(There is a Surprise for you at the end of this post)

I wanted to share some of the photos I snapped while on my family trip to Yellowstone National Park.   They are all taken with my humble point and shoot Canon SD600.  Those of you who know, that means this camera only has a 3x zoom, so everything I photograph has to be pretty close.

You may click on any image below to be taken to the larger version of the picture.

It’s an amazing feeling to see the wildlife living along side of humans like this.  We saw deer, rabbits, and antelope relaxing inside residential areas.  None of them showed any fear.

These buffalo have specific spots that they like to lay in.  When you come across these little bare spots with no grass or plants…  that’s a buffalo bed.  Many of them like to make these beds right next to the road, although it would be unwise to leave your car and approach these magnificiant creates, because they have been known to attack people.

Yep, you can see bears from the road too!

This Grizzly Bear was pretty far up the hillside when we spotted him.  As we watched him, more and more cars began to park around us and eventually the road became blocked as people left their cars in the middle of the road.  Meanwhile this Grizzly Bear marched down the hill to see what all the comotion was about.

The offical rule of the park is to remain 25 yards away from wildlife…  except for bears and wolves.  Those you need to stay 100 yards away from, for safety.

These animals are wild.  They live off the flesh of other animals.

We were able to see with the aide of binoculars, a bear taking down an injured buffalo.  Minutes later four coyotes were able to drive away the bear and then they began eating the dead buffalo.

Rangers closed the street down when a small black bear was 20 yards near the road.  No cars were allowed to travel on the road until the bear moved away.  The rangers looked visually disturbed.

If the park Rangers had seen this….

I was amazed at how foolish these people were.  One man even brought his small child along to see the grizzly bear.  About 3 seconds after I took this picture (at my full 3x zoom) the bear stood up and made a scary noise that seemed to let the people know that they were in real danger.  He didn’t seem to happy.  He then continued to cross the road between cars and proceeded down the hill on the other side.

Lucky people.  🙂

Many people do not realize that Yellowstone sits atop one of the worlds largest super volcano.  The caldera is 35 miles by 45 miles across.  The park is full of boiling water, with colorful bacteria that thrives on the high temperatures.  The smell of sulfur permeates the air in the entire southern half of the park.

Taking my five year old on these small wooden bridges without railing was a bit of a challenge at times.

One of my favorite pictures.

The hot steam hit us several times depending on the wind direction.

Another image that I am fond of.

Hot water is being pushed up from deep underground where it boils out over
this rock formation and joins with the fast moving stream.

Taken by my wife from the passenger seat of her Kia Rio.

The four of us made the entire trip from Washington State to Yellowstone’s north entrance in southern Montana in my wifes 2006 Kia Rio, and to be honest with you we had plenty of room.

I decided to run a test on our trip and see if I had in fact found a way to increase the gas mileage from an average of 29 MPG to 35 MPG.  I knew it would be tough, because we had four people in the car, and the trunk was packed full with our luggage.

The results of my efforts will be shared here…  VERY SOON. It’s Ready Now!

You will be amazed! – And you can put some of your hard earned cash BACK INTO YOUR POCKET!

FIND OUT MORE