Yellowstone, Day 4

We got up Friday morning and went to the cabin next door to collect Grammie.  She spent the morning with us since PaPa had gone fishing with the boys!  We grabbed some breakfast and hit the road again, this time heading southwest toward the Canyon area of the park.  Along the way, we passed through the Tower-Roosevelt area, which may be one of my favorite parts of the park!

By the time we got to the canyon area, though, we only had a few minutes to see the waterfall before we had to turn around and head back to Roosevelt Lodge!  We snapped a few photos...

...and then Tom drove like he was auditioning for "Smokey and the Bandit" to get us back to the lodge.  Why the rush, you ask?  Well, Grammie had gotten us tickets to ride on a STAGECOACH!

That's right.  Grammie, Sarah and I rode on a real (reproduction) Yellowstone stagecoach - just like in the old days of touring the park (except more comfortable and safe)!

We all climbed on and headed out onto the flats for a 45-minute ride past bison, marmots, and ground squirrels.

Did I mention the bison?  Because they were pretty impressive!

The stagecoaches stopped so we could take pictures, then turned around and headed back to the lodge.

 

As we returned in the stagecoach, we saw our 2nd black bear of the day (we had seen the first one crossing a valley earlier in the morning on our way through the Tower-Roosevelt area).  

Clearly, I don't have an impressive zoom on my camera.  I do, however, have the ability to point out where the bear is in this photo!

Tom had bought some BBQ at the Roosevelt Lodge while we were on the stagecoach ride, so we found a picnic spot and dug in!  After we ate, Kate just hung out while Grammie and Sarah threw pine cones into the river.

Then we headed back to Mammoth to get ready for the rehearsal dinner at the Two Bit Saloon in Gardiner, Montana, that night.  

On our way out of the park, we passed elk grazing on the lawn of the hotel.

We also passed through the Roosevelt Arch at the north entrance of the park, which was beautiful!

After some fantastic pizza and time spent catching up with friends and family, we headed back to the cabin for the night. It was a little stormy looking as we drove back through the park, but it never did rain on us!  We went to sleep hoping for weather this beautiful for the wedding tomorrow...