Yellowstone Day 1

After Matt and Cat's wedding in Big Sky Montana, Laura and I planned to visit Yellowstone National Park for some much anticipated beast viewing!!!  After consuming a months supply of bacon at breakfast on Sunday, we (my parents, Laura, and I) caravaned south with Laura's cousin Tony and wife Erika to the West Yellowstone entrance.  Upon entry, Laura was given this awesome illustrated warning:

It reads: "Warning, Many visitors have been gored by buffalo, Do not approach buffalo."  We were very thankful to have this helpful information, as I had been planning on hugging as many bison as possible!

After meeting up with Laura's parents, we saw this bison grazing by the Firehole River while waiting for the Riverside Geyser to erupt.  Much to my disappointment, no one approached and no one was gored.

After a long wait, the Riverside Geyser finally went off.  Our patience was rewarded with this nice rainbow:

Despite pinpointing the source, I was unable to find any gold...  On the way back to our car we hoped to catch Grand Geyser erupting, but had to settle for Old Faithful instead:

It was getting late, so we left Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin headed for our rooms at Canyon Village.  We passed a herd of elk at West Thumb on Yellowstone Lake:

A little further along, we hit the jackpot: A BEAST JAM!!  Bison are very adept at standing in the road.  At least this one was in the proper lane:

After enjoying our drive-thru safari, we entered the Hayden Valley at dusk.  Unfortunately, a wolf jam was dissipating just as we arrived.  Usually a prime beast jam area, we saw only distant elk and bison, plus a couple of bald eagles.  Thankfully, there would be more opportunities to see wildlife tomorrow.