Last weekend my sisters Ann and Amy came up with my nephew Tegue to see the sites of Montana. Paul and I took them to see a waterfall at Hyalite Reservoir, where Tegue actually did a lot of the hiking himself. He was kind of annoyed that he couldn’t get in the waterfall, but once he felt how cold it was he thought better of  it.

It was early enough in the day that we saw snowshoe hairs and marmots on the trail, in addition to hearing birds sing and all of that. Which is the good thing about travelling with a toddler- they’re able to wake up early and get moving!

Tegue was full of the giggles the whole time. He found Paul to be very entertaining.

We also drove to Yellowstone and did a quickie tour of the Park. Tegue got to see the big things: Old Faithful, The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the mud pots. He also pointed to a bison and said (we think) “Doggie!”

We stayed at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, and the elk gathered outside there most nights. This was the #1 reason  I wanted to stay there, so I could watch the elk.

Paul and I have never stayed overnight in the park before, so even though everyone else was pooped, we decided to get up at 6:30 AM and drive to the Lamar Valley to see what we could see. We saw a wounded bison all alone, a couple pronghorn, a pair of coyotes travelling together, a pair of sand hill cranes, a black bear, and a ton of bison (including my favorite: baby bison!) crossing the road. The clouds were so low that we were nearly driving through them, and the cars were so few and far between that the park felt like ours. So, if you ever travel to Yellowstone, remember: get up early if you want to see the animals, especially if you go in the height of tourist season.