Yellowstone in Winter - Post 3

 The first afternoon was spent xc skiing. After we went a ways, we needed to stop since there were bison on the trail! I'm glad we didn't get as close as the guy in the middle of the picture...

 ... this was close enough! The bison left the trail, but they were still close by when we skied past.

 Our destination was to a geyser/spring that our bus driver told us about. It was really interesting. (Blacksand Pool)

Every so often, you could actually feel "booms" through the earth, which would be followed with the spring bubbling.

 Not only was it a booming pool, but it was pretty, too :)

 We decided to just go hiking the second day. We took the observation point trail(?) to the solitary geyser. I was the first to spot the above bison, which of course, was conveniently on the trail... everyone else though it was a rock at first!

 Unlike the bison the day before, this one did not show any interest in leaving the trail.

We were able to get a good rest in before we decided to go off trail up and around the blockage. We passed the bison with no incident!

 The Solitary Geyser. It would supposedly go off every five minutes with a spout a few feet in the air. We never did see it shoot up, but we did see plenty of bubbles!

We choose to make the loop instead of going back past the lone bison :)

So, that's all for the posts on Yellowstone. It definitely is worth a trip during the winter... fewer people and yet the scenery is still gorgeous!

Yellowstone Post #1
Yellowstone Post #2

Yellowstone in Winter... 2nd Post

In order to enter the park during the winter season, you either have to be on a snowmobile or your have to pay to ride a snowbus. 

Our snowbus was scheduled to leave West Yellowstone in the morning (we stayed there the night before). However, as we were starting to pack up (we had to drive about 4 blocks to where the snowbus was going to meet us), Grizz locked the keys inside the vehicle... while it was running! Thankfully, there was a repair shop next to our hotel, and Grizz was able to borrow a screwdriver and a flexible metal rod to break into our vehicle. Long story short, we still made it to the snowbus before it was scheduled to leave!

 Our snowbus was pretty much just a Chevy Suburban with four triangular treads instead of wheels. It was a full vehicle (11 people) for the two hour drive to Old Faithful, but it was nice to see the scenery and wildlife without worrying about the roads.

 We spent that afternoon cross-country skiing. Neighbor had never xc-skied before and it had been awhile since her fiance had tried it, so it was fun helping them learn. There were a lot of trails around Old Faithful for us to explore!

Thankfully, Scooter didn't slow me down too much... here's a 28 week bump picture :)

Yellowstone Post #1
Yellowstone Post #3

Picturesque Yellowstone

This past weekend, we headed down to Yellowstone with a few of our friends (Neighbor and her Fiance). We stayed one night in West Yellowstone and then we were taken into the park, where we stayed one night in a cabin near Old Faithful. I'll post more about what we did and what we saw in future posts, but to begin, here are some of the scenes and sights that we were able to enjoy :)

 Even in the middle of winter, when everything should be white and blah... color was bountiful in Yellowstone!

 Steam/fog/mist was everywhere as heat came out of vents and geysers and even rivers.

 Old Faithful was as amazing as ever - during the day, at twilight and from the Observation Point trail.

 Bison. Bison. Everywhere. Those future posts of mine will describe a few run-ins with them while we were on the trails, but here, let's just enjoy the steady serenity they seem to posses as they calmly dig through the snow for food.

 Last but not least, a few quick details... it has been awhile since I've had such great lighting while using my camera, so I couldn't pass these moments up!

Yellowstone Post #2
Yellowstone Post #3

Winter Scenes

Just a few scenes from a very cold, snowy morning...

 We're heading to Yellowstone tomorrow.... so expect some more winter pictures, soon!

I also have some sewing projects to share, but first I need to take their pictures!

Snowy Time Of Year

In our neck of the woods, we get snow and then it melts the following week... then we get some more snow and it melts again (even if 15 inches fell!). We both grew up getting snow and then it would stay so cold that the snow would stick around all winter, so this snowing and melting stuff has taken some getting used to! Thankfully, we're only about an hour away from a few different mountain ranges where the snow (usually) sticks around!

 The Sunday after Thanksgiving, Neighbor, Neighbor's Fiance, Grizz and I all took a drive to the national forest nearby... it was time to get our Christmas Trees! It was perfectly a winter wonderland that day with the snow lightly falling as we searched and searched for the perfect trees. Then, just two weekends ago, Grizz invited a few coworkers to go snowshoeing in a different mountain range. Only one took us up on the offer, and there wasn't enough snow to snowshoe. However, we still had fun just hiking around. Plus, it was perfect snow to make a snowwoman! (That's Barbara the snowwoman in the bottom corner!)

We hiked near a ski hill, which hasn't opened yet. The lift still made a great photo!

Here we are on the tree-cutting day. We love snow :)

While waiting for Neighbor and Fiance to cut their tree down, we attempted a bump picture. Sure, I have a fuzzy vest on top of two thin layers, but I will still claim it :) This was taken when I was almost at 20 weeks... today marks 22 weeks completed! Woot woot!

 Finally, here are a few pictures from Giant Springs, a local state park that is just gorgeous... especially after the first "big" snowstorm of the year that happened about a month ago. Again, we love snow :)