Above the Rest Lodge Gardiner

Der absolute Hammer...auch unser zweiter, dritter und vierter Tag im Yellowstone waren traumhaft, unbeschreiblich, spannend und dieses Mal hat sogar das Wetter mitgespielt. Wir haetten locker 1000 Fotos machen koennen, haben uns aber auf 200 beschraenkt :-) Wir haben Hunderte von Bisons (Amerikanische Bueffel), unzaehlige Elche, ca. 10 Koyoten, Springboecke, Gaense, Voegel, Squirrels, etc. gesehen. Die Elche hier sehen zwar eher wie grosse Hirsche aus, aber ...

... und das in wenigen Tagen...von wegen Kulturschock auf einer Weltreise, bei uns ist es ein Temperaturschock :-)

Jedenfalls dachten wir, unser California Rental Car hat sowieso nur Sommerpneus. Heute morgen haben wir aber festgestellt, dass alle anderen nur Sommerpneus haben und unser California Auto sogar bereit ist fuer die Passfahrten im Schnee :-)

Und da alle finden, wir sollten mehr Videos drehen, haben wir heute eine ganze Ladung gemacht :-)

Old Faithful didn't disappoint.

Saw a beautiful bison at sunset.

Good riding but the traffic made it more exhausting than necessary. Apparently Yellowstone National Park gets 30,000+ visitors PER DAY!

More to come later... just wanted to post pics now while i have high-speed connection.

... reminded me of the Rocky Mountains, but it turned out that it symbolized the logo of Paramount Pictures! Amazing!

We then stopped by the Jackson Lake Lodge where we had our lunch and took memorable pictures of preserved bears and the table where the peace agreement between the United states and Russia (1989) was made. By the way, the forest smelled like nature up to this point! Good morning, nature!

We then ...

I love Montana. I love it, love it, love it! Gardiner is a great city. It's really small. But the Yellowstone River runs right through the middle of it. We (except my mom) went white water rafting. It was sooo much fun! Met some really cool people. Including our gorgeous tour guide ...

... go to a photographers anonymous meeting if there is such a thing. God only knows how many pictures I will end up taking tomorrow. On the last 50 mile stretch on US 89 from the interstate to Gardiner we ran into several elk. There were lots of scenic pullouts and wildlife watching spots, however, its pitch black out so, so much for checking out the view. We will be taking ...

...het vervolg van onze tour de Yellowstone. We zouden verder gaan richting Lake Yellowstone en dan verder naar het noorden naar de moddervulkaan (Mud Vulcano). Plotseling onderweg weer zo'n 10 auto's die naast de weg stilstaan en daarnaast een grote groep mensen met camera's. We vragen aan een opgewonde amerikaan wat er te zien is....een beer...HEEL dichtbij. Tja, dit konden wij ook niet laten liggen. Snel parkeerden we onze ...

... ended our day in a little hotel overlooking the Yellowstone River, and our rooms opened out to a grassy knoll above the river. All of us on the ground floor of our building, plus a few others in our tour group got out our iced bottles of pre-mixed Margaritas, white wine or Jack Daniels. Alcohol is sold in grocery stores in Montana, and our hotel was just up the street from the Gardiner Food Mart, so it seemed everyone had ...

... from the parking lot, but it was well worth the hike. It had lots of color and a trail that went up a hill side, so you got a good view of everything. We also drove a couple of the side drives that are scattered through out the park. These were nice since very few people us them and they usually provide an interesting view of the park. We also crossed the Continental Divide (which determines to which ocean all of the rain will eventually flow into) a ...

I headed into Livingston and stopped at the Safeway to look for a phone book. My recurring van problems were recurring and I wanted to fine an auto parts store. I saw a couple spots and went downtown to the business district. Before I got started I took a break at Daylight Donuts for a coffee and donut. As the name says it is only open mostly during daylight hours so I don't consider it a real donut joint ($.40). It had to do ...