down the road (close to Tower Juntion) we saw lots of cars stopped and people out all over the road with cameras. Bob asked what they were seeing. A mama bear and her two cubs. Needless to say we found a spot to pull over as well and jumped out of the car! They were down in a little gulley area and not very easy to see. We still took a bunch of pics but I didn’t have high hopes they’d come out good. They didn’t. I kept a couple just for documentation. LOL

More scenery shots on the way to Canyon, where we are going to be for the next four nights.

It was around 4pm by the time we made it to the lodge. After checking in and unloading the car we rode over to the village area just to acquaint ourselves with the area and see what was available. Honestly the main reason we wanted to go over there was to check out the food choices. Jackson Lake Lodge was so good and Old Faithful was so bad, we really didn’t know what to expect. Thank goodness we were delighted to find what appears to be real food in several different areas.

Since we had a little time before dinner, we drove to the North and South rims of the canyon and also went several miles into Hayden Valley (where there is supposed to be a plethora of wild life to spot). Again we ran into the buses issues. It just wasn’t worth it. So we went back to M66 (Canyon’s quality dining restaurant) to see if we could get in for dinner. There was only a 20 min wait so we just hung out until we were called for a table. Bob ordered a ravioli dish and I chose a chili with salad. I am very happy to report that it was an enjoyable experience all around. People were nice, courteous and friendly – the food and service was great. We are so thrilled we have some better food choices here.

We had been dragging all day and really weren’t planning to go back out after dinner. But after getting some fuel in us we felt better and couldn’t stand not going back out for the evening chasing a sunset or wildlife. We did see some wildlife (bison, elk, ducks, geese, etc) but not really anything drastically different than we’ve already photographed. So we ended up back at the Lower Falls overlook to play with some waterfall pics.

Oh I almost forgot! I’m not sure how I forgot this little tidbit. There is a petrified tree trunk here. And it’s a BIG deal! There is even a fence around it! Fro! It used to be a giant redwood back in its day. They had to put a fence around it because idiots ravaged it for souvenirs. Anyho, here is our obligatory petrified tree trunk pic.