Spring In Yellowstone: Along the Way

Lewis Falls

I said I had one last one to do.  We've visited the upper and lower loops and I had a few pictures of the places in Yellowstone.  Some are along the main road, some by the differences and one or two might actually be outside the park, I'll let you know if that's the case! :)

Cowboy Town: Cody Wyoming!

So yeah, back to Wyoming for this post.  Let's just say it is about the time of the year I start missing Yellowstone.  Snow Lodge is closed for the winter, and Yellowstone had her 139th birthday and trust me, she don't look a day over 100!  But I am saving Yellowstone for some later blog something or other.  So we will just have to go with one of the next best things!  Cody Wyoming!!

If you haven't been there I would totally recommend it.  It isn't big, but it has some cool stuff.  Oh and that part of Wyoming is a pretty awesome desert.  Of and they have the Buffalo Bill Cody museum, which is gigantic.  Honestly though, Cody is a nifty little tourist town with a real history.  And there is a definite cowboy feel to the joint (which in my book is always a plus.)  Oh and a big ole dam too (if you're into that sort of thing).  But honestltly the majority of my trips to Cody were with the main purpose of shopping.  Trust me when you live in Yellowstone 80 miles isn't that far...  Oh and they have a mock gunfight comedy thing (which is kinda neat)  Oh and a Rodeo that in 7 years I never went to, not for lack of trying on my part

 And trust me on this the drive to Cody from Yellowstone is totally worth it!

Bear!

Tetons across Lake Yellowstone

Wild Thing: Polar Bears at Como

Ok, taking a hiatus on the petals series.  I adore it but feel as though it might be repeating a bit.  And I need to gather more pictures.  So I am gonna start another weekly thing.  Probably similar to the petals but with adorable little critters and the places I see them.  I am not sure how exactly it is gonna work... if it will be location based or animal based.  Or a strange mix of the two.  So hear goes nothing!!!  Lets start with something that gets me in the wintery mood.  Polar bears!!!

So sadly I have never gotten to see them in the wild.  My big brother has, he went up to Churchill Manitoba on the shores of the Hudson Bay.  There is research school/something up there.  But I was at Como the other month, there was polar bears!  This made me happy.  Yeah, I know zoos aren't always fabulous, but sometimes it is as close as one can get.  These little(a relative term) buggers were wonderfully active.

I've seen many bears in my day, trust me there will be bear post coming out of my ears.  That is a side effect of life in Yellowstone.  It was awesome to see these polar bears, not as awesome as it would be to see them in person up in the frozen north.  But hey, ya take what you can get!

Surrounded by Beauty

Home sweet Lake Lodge

Since my mom has my camera and she is on her way back from Alaska it will be a while before I can take pictures of new things and post them.  But part of what I want to do is showcase some of my older pictures.  Just so you know, I don't do a lot of editing the pictures.  Usually I just crop them, sometimes I play around a bit more.  But mostly they are as me and my camera saw them. 

 I have spent the better part of the last 6 years in Yellowstone National Park.  To be surrounded by so much beauty is indescribable.

Enjoying the isolated spring

 And the beauty of the park is so many things, from the people who live there, to the wild, free animals, and the endless array of backdrops.  Yellowstone gives you an appreciation of life that is hard to find elsewhere.  It is the beauty of simplicity.  And at the same time, it is a place of personal discovery. 

The desire to be in Yellowstone is a magnetic pull.  Even when you know you are finished, there is a part of Yellowstone that remains with you.  Maybe it is the memories, the friends, the pictures, whatever it is... It is a tie that binds people together.  

Yellowstone is a place of beauty from the tallest water falls to the tiniest flowers.  Always changing, and never quite the same.  But never that different from year to year.

It was Yellowstone where I first realized that anyone can take beautiful pictures.  When you are surrounded by beauty on all sides it is difficult to screw it up.