Yellowstone in ALL its Glory

In my last post I shared about the purpose of our trip.  This post is about all that took place on the first half of our trip, the portion spent in Yellowstone National Park.

Our trip began a little shaky.  As we prepared to roll down the road, our battery was dead.  Before reaching our first destination we blew a tire.

As we traveled for a 100 miles without a gas station in sight we ran out of that oh so important fluid. But, as we rolled into Yellowstone National Park, and spied the first of many wild and awesome creatures, all of our struggles disappeared, because we knew, we were about to embark on an amazing adventure.

The adventure began with the spotting of a coyote on the hunt, and a bison lazily walking along.  Our parents joined us in our adventures, and each day the seven of us jorneyed out to discover all the beauty that God created.

At one of many slow downs in traffic we spotted a black bear hungrily storing up for the winter. 

As another crowd of people gathered we found a herd of elk being routed by a pack of wolves.  The wolves corralled the elk into a pond and would not allow any to escape.  One attempted, chasing a wolf a short distance from the pond only to find itself being turned on and the wolf nipping at its heals as it dove back into the water.  Out on a bluff we spotted a grizzly and her two cubs.

Herds of bison were seen at a distance and in very close proximity.  A few individual bulls walked through our campground, or made their resting place in front of our parents' cabin.  A cow bison and her calf walked right in front of our car and we escorted them down the road in parade-like fashion.  Every night was spent on a hunt for all things wild and no night proved wasted.

We learned about the history of the lake, constellations in the sky, the amazing creature that the bison is, and so much more.

Our adventures, both those before reaching the park and those in the park, bonded us even more closely to our folks (if that's possible), and made us realize how truly blessed we are to have parents that love us with so much love.

Our trip was blessed in so many ways, and we are so thankful the Lord made the way for us to go.