We got married on Saturday, May 22, 2010. The whole time Luke planned our honeymoon AND kept it a secret. I had no idea where we were going! So, as the reception was wraping up, Lukes dad went and retrieved my car from its hiding spot (There are Vandals in Idaho you know) Luke went and got his suitcase, I gathered my stuff, some very kind souls helped me carry it down, and then we were off. Except I stil didn't know where we were going. About 5 minutes in I fiigured out we were headed north to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. We stayed there for one night. Final destination: still unknown.
...but isnt this color gradiation of cars in the parking lot cool? Bright yellow, mustard yellow, brown yellow.
Then we were back in the car and once I saw the sign I discovered we were going toward Montanna! After a bit of probing I learned we were headed to Yellowstone! I've always wanted to visit!
Luke fibbed a bit as I had originally thought the stipulations were "We were going somewhere neither of us had been befor," but I've always wanted to go to Yellowstone so I got over it pretty quick!It wasnt an unsubstantial drive from CdA to Gardiner, Montana. (Town nearest the North Entrance) So we waited until the next day to go to the park. The weather was....well...colder than expected.
Note the snow on the ground!
The springs were hot enough to keep some things warm. Note the grass growing green in the runnoff and the little bird in the bottom left quadrant of the photo. (Thats for you Grandma G)
That was probably the day we did the most driving in the park. We saw tons of wildlife as we made our way up and down the park throughout our trip.
Baby bison!
Road block. Our side was stopped to take pictures (not just us, there were 3 cars in front of us) and the other side well...as you can see they werent going anywhere.
Hidden in the bottom half of this one are some goats, sheep or something.
This elk is impressive because apparently he has quite the rack allready. Hahahahaha
I wanted so badly to brush (or maybe shear) all the animals free of their winter coats. They just looked so uncomfortable with pieces clumpin off.
We were also able to see some whitetail deer, bears and a couple cayote! Quite the wildlife experience!
We got to Old Faithful just after he/she had let off some steam already so we did some exploring. Then we sat around with everyone else and took some funny pictures while we waited .
We tried a bunch of times to make it look like Luke was blowing the steam coming out of Old Faithful but the wind kept shifting. No such luck. We didnt take any pictures of the eruption because, well, we wanted to watch.
Then we went into the old lodge. Wow! Talk about some intricate wood work! I really wanted to go to the top so Luke and I set off up the stairs...
Only to be stopped. Then we snuck a peek into some of the rooms (very cool...no bathrooms.)
On our way back for the night we stopped just outside the West Entrance to the park and visited the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center. Probably one of my favorite parts of the trip!
They had some really interesting and informative displays inside (in the warmth) and out!
Running with wolves. This exhibit had a room with large glass windows for viewing and the wolves were being really active!
Look! They even have a Jacob Black monument! Hahaha
And we finally met someone with biger hands than Luke! No not me...
The bear!!!
Whew!! That was ALL day one! We really covered our bases...the days to follow are a bit more mellow so I'm going to do us all a favor and post that later!
