We made it! We left Bill Cody Ranch early Sunday morning and arrived at Yellowstone National Park about 9am. It is an absolutely beautiful place...and huge! We drove about 190 miles around the park and didn't hit all the roads, much less the trails. We entered on the east side and very quickly saw a bald eagle, a black bear, a buffalo, huge majestic mountains, and stunning Yellowstone Lake.

The highlight of Yellowstone for Tom was seeing this grizzly bear with two cubs eating grass on the side of the road. The second cub is peeking out from behind the mother. I'll try to upload the video that Alli shot when we discovered the bears.

We saw hundreds of buffalo throughout the park. This one walked right in front of and beside our car and scared Hannah silly b/c the window was down and Hayley didn't roll it up fast enough....(Hannah's version of the story :-))

The waterfalls were Gayla's favorite part. Here we are on the Brink of the Upper Falls after hiking down a long, steep path. Just to the left, the water fell 100 feet down to the fast-flowing river. We sat down on a huge rock at this site and "had church." Tom gave us a great reminder of where all this gorgeous stuff came from as he read the Creation account in Genesis 1.

In the background you can see the Lower Falls, a 300 ft. drop to the Yellowstone River below.

We also went to the Mammoth Hot Springs, but they were pretty dried up.....just a few wet ones to see. We also witnessed Old Faithful, but it was lightning and raining, so the view wasn't spectacular. Still, it is an amazing sight to see all that water shoot powerfully into the air about 120 ft. Except for the short-lived storm at Old Faithful, we have had perfect weather almost the whole trip. Thank God for that!

After our delightful day in Yellowstone, we drove south through Grand Teton National Park (another beautiful place!) to Jackson (a.k.a. Jackson Hole), Wyoming. This is an adorable little ski town and "gateway community" to Yellowstone. We walked the streets, took in the sights and sounds of this little town, and enjoyed a good night's sleep before heading out for Littleton, Colorado, the next morning.

Currently, we are having a ball with Scott (Tom's brother), Samantha, Lydia (5 1/2), and Claire (almost 4) in and around Littleton, Colorado.