Independance Day in Yellowstone

Very chilly beginning to the holiday, but sunny and bright! Driving along the Madison River our swan was floating majestically along beside us. There were probably that same small herd of elk farther along where we had seen them the day before. Today we were going to do most of the northern and eastern sections of the Grand Loop. At Madison Jct. we turned north so we could view the Norris geyser basin. We spent more than an hour walking along the boardwalk seeing Steamboat Springs and many of the thermal features around that area-very impressive. One feature was about a 6 ft hole with bubbling and gurgling acid mud which looked like hot chocolate! At some of the features the odor of sulfur was very strong....Moving on we drove north to Mammoth Hot Springs-HUGE-beautiful formations and Hank was excited to learn that the process going on in this spring is how travertine tile is actually made. Had to explore the village of Mammoth, but it was incredibly crowded-did we expect otherwise? Finally found a parking place after much sputtering and annoyance from my intrepid driver and we walked around the village. There was a placid (acting at least) bison right in the middle of the village grazing away on the lush green grass across from the Country store. He didn't seem at all bothered by the crowds of gawkers! Moving on we drove across the top section of roadway in the Park-some breathtaking scenery-hills, valleys, canyons, hairpin turns along the narrow and winding road to Mt. Washburn. As we climbed to Dunraven Pass-8600+there was much snow still on the sides of the road-on the 4th of July! We stopped at one of the lookout spots nearly at the top of the pass and it was windy and chilly, but the scenery was awesome! Driving on we came to Canyon Village-crowded but not crazy like Mammoth-stopped for a cup of coffee. By this time we were getting a mite saturated with the whole experience and we did not take the time to walk to see the Canyon of Yellowstone-I bought a Yellowstone DVD which shows the falls in all their beauty. Being late in the day, we decided to head back toward Norris which would then take us back to Madison and eventually the Western entrance so we could crash in the tin tent. Along the way in the middle of a huge construction site some overanxious driver ran into a bridge abutment and tied up both north and south lanes of traffic for more than an hour! It was an opportunity to meet some of our fellow travelers as they walked by the line of cars to find out why the holdup. A wrecker finally arrived, dispatched the somewhat bent vehicle, and slowly -due to the hundreds of backed up vehicles we were able to make our way back to our " home on the road". A very different July 4th for us - but one we'll long remember.

Having problems including photos-you'll have to wait to see others in person!