Yellowstone Day 1 Part 1

We pulled into Yellowstone a little later than planned and drove into the first visitor's center we found for a bathroom break.  We were eager to get to our cabin, get some dinner and make our plan for the next day when the exploring would really begin.

As I wandered around the store Lucas came up to me and said he overheard two men out in the parking lot say there was a grizzly bear in the area.  I smiled and said "that's nice".  Surely he must have heard wrong.

But then I noticed a flyer on the window that said WARNING: A BEAR HAS BEEN FREQUENTING THE AREA.  So then I thought, hmmm, somebody must have spotted a bear in the woods.

On the way out I asked the kid behind the counter "yo, wassup wid all dis bear jive?"

Actually, I didn't really say it like that.  I just like the *sound* of me saying it in my head.  But I really wasn't taking the whole thing very seriously.

"So, is it true that a bear has been in this area recently?"

"Yep.  And if you want to see it for yourself he's about a half mile up the road."

Okay, so that was our cue to run to the van like wild tourists and leave behind a dust trail as we sped out of the parking lot.  Well, we weren't THAT bad.  But close.  We tried to stay cool.

But c'mon.  It's a BEAR for pete's sake.  

And whaddayaknow, there was a traffic jam about a half mile up the road.

This little guy had everybody stopped in their tracks, squeezing their minivans into any small space on the side of the road just to get a picture.

There were at least two park ranger vehicles and one ambulance present, because these professionals know that wild tourists can be stupid enough to actually get out of their cars and get a little closer to a wild animal in order to get that perfect photo for the family vacation album. Sure enough, as soon as a few of the wild, stupid tourists opened their car door, the megaphone came out and honked strict orders to "STAY INSIDE YOUR VEHICLE".

They didn't need to tell me twice.  They didn't even need to tell me once.  I may be wild but I'm not stupid.

Eventually this cute little guy sauntered back deeper into the woods, probably tired of all the noise and attention.  He just wanted a late afternoon snack, why all the hoopla?  *sheesh*

I was just glad we were running late and still had perfect timing.