Yellowstone Day 2

From our hotel room we headed to Midway Geyser Basin, which includes Grand Prismatic.  This was one of the things I really, really wanted to see!  Unfortunately, the weather was overcast and hazy, so the view (and the pictures) weren't spectacular.  Still glad to have been able to go, though!

Grand Prismatic

We headed north, passing by Gibbon Falls.

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone definitely did NOT disappoint!  I had to coax Mom a bit to get her to go out and look. :)

This is Virginia Cascade, from our trek north on the western side of the park loop.

Sheepeater Cliff was a quick stop but a fun one.  Oliver (Gypsy app guy) described it as looking like organ pipes, and I think he's right!

When we got to Mammoth Hot Springs, we started seeing elk.  And lots of them!  By the way, this post could have been titled "Elk, Elk, and Elk, Oh My!"

Yes, this is real.  Although we second-guessed it at first.  We had to wait quite a while to see his ears and head/antlers move, even just slightly!

We went ahead to Gardiner (just north of the north entrance to the park) where we will be staying for two nights.  It will be nice not to have to load a suitcase in the morning!  Here's the view from our hotel room in Gardiner.

We were hoping to head to a restaurant called "Wonderland" in Gardiner which got really great online reviews but arrived to find it was a 90 minute wait.  We decided to go back to Mammoth (there was a rain storm on the way) and got something quick there and ate it in the car.

And guess what?  More elk!

Next we headed back toward the Mammoth Lower Terrace.  I'll be honest and say I'd heard about the crowds at Mammoth when we were at Old Faithful the day before and thought maybe I'd be okay skipping it.  So glad I didn't!  We pulled up to find VERY few people there (it was 7 p.m. or so) and I did the whole thing in about 20 minutes.  So, so gorgeous!  I felt like I was living in the movie Frozen.  I know, I know, it doesn't quite look like that, but definitely felt like another world.  

Then we drove to the Mammoth Upper Loop to look down on some of the terraces.  And you guessed it, more elk on the way!

We decided to get back to the hotel for showers.  Tomorrow is an EARLY wakeup call!  Some beautiful views to close out the evening.