Back at the Ranch - Spur Cross Ride

Have to take a break from Yellowstone for some fun stuff happening at home. Thursday night I took Sherman for his first ride in his new saddle, on Paint Mare, but forgot the camera. He fell off twice, once before I even got in the saddle myself, but his little harness kept him dangling so he didn't hit the ground. His second ride was today at Spur Cross, on Katie. As you can see, her biggest thrill was the green grass growing along the trail.

Here's Sherman behind me in the saddle. He fell off twice again, toward the beginning of the ride. Then he seemed to get the hang of it and even stayed in place when we loped up a hill!

Here's a closer look

Yellowstone #11 - First Buffalo

Andria's first exciting moment of our trip was when she spotted this buffalo as we were driving by - WITHOUT any other cars already parked on the side of the road. She had explained to me that as we were driving around, we would see cars pulled over and people taking pictures and that's how you find most of the wildlife you see, because someone else has already spotted them. And she was right, except for this time when SHE was the spotter! Sure enough once we pulled over and got out to take pictures, several other people pulled off the road as well.


Taking her pictures.

I had to get a shot of her with her very own first spot :)

Yellowstone #10 - Terrace Spring

As we continued down the road, we soon saw this in the distance:

It's my first hot spring :)











And a hot creek!





Which lead into a hot pond...






Wow. That's it. Just wow.

Yellowstone #9 - First Elk

Bright and early Friday morning we head into Yellowstone park proper.

Our first wild animal siting - a pair of elk, mother and young, crossing the river to graze...

Yellowstone #8 - Discovery Center Bears

Some of the better bear shots from our first visit to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center

Yellowstone #7 - Discovery Center Wolves

The wolves were pretty much crashed...


But a bit later after we had spent some time with the bears, we discovered one wolf up and on the prowl...

The Discovery Center is upgrading the wolf enclosure... if you want to help, or for more information on this not-for-profit center, you can visit www.grizzlydiscoveryctr.org or call (800) 257-2570.

Next stop... the grizzlies!!!

Yellowstone #6 - Arriving in West Yellowstone

Look what I spotted! Almost there...

By the time we arrived at West Yellowstone, it was too late to go into the actual park, so our first stop was the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center...
Out front we found some cool artwork...
Andria scaring the poor bear...
Telling secrets!



Info on the difference between the Grizzly and the black bear...

And I found this display particularly funny in light of that warning I posted just before my trip...