We all had a restless night on Wednesday night, so we slept in even later than we had been. We ate a super quick breakfast, stopped at Wal-Mart for some things for lunch, gassed up the van and headed out for a farewell tour of Yellowstone. The weather was picture perfect – absolutely blue skies, a light breeze, warm temperatures. I think that’s why the park was more crowded than the other days we’d been there. So many people bring campers. Doug’s talking about coming back with the camper. We’ll see.

At the very last second, I mean, like while we were sitting at the stop sign, we decided to do part of the northern loop, going as far as Tower Falls. Not easy for me to agree to, because that section is much more mountainous. Not far in, we saw some elk running across the meadow and into the river. It’s a pretty far shot, but here it is.

Then we stopped at Washburn Hot Springs Overlook. The view was beautiful, but very high. I looked – well, glanced – while I stood clinging to the car. Jonalyn didn’t feel the same fear as me!

We drove a little farther and found a secluded spot along Antelope Creek, just south of Tower Falls. We stopped and walked down. The crystal clear, freezing cold water gurgled over the rocks. Can you see the trout in this picture?

It was all so perfect. We waded out and stood in the middle of the creek taking it all in.

We stayed for quite a while. Even Jonalyn ventured out.

A water fight ensued:
and Alyssa ended up soaked.

We tore ourselves away and finished the trek to Tower Falls, but it was way too busy, so we turned around. As we neared the top of the mountain, we (and about 100 other people) spied a mama grizzly and her two cubs.

Amazing.

I’m bad at distances, but we couldn’t have been more than 50 feet away.

We came back to Cody, soaking in what they call the 52 most scenic miles in America. It truly is beautiful. The kids took another dip in the pool before dinner. We wanted to eat a Bubba’s BBQ, but so did the rest of Cody, so we returned to Granny’s. It was probably a better choice, as we were able to have a light supper. We truly loved this part of the country. I’ll have another post next week hopefully where I sum up my feelings about all of this. Overwhelming.