Monday, June 18

We  ate at the fancy smancy Old Faithful Inn for breakfast and then headed out to view the thermal features.  Jayden was amazed and excited to see the geysers, boiling pools and boiling mud. 

We started to take a hike, but our bear spray is so old that it doesn’t work (we did a test). We are a little scared to set out with just the three of us since the bear appear to be very active this time of year.  We spent the day stopping at the thermal features, making our way up to our next camping site at Madison Junction.

During our drive, we saw a nursery herd of bison along and crossing the street.  This "Yellowstone Traffic Jam"  lasted about 20 minutes and was so cool.

Along the river by the Firehole Falls,we saw a female elk.  Jayden was the one to spot this!  He has a good eye for spotting wildlife :)  

We got to the campsite and explored the area.  We visited a ranger station and Jayden got the information about the Junior ranger program.  He got the booklet and immediately started work on it while I cooked chicken and rice for dinner. 

Jayden started out working at the picnic table, but he had to move to the truck because the wind was blowing so hard.  Most kids take days to complete this, but not Jayden.  He already knew the answers to most of the questions anyway - he has been reading up on Yellowstone and the animals of Yellowstone for weeks.

Jayden had a blast watching a little ground squirrel around our campsite and taking pictures. :)

After dinner we made hot  chocolate and watched ghost busters 2. By then it was time for the ranger led program on coyotes which didn't start until 9:30 pm.   The ampetheater is at this really cool spot not far from the Madison River.  There was a small herd of bison bedding down for the night.  It was such a beautiful site - watching the sun go down with the silhouettes of the bison. This was probably the most beautiful view of the trip and I didn't have my camera!  Oh well, I don't think a picture could capture the beauty and the feel of the time anyway....

This campsite has flush toilets, but no showers, so we went to bed dirty again tonight.   Note: Either Jayden growled like a bear during the night or it was a real bear, but it scared me to death!