July 9, 2013 Yellowstone, Wyo

We are camped right outside of Yellowstone’s north east gate. So we headed in for the day. Yellowstone is so beautiful. The northeast corner of Yellowstone is the least crowded. The Lamar valley is here and it is usually full of wild animals.

Welcome to Yellowstone. A bull buffalo sauntering along by the road. He eventually crossed the road.

There were 100’s of buffalo in the lush valley.  An antelope, sauntering by the road.

I love the gift shops, me wearing a wolf hate and paws, Yellowstone Coffee, Who pooped in the park, with a bear key chain in front, that if you squeeze it a brown blob comes out the back, Buffalo blend coffee, Yellowstone wines and meads, Yellowstone animal cookies.

We stopped at Roosevelt Lodge for lunch. Roosevelt hunted in this area, but they built the lodge after his visit in 1905. Beautiful log lodge. Roosevelt was the president that made Yellowstone the first national park. I am posed with the Roosevelt Teddy bear. We learned when we toured the teddy bear factory in Vermont that the bears are named after Teddy Roosevelt. The chuck wagon is loading up. Last trip here I stayed in a cabin at Roosevelt and took the 2 hour horse back ride to the chuck wagon dinner. The ride was at sunset.

On the porch of the lodge they have vintage rocking chairs. In the evening a waitress comes out and takes your drink orders on the porch. John  having lunch in Roosevelt Lodge. John had BBQed beef and a local Redlodge beer and I had meat balls with huckleberry sauce over whipped cauliflower.

Tower Falls. They were doing road construction between Roosevelt and 10 miles down the road. Took forever to get to the falls and it was a cluster in the parking lot, so we turned around and drove back rather than continue on to Mt Washburn and the Yellowstone falls. My favorite view of a bear, walking away from me. It was right by the road, people were crowding it, so we took off after the photo so we wouldn’t have to watch the bear maul anyone.  It is a black bear.

More Buffalo in Lamar valley. Many calves this time of year.

We stopped and did a hike around the Lamar river. Broad grass covered meadows, a grizzly could see us for miles, so we would not surprise any. Tall grass, no wonder the wild life like it here. Fields of lupine at the head of the Mirror Plateau.

The river flood plains had the greenest grass I have ever seen. There are lots of buffalo wallows in the soft damp earth. Even the sage brush had wild flowers growing in between.

New sage leaves and flowers above the cliff, the bridge over the Lamar river.

Lamar river valley. Back through Cooke City we stopped at the Primitive art gallery. It is in the log cabin, which was the first one in Cooke City built in 1855. A tiny little old lady was there. Her husband  Jack Williams painted the paintings.  He had no formal training, so he called his work primitive painting. He believed that an artist had to be a little bit stubborn and not give in to the trials and tribulations of life. On the roof of the cabin, which is right below the road it says ‘as seen on TV’!

Prairie smoke, buffalo hair on a sagebrush by the trail, a buffalo chip-looks like a cow pie, blue eyed grass. Sunset on the view from the bus at camp.