Thursday (6/11)   Well, I am having technical difficulties with pictures.   Unless, I can figure something out, there will be no pictures until I get to an Apple store and get some help.  I am so sorry about that.  I guess the 8,000 pictures (yes, there are 8,000 pictures on my computer) are giving my computer a headache and it won't cooperate with me anymore.

We spent last night in a cabin at Yelllowstone Lake - so nice to have real bed.   We got up and headed west across the middle of the park to the Norris Geyser Basin. There we saw the Steamboat Geyser which erupts every four days to 50 years - we decided not to wait for it to erupt.  

In the park is a Ranger Museum which outlines how the rangers came to be.   In the beginning, the parks were under the control of the military.  About 1916, the parks were turned totally over to the rangers, many of them were formerly caretakers of the park as military men.  It was a male dominated organization for many years.   Females were finally admitted but not as full rangers.   It is only in recent times, that females have equivalent rolls as park rangers.

We then headed north along the western side of the northern loop, stopping along the way to see the major points of interest.  We stopped for lunch at Mammoth Hot Springs.  This area of geysers is very interesting as the geysers have created terraces made of mineral deposits.  The eruptions deposit two tons of limestone a day onto the terraces.  Mammoth Hot Springs is a small "town" and it has many tourist cabins.  In the middle of a group of cabins was a common area of lawn. This common areas was inhabited with about six elk and one bison - right in the middle of town.  There were people all around them and they didn't seem to care at all.  The bison walked right by me as I was taking pictures - I could have reached out and touched him as he stopped to itch his chin on a fire hydrant.  

We then progressed along the top of the loop stopping at the petrified tree.   This tree (stone) is approx. 20 feet tall and is millions of years old.  There used to be three of them but there is only one left as a result of visitors taking home pieces of them as souvenirs.   The remaining tree is enclosed in a 12 foot high fence to protect it.

We stopped at Roosevelt Lodge which was a favorite place of Teddy Roosevelt.  It is a very rustic area that does not seem to have been built up for tourist.   There are cabins that are absolutely bare bones - kind of neat!  The lodge itself has all the rustic charm one could stand.

We continued on down stopping at all the wonderful points of interest.   I could go on and on about how beautiful the scenery is, but I am sure it would get boring.  Just let me say that each turn in the road presents a new and wonderful vision for your eyes to feast on.  

Between Tower Falls and Canyon Village, we had a treat - off in the distance was a grizzly bear. We watched as he came down the hill, crossed a stream, came near a bison and then headed off up the hill again.  There was a single elk which usually means she has a baby in the area.  She watched that bear and paced around and around.   She finally settled down as the bear headed in the opposite direction.  

The highlight of the day (for Sue anyway) was the snowshoe rabbit we saw.   We actually got within a couple of feet of him before he left.  Sorry to say, no pictures as our camera batteries had died.