Hello!

What a day!  We spent a large part of the day in awe of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  It was all about the South Rim.  We walked around Artist Point (yes there is an artist painting there!).  From there we hiked the South Rim to Uncle Tom’s Trail.  This trail is straight down—steep.  Really steep!  Over 300 stair steps.  St. Paul’s in London looked like a Sunday morning stroll compared to these stairs.  I attempted it and turned around after the first 6 to 8 series of stairs.  At that point I met a lovely couple from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.  Yes!  Fond du Lac.  They were enjoying their vacation.  Must thanks to Shelly and Jerry who gave us a ride back to our car!  Generosity is always appreciated.

From there we went to Canyon Village to restock and on to Little Gibbons Falls.  More wonderful hiking.

Time to let you all know that I splurged.  I got a Nikon 7100.  It’s a peach of a camera and I named it “Daisy.”  Pretty camera and is a manageable weight.  It takes pics that are 24 megapixels.  After a day of hiking and viewing it was time for my first lesson on from the master (Gary) on how to do smokey water.  So off to LeHardy Falls.  Hope you enjoy my first smokey water pics!

A quick break back at the cabin and a dusk journey to Hayden Valley where the animals are suppose to be out and strutting their stuff.  Well, we only saw a bison who had been injured.  It was our lesson in the circle of life.  The bison had an injured right front leg.  He was lying on the upper area of a small rise down to the river.  As we watched he tried to get down to the water.  I couldn’t watch and continued to scan with my binoculars on the opposite side of the highway.   My hope is that the bison would be gone in the morning.  We shall see.

One more stop before heading in for the night—to the beautiful Upper Falls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

Til tomorrow,

Sending hugs and love,

Ellie and Gary