Two days, Two Parks, Two REAL Bears!!

Friday, August 5, 201

Well, as you can imagine, we have been busy taking Mom around to take pictures, and it has seemed to pay off.  Within the last tow days, we have seen two REAL Black Bears.

Yesterday started off kinda slow for Dad and I - we slept in until 10:00 am!  It was kinda cool in the morning (43 degrees outside - and 53 degrees inside) so it felt real good to stay in bed and snuggle with Dad.  Of course, Mom was up and busy with a bunch of different things, but the best thing was the cinnamon coffee cake she made to "warm up the trailer".  The oven did a good job of warming things up, and the aroma wasn't too bad either!

Anyway, Dad and I got up and had our breakfast and then made it all the way outside to rest out there for a couple of hours.  In the afternoon, we went for a little drive and that is when we saw our first black bear.  Everybody was parked all over the road (they call that a critter jam here), and she/he (we didn't get close enough to check that part out) was coming down the hillside.  A park employee was there making sure the bear was kept safe - geezzz people sometimes do stupid things- and kept the people out of her/his way as she/he lumbered down the hill!  Mom made sure to keep a safe distance and the truck was between her and the bear.  She even admitted to Dad that she gets a little scared and wants to give the wild animals a lot of room and respect.  Mom said she will even give up a good shot to stay safe.  She said, "You never know what a stupid person might do, and the animal might turn on you."


Coming through the trees - looking for food!




Made the turn to come down the hill.....




...OK, time to give this bear some room -
maybe it's time to leave!











At this point the bear was less than 100 yards from us and the park employee was going nuts trying to get people back in their cars.  I don't think the bear was interested in any of the people, but you never know about a wild animal.

We continued on up the road and ended up on top of Signal Mountain where Mom got some good shots of the Tetons...and other stuff.




A view of the Tetons from Signal Mountain



A view of Moran Mountain from
Signal Mountain

Looks like a storm is brewing...

A storm moved in later in the evening and boy did it ever thunder and rain - the light show wasn't too bad either.  We could see lightening most of the night to the south and west of camp.  That made for a great photo opp for Mom this morning...

What a way to start the day!!

After Mom got Dad and me up and moving, we headed out towards Yellowstone National Park.  We went all the way to the North end of the park and worked our way back to camp.  It made for a long day, but as you can see, Mom's trigger finger never got tired. We saw all kinds of animals; buffalo, osprey, bear (number two), deer, elk and all kinds of birds.  There is plenty of water flowing, so that makes for great waterfalls.  Here is a sample of some of the pictures Mom took...


Buffalo...



...osprey...



...black bear (number two)...




...deer (in full velvet)...



...elk (cows and calves)

Mom wanted to add some more pictures, but it is taking forever, so she will try and post some more later - we will let you know when they are posted...




Lower falls in the "Grand Canyon"
of Yellowstone