Monday, July 28

Our first entrance into Yellowstone was through the Northeast Entrance – about 10:00 AM on Monday.

We were soon rewarded with our first animal sighting when we saw herds of bison in Lamar Valley.

This became an almost common experience in certain areas – bison on the road – as we spent several days in the park.

We saw a number of antelope, but they were not as common as bison.

Beautiful scenery as we traveled from Northeast Entrance to Mammoth Hot Springs.

Mammoth Hot Springs seems to be a gathering place for elk.

This young male – just outside of town – seemed confused as he tried to cross traffic to be with the rest of his herd.

One of the goals of our three-day visit to Yellowstone, was to travel every main road and see all the scenery possible, so when in Mammoth Hot Springs, we drove to North Entrance – which was only a few miles from town.

When here, we turned around and headed back to Mammoth Hot Springs.

I thought this “tree arch” was a pretty photo op.

More elk were heading to town when we arrived back in Mammoth Hot Springs.

Elk do not obey “Do Not Enter” signs.

1:30 PM is not a good time to visit Mammoth Hot Springs as top tourist spots in Yellowstone are incredibly busy in the late morning and afternoon.

There were no parking spaces anywhere, but we were able to make very slow progress on the road surrounding the area and see a few sights from the car.

Again, it is nearly impossible to capture the beauty of this area in photographs.

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More pictures of our first day in Yellowstone when I post another entry tonight.

We flew into Harrisburg at 11:00 PM last night. That means I can post on a more regular schedule – after I get acclimated to Eastern Standard time again.