Going on a bear hunt

Seeing wildlife in their natural habitat was one of the things I enjoyed most during our trip. We have seen a snake, chipmunks, ground squirrels, a marmot, geese,

praire dogs,

big horned sheep,

pronghorns/antelope

osprey,

a moose and her baby

elk

buffalo

female elk lounging in the median

but the best thing I saw was the grizzly bear. We had been in Yellowstone for 3 days and I had only seen a bear from a great distance for only a second. It was so far away and moving that I only got a glimpse of him. It was Tuesday night when we overheard a family talking about seeing 11 bears. Chris and I got serious and went to the wildlife viewing area to sit and wait.

When we arrived, the cars were stacked up and we knew that there was something very interesting there. By the time Chris got the beast pulled over on the side of the road, I saw a head pop up from the sagebrush. It was a grizzly. The longer we watched, we saw it was a mama bear and her two cubs. She would dig and dig, then a few moments later, the little cubs would come running to her. They would munch on something for a few minutes then move on to another area and she would dig again.

On our way back to the campsite, in the meadow beside our campground, this grizzly was hanging out, digging around too. So our bear hunt yielded 4 bears!!!

Buffalo came to dinner!!!

Just as we were sitting down to eat our spaghetti, some buffalo decided to come to our campground. I was so excited to see them. In this picture I am standing beside our camper. Four or five buffalo came walking down the road and thought our campground grass looked appetizing. My camera doesn't take great pictures especially at this distance. I'll try to post Jordan's shots later. He has a much better camera and he is a much better photographer.

Custer State Park, South Dakota

After several not so appealing campgrounds, we decided to pack up and head to Custer State Park in South Dakota, which was more to our liking. This state park was spectacular. We camped at Grace Coolidge campground. It was nestled in the trees next to a rushing creek and a huge cliff right outside our camper. Within moments of arriving, Jordan and Jackson took off up that cliff. They had to cross over that rushing creek. HMMMM??? Any guesses as to what happened??? Jackson's cell phone ended up at the bottom of that rushing creek. He searched around for it for a few minutes but couldn't see it or find it with his hands so he decided to continue on with his original plan of climbing that cliff.

After returning from their scouting expedition, they tried to retrieve the phone again and this time Jordan found it. It was submerged for about 15 minutes. We left it to dry out and hope for the best. We had buffalo to see if we could find.

This is a picture of my beautiful daughter. She is more beautiful than the scenery.

The park is huge and has these spectacular scenic drives. These pictures are of The Needles. This one is The Eye of the Needle.

Here are The Needles from a distance.

Of the of many animals wandering in the park right up by the road.

We had a little picnic lunch by this stream. Jordan, my favorite photographer, spent his time snapping pictures. Karis made a fishing pole out of a cattail and a lifesaver. She would have been a survivor as an early pioneer.

These burros roam the park. They are descendants of burros that would take tourists up the mountain in the 1940s. Now they just wander from car to car begging. They just walk right up and put their noses in the vehicle. If they don't get anything, they head off to the next vehicle.

And, finally, I get to see buffalo!!! They were so amazing. We would see them throughout the park. The biggest herd we saw was about 130 of them taking their afternoon nap in a field.