Yellowstone

We set out early on our way to Yellowstone. It was a short but scenic drive to the east entrance of the park. We had only been a few miles into the park when we ran into this guy:

He was HUGE and snacking along the side of the road. We snapped a few photos but stayed in the car; we didn't want this to happen to us:

We continued along. Our goal was to see all the geothermal features. Not much further along the road we came across a huge bull elk:

It was pretty incredible to see this animal up close. His antlers still had the velvet. This was also the point in our visit to Yellowstone when we realized how completely mobbed with other tourists we were. 

We made it up to the old faithful lodge and it was PACKED. We had about an hour before the next eruption; which was great because it gave us time to tour the visitors center and squeeze into the throngs for a great viewing spot right up front. They give a 20 minute window of when the eruption might happen, and the geyser teased us with a few false alarms, but when it finally happened it was spectacular!

We walked around the boardwalks a bit and checked out some of the other geysers steaming and bubbling before heading to the Old Faithful Inn for some lunch. 

After lunch we were after the other major geothermal features and we continued our trip north, stopping along the way. 

When we got to the Grand Prismatic Spring we were completely blown away by how incredibly beautiful it was. 

We were also blown away by how the tour busses full of people were pushing and shoving on the narrow boardwalk. This wouldn't have been as big of a deal had the park not posted clear warnings about the ground being covered by boiling water and/or caustic acid. We couldn't get away from the crowds fast enough. 

The next stop was the travertine terraces. They were beautiful white "stairs" with the water gently bubbling up and cascading down. 

We made a few more stops and drove out the north entrance of the park towards Chico Hot Springs Resort with the intention of returning to Yellowstone the next day for some hiking.