7/28/23

 Today is my birthday. The big 4-6. I started my day with a leisurely morning with Avery and Auntie Julie. We didn’t have a plan other than to drive toward our next destination. For not much of a plan, I had the most exciting birthday ever!

The first place we went was a bakery. For breakfast, I ordered a pesto, mozerella, tomato waffle. We then ventured toward Lamar Valley.

We were driving along and all of the sudden this black thing darted quickly in front of me. I slammed on the brakes.

All of the items in the car shifted forward from the jolt as I saw something dart from the right side of the road. Holy crap! It’s a bear! Woah. So close to the car. I was able to snap a few pictures as he continued on his way.

We continued on, even though that made for a great birthday present. We stopped at a few overlooks that showcased fantastic views and history about the features which were done well. It wasn’t as people-y today. 

We then came across a heard of bison close to the road. We pulled over to watch them frolic and play. Some of them were rolling around in the dirt. There were mom’s with their babies.

When we rolled up they were a safe distance away, but close enough to enjoy watching them. We got blocked in, because people don’t follow directions. The guy next is blocked us in as the herd moved closer to us and started crossing the road. The herd was not a safe distance away at this point. He did what any idiot would do…..he got out of his truck, got his YOUNG daughter out of the truck so the could move CLOSER! 

The guy in the car in front of us told him to get back into his car and I yelled over that it was dangerous. Nope, he and his little child moved closer. 

We got to watch the herd cross the street and move on to the body of water on that side of the road.

Moving along, we found this cool turn off to the Washburn trail, which I turned on, on a whim. We drove to the top parking area. The air was noticeably cooler by like 10 degrees or more. There was a short but steep hike to the top of the first portion of the mountain. The views were stunning. We found some cool rocks up there.

We stopped a few other places, one we used the bathroom at. We laughed at the bathroom sign.

We checked into our Lodge which was really cute. We had a complex of 4 cottages with us occupying 3. It was nestled up to a wooded area and had a large porch on it that we had a birthday celebration on. I was serenaded with angelic voices with Avery offering an obtuse and off key rendition. It was great!

On our back from dinner, we were walking back to the cottages and we saw an elk quietly eating. She allowed us to watch. Her ears were big and floppy.

At dusk we drove to an area popular area to watch wild life. Off in the distance we watched bison and elk moving around. As the sun set, it painted the sky with colorful hues that accented the scenery. 

We have to start our trek to the airport at 2:15 am.