One Day at a Time

Yellowstone is too vast to appreciate in one visit.  We recognized that before going by not really planning each day there.  It would be enough to just appreciate our surroundings and take what each day gave us, one day at a time.  When we woke up our second day, the Tetons seemed like a good destination for the day.  Despite the fact that we drove past them on our way in, we never had enough time to really enjoy and explore them, much less take plenty of pictures while we were there. 

Before breakfast, I drove up the Firehole and took lots of pictures of the steam rising from the numerous geothermal features along with some more pictures of the falls in the canyon.  In one large field, a pair of sandhill cranes were just far enough away to present a challenge for my camera.  I didn't stay gone long.  The food was in the trunk of the car, and I knew that the others were probably waking up and getting hungry. 

Heading south towards Old Faithful after breakfast, the sky at first seemed promising.  By the time we reached Lewis Falls though, clouds were building off to the south indicating that a forecasted increase in monsoon moisture was indeed approaching.  By the time we were passing the South Entrance Station, it was obvious that the nice clear skies were not going to happen.  At that point though we had invested enough in getting to the Tetons so we just kept driving. 

In the past, I've taken lots of different pictures of the Tetons but this was the first day with a dreary sky.  Despite its foreboding appearance, the sky never really dropped its load of moisture on us.  Up the valley towards Yellowstone it was a different story however as sheets of rain hid the horizon from our view. 

Despite the somewhat challenging light conditions, it was still fun to play with the camera and take some pictures.  While in the Teton area, we spotted two separate moose (both cows), although at distances too great for good pictures even with my new zoom lens.

The following are all pictures from the day, mostly in chronological order.