I know, it's been a while, but I am finally ready for the last day in Wyoming on my trip.
Once again, we started out in the Grand Tetons, at Jackson Lake. I was just amazed at how beautiful the whole area was.
This last one I made into black and white and I love how it turned out.
The first place we stopped at was just inside the park and was called Moose Falls. Of course, Moose insisted on us stopping there and taking pictures of him in front of his waterfall.
He wasn't too sure about Jonathan holding him, though.
Just look at that face! Who couldn't love that face!!!
And a final shot of Jonathan taking one of the close up pictures of the falls. Yes, that does mean that the second photo was possibly taken by him. He was most definitely a great backup photographer for me.
Since I shared several pictures of Moose, I had to include one of Pepsi. Here she is in the parking lot, looking thoroughly upset that they did not have a Pepsi Falls for her!
Our next stop was at Lewis Falls. I wish we could have visited all of the waterfalls inside of Yellowstone, but that does leave me with more to go back to photograph.
I love how the water cascades down the rocks on this one.
The valley below the falls.
More of the river flowing away from the falls. Such a peaceful scene.
A family of ducks on the river.
Our next stop was Pumice Point, on Yellowstone Lake. The lake was rather large, and very picturesque.
Moose on the rocks, wondering if he should get in the water.
Jonathan playing on the rocks.
Moose again. Oh, and I guess I should add that there was a reason you do not see Pepsi down here. Pepsi is not fixed but is of an indeterminate age over age 10. And the year before this, she had not gone into heat at all. Well, in the middle of Yellowstone, Pepsi decided to go into heat, so she had to miss out on a lot of the stops here, staying with me, while Moose got to go on with the kids.
Jon's roommate walking Moose.
A beautiful piece of driftwood.
Across the lake to the rolling hills.
A field of wildflowers near the lake.
Some ducks on the lake.
We left the lake and headed towards the next location, but before we could get there, we found a field full of one of my favorite animals; buffalos!!!!
They are so majestic looking, just don't get close enough to smell them (or be attacked by them).
Look at all those wonderful beasts!
And the adorable babies!!
So amazing!
This one is one of my favorites because it has such a great shot of the face.
Next on our list was a valley of springs, the first one being mud caldron.
If you cannot tell, the buffalo actually walk right up next to the water. They must have some tough hooves.
Next to there was a whole little area called Mud Volcano. It was interesting to take photos of it.
The walkways kept us safe, thank goodness.
I thought it looked, and smelled, like a witches caldron.
Up close at the actual mud volcano.
The next spring was absolutely my favorite!! Dragon's Mouth Spring.
It does seem like there should be a dragon down there, his smoke rising from his sleeping soul.
Some informative markers along the way, explaining how Yellowstone was one very large volcano.
The springs were just fascinating, but not for stepping into. Some of them contained water so acidic, you would not survive getting into it.
And then, as we moved on our way, we found some more buffalo.
Just relaxing into the sun.
And another baby!
And there was this one buffalo that was not with the others. It was down in this caldron area all by itself and looking rather sad.
You cannot really see it, but just off to the right of the water, there was an odd shaped object. Upon closer inspection, it was realized that it looked like the remains of a very young buffalo.
After noticing the remains, I wondered if this was the mother, mourning for her baby.
Some landscape with even more buffalo.
They were actually a lot of buffalo, since this is not even all of my pictures.
And the landscape was just amazing!
The rolling hills and the valleys with rivers and streams in them.
At one point a herd of buffalo was crossing the road in front of us, so we actually had to stop in the road for about 15 to 20 minutes.
It gave me the chance to pull out my camera and photograph this buffalo rolling in the dirt.
A crow on a bench near where we stopped for lunch.
My first time seeing a Steller's Jay.
Such a regal bird, and such bright blue feathers!
We found another waterfall and decided to walk up along the overlooks, instead of along the brink of it. I thought it would give me better photos.
Thought this was the waterfall, but it was just the precursor. It was still fast and moving over the rocks down a hill.
Looking over the top.
Found some chipmunks playing along the path on the way to the lookout.
Ah, here is the actual falls!
And the river the falls flow into.
Such a scenic river valley.
The chipmunks were still playing on the way back to the cars.
Then we went to one last waterfall.
I would not want to be in a canoe or kayak going over these falls!
Some ducks in a river on our way back to Grand Tetons.
A Mule deer eating along side the road.
And some sleeping.
A big old buck. That rack is very impressive.
A magpie in someone's yard!
Some of the landscape shots along the way.
The hills are slowly turning into mountains as we make our way back to the Grand Tetons.
I could wake up to this scenery every day and not get tired of it (except for when it snows).
And finally back to Jackson Lake.
And the mountains that my son has come to love.
So peaceful! I know I would miss it once I was gone.
And that is the final picture. Please let me know how you liked it in the comment section.