After falling asleep with the windows down and the river sounds in our dreams, we woke up FREEZING! It was in the 30s and we were not prepared. We quickly got dressed, started the generator to make some coffee and hot chocolate and then said goodbye to the river site.

We headed towards Cooke City, MT which is at the Northeast gate of Yellowstone. It was snowing there and they had snow during the night. We stopped at a coffee shop for some coffee, local culture and hopefully some wi-fi to post. There was no wi-fi, but we got the local culture for sure. A little rough living in those mountains, for sure.

Then we hit the gates of Yellowstone! Again, the girls sat up front for the best viewing possible. Within minutes, Caroline had spotted a lone bison. Within 10 minutes, we had seen herds of bison. They were in the street, on the side, everywhere!! We couldn’t stop laughing and searching! It was so amazing!! We saw mule deer and at one point, there were tons of cars pulled over. Once we found a large enough spot to pull over the RV, we pulled over and ran down to the gathering crowd. There we saw a black bear sow and her three baby cubs. They were adorable. We took tons of pictures and then took a short hike over a river cliff. It was gorgeous and so massive. Then we went to the Tower area. The girls fixed us lunch as Hubert was driving! At the Tower area, we went to the visitor’s center and bought a fun gifts. Then we hiked the Tower trail. It was straight down the cliff to the river. Once at the river, we played around, skipped rocks and soaked in the glory of the day!

However, the hike back up was a little tiring! But, we made it and then hopped back in the RV for more! We went down towards the Norris area. On the way, we saw more Bison and then noticed more cars pulled over around Beaver Lake. We pulled over and grabbed our cameras and binoculars. We were amazed when we got to see what everyone else saw – a Mama Grizzly and two cubs! We stared at them for a long time in amazement. It is crazy, but you never get tired of looking at them (except Josie, she said she was getting bored of the bears!). We took some great pictures and then back in the RV!

We headed up to Mammoth Hot Springs and saw the amazing hot springs and thermal spots at mammoth. It looked like another planet; so very different from anything we have ever seen. I think that is the thing that has been so amazing about Yellowstone. It is so different than anything we have ever seen. Plus, the terrain kept changing. We would be next to a forest, then drive into a plain, then on a cliff face, then a river valley, then a thermal hot spot, then a boulder field, then a swampy area. You couldn’t stop looking because the scenery was sure to change.

Finally around 5:30, we headed towards our campsite which was about 30 minutes away. On the way, we saw two more grizzlies and a huge elk (which we thought was a moose for awhile!). We checked in to the campground at Madison. It was nice (no hookups still) but very large and different from the remote site at Hunter’s Peak. We ate a taco dinner and then walked around. Once you got past the RVs, there was a beautiful river flowing behind the park where people were fishing and you felt a million miles away! We went to sleep exhausted but a little wiser: we closed all the windows and brought out the extra blankets which we had bought at the store that day. We were prepared. Sleep came fast! What a day!