Big Trip, Yellowstone

(This is quite delayed, but I'd like to finish the Big Trip blogs!) We camped 3 nights in Yellowstone.                                                     

You know, the kids were remarkably good sports about having their picture made: 

The kids in front of their tent: 

And the kids in their tent  (reading): 

Our campsite was very wooded: 

This shows more of the set-up: 

Sam & I had the smaller tent: 

We ate one dinner at one of the visitor's center - and it cost $100 for a remarkably mediocre meal! Ha! It was convenient, though. We also took a shower - James and Sam went through the men's line and were completely done before the girls and I got even part way through the line. 

We saw the Grand Prismatic Spring two different ways - first we went on a hot hike up to see if from the overlook & a different day we went right to it and walked around on the boardwalk. 

It was steamy! 

Old Faithful: 

Look how many people were there!

At the visitors center: 

And then this was just when we stopped off at a scenic point & tromped around: 

The grand canyon of Yellowstone: 

We took lots of pictures there - it was very scenic & not crowded & we went at the end of the day so it was nice & cool: 

And now for the wildlife portion of the program. I thought this one must have been a moose, it was so gigantic. But I was assured that moose are even larger & it was an elk (still very gigantic!) 

A coyote RIGHT by the car: 

Bighorn sheep: 

Always cool to see the bison. I liked seeing them in the big herds, too, and rolling around in the grass: 

Sam took the kids to a ranger talk where they learned about the reintroduction of wolves to the park & how that benefited the flora (and other things!) But we all enjoyed the wildflowers everywhere! The 200 or so wolves in the park keep the 70,000 or so elk on the move, which allows the flowers & other plants to grow. 

I forget where this was, but we had to park a fair ways away & walk along the road to see a feature, and there was a path through the woods to get there & someone built this: 

No pictures of the incredibly stinky Mud Volcano geothermic features. Also no pictures of the big lily pads and trumpeter swans at the continental divide - but we saw them twice and they were very cool!