Yellowstone National Park - Day 1

We woke up early the next morning to pack up and head out of Grand Teton National Park and into Yellowstone.  We were eating breakfast, lamenting the fact that we hadn't seen a moose, when a big moose crossed our path and made his way across the campground.  It was amazing.  The kids watched in awe, as Justin told them they would probably never see another moose this close.  Ironically, we turned around, and there was an even bigger moose right behind us.  We watched them for several minutes until they left camp.  Then we said goodbye to the Tetons and headed out.

On our way out, we saw dozens of bison.  They were everywhere.  The road to Yellowstone was beautiful, and as we crossed into the park, we were surprised to find snow all over the ground.  This was going to be a cold trip.  We got to our campground in Canyon Village and started setting up.  Thirty minutes later, the kids and Justin were making peanut butter sandwiches, talking about how berry jam would attract grizzlies, when, on cue, an enormous grizzly walked into our camp.  We were all more than a little scared, and I directed the kids to get into the car.  Justin and I kept an eye on the big guy, and Justin yelled down to the campers below us to warn them that he was coming their way.  Tatum was crying the whole time.  He finally moved on, and we could all breathe easy.  We didn't get to snap a picture of him, but Justin went back and put his hand in the bear's paw print.  He was a pretty big grizzly.

Once all the excitement was over, we moved on to the mundane stuff, laundry and showers.  The kids didn't get to shower in Teton, and we were all ready for some clean laundry.

While the girls and I did laundry, Connor was happy to have some cell service.  He spent the afternoon in the corner of the laundromat catching up with friends.  He is not as happy as the rest of us to leave the civilized world behind.

Then we ran across the street to the Canyon Visitor's Center.  They have some fabulous exhibits, and we were anxious to learn all about Yellowstone.

The kids' favorite exhibits were the large relief map of Yellowstone and the earthquake exhibit.  They spent quite a while looking at all the earthquakes that have happened around Yellowstone.

Then we headed back to camp to make dinner and relax.  Tatum was still very freaked out, and we didn't think she was going to sleep at all that night.  She kept asking if the grizzly was going to come back.

After a very eventful day, we finally called it a night, and were very grateful that our little pop up camper had a good heater.  It was a cold night, but we were glad to be here.