Miscellaneous Birdage

Yeah, yeah, I know that's not a word.  And I also know that we were not really looking for birds but in some cases you could not help stumbling on them!  This grouse I never would have seen had Stephen not pointed it out...it was quite hidden in the shrubbery.

The raven/blackbirds at YNP were obnoxiously big.  You can't tell from this picture how big and mangy some of these birds were but it was weird.  Seriously.  Weird.  Like the birds in The Stand.  Big ugly critters.

Bighorn Sheep & Deer& Mountain Goats

Not that the two should be classed together, because deer are a dime a dozen and this was the only big horn sheep we saw.  Apparently they can be somewhat elusive, and to be honest we only saw the one.  But it was on our second day and he was just cruising down the side of the road; we did not realize how unusual this was at the time.  But Uncle Stephen informed us that it was actually quite unusual and there were residents who had not seen one this close. This was outside of the Park, right along Earthquake Lake between West Yellowstone and Driftwaters. 

Mom's arm's selfie in the mirror!!

He was done with the pictures and just trotted off down the road.

Bear!

Believe it or not the black thing in the middle of this picture is a bear.  I know, hard to tell.  But really, truly, it was.  There was a bison carcass in the middle of this field and the bear was there feasting.  There were no really great views, though there were a number of people who climbed a ridge and looked down on it from above...but still from a good distance away.  There were rangers blocking the road so you could not get close, not that anyone wanted to get too close...its a real live grizzly bear, after all.  We saw this guy on our second day in the park, traveling from our cabin in the Lake area to Driftwaters...I believe it was in Lamar but maybe it was Hayden Valley?  Anyway, I don't recall exactly where it was, but we saw a bear! 

On to Cody, WY...and the rodeo

Josh and Macey competed in the "catch the flag" competition at the rodeo.  Cute.

Kids at Firehole Swimming Hole

And we were swimmin'

The Swimming Hole

 Daniel took this picture from the rocks above of me in the middle of the swimming hole.

Here's me and Macey.

Us from

Daniel's perch on the rocks above the swimming hole.