Yellowstone...We bear all on this one

Bubbling minerals from beneath Yellowstone's surface

It's May 29th, 2012, and we are driving from Themopolis,WY. now, trying to beat those feisty and harried TOURISTS into Yellowstone! The race was on. We are taking the Southern route in, through The Grand Teton National Park, and up, because the East entrance was still closed due to heavy snow from the previous few days. Harvey's wheels were burning up the road so fast, we both were reminded of our first (and the newbiest of newbie) long trip on
to San Fransisco three years ago. Dallas to Marin County in about four days. What were we thinking? Driving as if possessed by the ghost of Evel Knievel. When we first layed eyes on The Tetons, we just came back to our good senses and remembered why we RV...and we slooowwwed down to bask in the amazing sight out our left windows. Mary Ann said, "We are coming back over here for a closer and longer visit." The rest of the drive up into Yellowstone was awe inspiring too. There were tall trees, beautiful lakes, and the mountains seemed to be closing in with every mile. Our first night in Yellowstone was at a park that has no hook ups (for you non RV'ers, electricity, water, sewer connection) at all. You're totally using all your internal systems, and it was wonderful. We were parked near the big lake and there were great views all around. We had dinner, took a little hike, and read a bit, then turned out the lights early for our first day of seeing the park. Goodnight.......WHOA! What was that bump?

Mama Grizzly print (measured
 more than 10 inches)
on Harvey's door....WHOA!

We both felt something shake Harvey just as we were falling asleep. It stopped, so we continued into the dream state. The next morning, I opened the door and noticed a print on it,  a bear print. A BIG print..from a BIG bear! We reported it to a ranger, and he said they'd like to see the picture. A mama Grizzly had been seen around the camp but, so far, had not tried to make any contact. Well, we decided to leave it alone, but here's the proof. 

Other than that excitement, we did see more bears...from afar. Some cubs were spotted playing near the road near us, we saw lots of Buffalo and Elk, and toured all corners of the park for the next three days. After the first night, we moved to an RV sight that does have all the amenities. We should have stayed where we started out. This RV park was four times more expensive, very cramped, and not nearly as scenic. By the way, I wouldn't say we had the place to ourselves, but it was not very crowded at that early part of the season, and our rush to get there was unfounded. Yellowstone is huge, unique, and quite beautiful. Would we visit again? Maybe, but only after we'd seen all the others national parks.