Our goal for the day was West Thumb, but of course we were distracted by wildlife jams. This bison was very photogenic and we spent a lot of pixels on him. Then, just as we were deciding to move on, he decided to move on, too. To our side of the stream. He plunged in and waded across.
When we got out on our side of the stream, he moved to a stand of trees to scratch his back and his head and everything else he could rub against the trees -- which explains why the trees are in such rough shape all over Yellowstone!
We made it down to West Thumb when both Joyce and Ron bemoaned the fact that the pools just aren't as colorful as they used to be (and for Joyce that was just last August!). But that doesn't mean there aren't some beautiful deep pools with compelling color.
West Thumb is on the edge of Lake Yellowstone. In fact, some of the features are in the lake itself. It would be so cool to see one of those geysers go off, but we never have. There are no longer sightseeing boat trips on the lake but visitors can bring their own boats or rent boats from the marina.
We are loving the wildflowers we are seeing everywhere. There are so many varieties and we still are noticing new ones as time progresses and we visit different parts of the park.
These two guys were near Canyon Village where we were headed for lunch. The big fella above has a pretty impressive rack. The younger one, below, stayed with him but at a respectful distance. 
Their necks are so flexible it sort of hurts to look at them. This is a natural pose and involved no taxidermy.
When we got back home to West Yellowstone, we went to see the movie Superman Returns. We decided it was a pleasant evening but not something we're interested in seeing again (and the popcorn was too salty).
Our first diversion was right along the road to Norris: Gibbon Falls. This stunning close up of the falls shows you that our deviations from plan are worth it!
This "but first" is a compound one: We were still headed to Norris but first we stopped to photograph Gibbon Cascades but first we took pictures of the wildflowers along the edge of the water.
The wildlife jam a little further up along the road to Norris turned out to be because of this beautiful elk. He proudly held his antlers up in the sunlight. While we were there a woman told us that Tower Falls was more beautiful than usual with lots of water pouring over the falls. So we decided to change our goal for the day to Tower Falls.
But first we were destracted by a major jam, but we didn't see the wildlife. It turned out that the people were watching grizzly bears on the other side of the valley. They were watching through spotting scopes, Joyce was trying her 420 equivalent camera lens. Trust us, those little ditty-dots are a dark colored bear and a light one. We talked to folks there for a long time and eventually continued toward Tower Falls.
But first, we were distracted by this young elk as we were heading up the short trail to the falls overlook. We ended up following him along the edge of the parking area as he walked through the valley. A fellow photographer then told us of mountain animals (well, he said sheep or goats but Joyce has trouble telling the difference) so we were planning to head back up the trail . . .
But first, we drove further up the road where we could see the major wildlife jam. With the help of those already there, we spotted the animals that look pretty much like rocks as they moved across the pretty sheer canyon wall across from our viewpoint. There were adults and babies. Eventually we headed back to the Tower Falls parking lot . . .
(This is the river at the bottom of the canyon.)
But first, we stopped at another wildlife jam and learned of the osprey nest. You'll just have to trust us that there are four babies in the nest -- we had to trust the lady who told us because we couldn't see them either! So then it was on to the Falls.
And this time we made it! The trail to the bottom of the falls has been washed out and that was just fine with us, we were getting tired from our journey to the falls. We also saw more mountain animals from this viewing platform.
Then it was time to head on home. We were impressed with this dramatic sky as we drove along. We also enjoyed listening to an audio book (D is for Deadbeat) as we drove. Norris is still on the to-do-list.
