Land of Boiling water

Back in to Yellowstone, today. It's tourist geyser day. Yesterday, we hit some tourist spots, but stayed away from geyser basin. Today, it was old faithful and beyond. 

Jasper and my favorite bear, Smokey. 

He even does well with Sasquatch/bigfoot. 

Spoiled walk due to flooding. It was still pretty to see.

Old faithful erupted during a hail storm. Jasper enjoyed catching hail/slush balls while we waited for old faithful to erupt again in good weather.

Just your friendly bison sharing the road with the cars. 

                      Elk Butt.

Beautiful end to another day. Wow did we see a lot.
 

Cody to Montana, First state crossed off

Bright and early, we headed out for Yellowstone. Lots to see and do with little time in which to do it. Also, it would be the first state we would get to cross off for my mom, as we were heading into Montana. 

Goodbye teepee. Hello Yellowstone Lake

Fluffy cows were pointed out to my mom, and it was explained to her that she should NOT attempt to pet them. (She is smarter than that, and already knew not to make nice with these guys)

We showed her the little grand canyon at Yellowstone. She's seen the real grand canyon, so this was a lot wetter than what she saw at the real Grand Canyon. 

Jasper likes to follow the rules. He's not allowed out of the parking lot at many locations in Yellowstone. So, we took turns staying with him and entertaining him. Many of the walkways in Yellowstone are boardwalks that are relatively narrow and surrounded by geothermal waters. Having 2 stranger dogs meet on those boardwalks would certainly cause someone to fall in and get scalded to death, which wouldn't take long considering the temps of some of the pools.

We made it to the terraces at Mammoth. 

Got the chance to see a black bear near a waterfall we stopped at along our route. It was a beautiful way to end our day before heading into West Yellowstone, where we stayed at another KOA in a camp cabin. We decided to spend 2 nights there, and luckily they were able to accommodate us. The cabin, we found, was a lot smaller than the teepee. Still, we made it work.
 

New States to visit with MZP

We left Denver about 4pm, and headed north, finding ourselves staying at a hotel in Wyoming near Cheyenne. The original plan was to leave the following morning, early, and go all the way to Cody, WY. Leaving early, allowed us to explore more parts as we traversed Wyoming.

Off on another adventure. Jasper is along, but so are my mom and husband. We have a full car, and lots of adventure to be had as we help my mom check off a few more states. 

A long time ago, my sister & I had gone to Thermopolis, WY with my father. Since this trip was a lot about geothermal spots, I decided we had to visit Thermopolis with my mom. This time, we did more exploring than when we stayed here with my father. 

Yes! The water was warm. We did what Yellowstone would tell us later not to do...touch the water. 

The big geothermal spring in Thermopolis that feeds most of their soaking pools and such. 

In Cody, we stayed at the KOA campground...in a teepee! We were impressed with the space we had for 3 humans and a dog. While my husband went for a run, my mom and I hung out chir chatting outside the teepee. It was a nice relaxing afternoon. 

After my husband's run, we headed into Cody proper, where Jasper found some rugs made from animal hides that smelled tasty. It took a lot to hold him back from taking down the whole stand.

We enjoyed pizza and beers at a nice dog friendly place in town, wandered the town a little, and then returned to our teepee for the night, where we slept pretty comfortably all night.