7/20/2013–Day Trip to Mammoth in Yellowstone National Park

We got an early start as we wanted to drive out to the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park today.  We lucked out and some better wildlife sightings today.

A few elk in this photo including the one where only it face and ears show.

We turned into a service road and had this big guy headed right at us…that caught us by surprise!

It look like he was giving us the “evil eye” as he continued across the road.

At one of our stops to watch the elk, Ken was talking to this couple when their son decided to use Ken’s camera’s mono stick to stand up.

We watched this cow elk for quite a while and we assumed she was keeping an eye out for her calf.

We never did see the calf, but this young bull elk walked across the hillside.

We pulled into a parking space near the post office in town, and looking at the next building to the north, there was a cow elk grazing on the lawn.  Her calf was hidden behind a bush up against the building.

Later, it was time to rest in the shade of a large tree.

We drove out the north gate and looked around the town of Gardiner.  This is the arch at the north entrance.

The sign on the arch.

Back in Mammoth, we took time out for an ice cream cone at the store before heading back to the RV.

We saw this unusual RV parked in town.

There’s plenty of unusual landscape within the park.

Sheepeater Cliff

Even more elk than we saw earlier at this stop.

Love to watch all the geothermal activity.

After a long day in the park, it was nice to get back to the RV and just relax the rest of the evening.

Eureka, Anniversary, Redwoods, and Elk

Happy anniversary to us today…37 years!  We started our day by finding an ATM in Eureka and since it was still a little early for our planned lunch, we drove around Eureka.  These first three photos were taken along the east side of Humboldt Bay.

We drove over a long bridge to the west side of the bay to have a look around.

The west side of the bay was formerly a Navy base but is now facilities for the Coast Guard.

The change in weather could be seen in the wave activity along the Pacific Ocean.

We thought the restaurant we planned to go to for lunch would be in the main area of Eureka, but it turned out to be south of our exit for the Elks lodge so it was a long drive north and then back south for lunch.  Although it seemed to be in a very out of the way location, the parking lot was full at Gills by the Bay,  and we had a very  good lunch.  Ken had the fish and chips and a cup of seafood chowder while I had the Sandy Beach Sandwich which was bay shrimp, crisp bacon, green onions & cheddar cheese on grilled sourdough bread.

After lunch, we drove north on Hwy 101 to the visitor center for the Redwoods National Park.

Ken picked up some pamphlets and talked to the ranger at the desk for a while, and then we watched a short movie about the redwoods.

From there we continued driving north (and then back south) to see the redwoods and elk (with a deer thrown into the mix) in the area.

And that’s “the end” for today!