Saturday was a lot of fun for us. Hayden went to Yellowstone for his first time.
We saw three black bears that morning. None of them were big but they were still fun to see. Bears always bring out the best in Yellowstone tourists. When you enter the park they always give you a handout about approaching the wildlife. All that information goes right out the window at the first site of an animal.
One of the reasons we went to Yellowstone a little earlier than we normally do is to see the cutthroat spawning and they put on quite a display for us. We saw some monsters in there!
Our main goal was to make it to this place for photos of Hayden.
No trip to Hayden Valley is complete without a brief stopover at Buffalo Ford so we turned in and wandered around a bit while Senna cooled off in the river. Tia thought Hayden would enjoy a splash as well.
This is exactly how much Hayden liked a little wading in the Yellowstone.
The water is high at this time of year and was all the way up to the parking lot. I braved a few inches of cool water for this shot, and it was time to head out for Fishing Bridge, but not before an aerial photo.
Before these shots we stopped at the Fishing Bridge General Store to poke around a bit, and when we returned to our car and tried to start it, it was dead. No power, like we'd been running on the battery with a dead alternator. Fortunately there is a service station next door, and fortunately they were working late. They tested the battery and charging system. Hayden was a champion while we worked on the car.
The verdict: Battery bad, alternator still good! I purchased Tia a really really fancy (expensive but functional) car battery and it was time for the photos we came here for.
After that we went to the lake for one more shot, and it was time to go back to Bozeman.
