Welcome to the Yellowstone!

Home of the dreaded elk. Ok, I admit when I first got into the park, I pulled over and snapped pictures of every animal I saw - elk included. However, after a couple of hours, I realized that elk in Yellowstone are like squirrels in DC or pigeons in NY. They are everywhere! They are so used to humans you can get within 2 feet and they'll simply ignore you. When I reached Mammoth Springs (the north exit of the park) I saw a herd of 'em wandering around the town square, stopping traffic.

Now, I did get to see a bear while I was there. The flyers they hand you when you enter the park make it sound like your chance of being eaten by a bear or gored by a buffalo are pretty good. So, when a bunch of people pulled over at the side of the road told me there was a bear nearby, I grabbed my camera and huddled in the truck. Then I peeked out. Then I got out of the car and walked around wishing for binoculars. The darn thing was so far away that it looked like that shakey footage of Bigfoot they always show on those "unexplained" shows. In fact, I think it may have been Bigfoot! Luckily, I got to see a black bear up close in Vancouver.

The geysers and hot springs were really strange and incredibly smelly! Every time I got out of the car, I'd look around for whatever it was that had died. Whew! However, if you held your breath, the geological oddities were pretty neat.

I have never been in such a noisy park - and I don't mean the people. The ground burped and gurgled and hissed, and generally made some very rude noises as we walked around.