Yellowstone National Park

We are staying in a little town called Livingston, Montana.  It is such a charming little place.  Full of history.  It really does look like an old cowboy town!  The buildings are fairly old (most are at least 100 years old).  They still have the original facades on them.

Obviously they have snow here!  I guess we can't complain though, since we left Belleville at the beginning of February and haven't really had our winter yet!

We went for dinner last night at a place called Montana's Rib and Chop House.  It was fantastic.  Casey had $1 pint beer and I had a beer called Moose Drool.  I've discovered that I really like a dark, guinness like beer.  Maybe I'm trying to get myself ready for Ireland????  In any case, it is a Montana brewed beer, so I thought I'd try it.  Casey had some ribs (he said they were the best he's had in a very long time) and I had a seared ahi tuna on a bed of lettuce.  I know.  Who would have thought that I would get ahi tuna in Montana?????  But it was absolutely great!

We woke up this morning to howling winds.  But that didn't stop us from hitting the road for Yellowstone National Park.  Our first stop was at the grocery store to get some lunch for our trip.  I know I'm repetitive, but the scenery on the way to the park was amazing!!!!!!!

We arrived in the town of Yellowstone.  Another cute little cowboy town!

We crossed the halfway point between the equator and the north pole!

The first touristy thing in the park were the mammoth hot springs.  We couldn't really see them, but did get a sense of the heat they throw off.

The drive took us up to elevations of about 7000 feet.  Again, the scenery was spectacular.  And it was really neat to see how much snow was around the higher we got!

The road we took was the only one open in the park.  So, we only got to see a fraction of the park (and no Old Faithful:(.).  But as we drove along this road to Cooke City, we understood why it was the only road open.  Cooke City is about 60 miles east of the park entrance and once you get there, you HAVE to turn around and come back.  The road out of it is closed! 

WOW.  Makes our winters look pretty nice....  The Trading Place was closed!!!!!

Oh.  I forget to mention yesterday.  When we were driving up and down the mountains through Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana, there were signs saying "Chain up area ahead" and "state law requires chains on all vehicles when lights are flashing".  Needless to say, I was a bit nervous.  Fortunately, we didn't have to worry about getting chains to put on our tires!

And now on to the wildlife we saw on our trip today. 

Canada Goose :

Coyotes :

Buckhorn Sheep :

Elk :

And Bison :

These are one BIG, UGLY animal!!!!!!

So tonight we will bunker down and hope the wind goes away.  We will be going to Rapid City, South Dakota tomorrow where the temperatures will be much better.  Looking at highs of 17 degrees!!!!  Not as warm as you people in the east, but better than we've had here for a few days.

Enjoy!