YELLOWSTONE IN WINTER....DECEMBER 23 2011....

This time of year there is not much on TV, so happened upon a PBS presentation of Yellowstone in Winter.  Brought back memories.

Several years ago I had the opportunity to take the AAA bus trip to Yellowstone in the winter.  They offer one trip per year in the January-February time frame.  It was absolutely magical.  No other way to describe it.  So will do a - probably - 2 part series on this trip.

Flew from Pittsburgh to Salt Lake City Utah, checked into the hotel.  Had a get-together dinner that evening to meet our tour guide, a fantastic knowledgeable young man.  There were 20 in our group, from all over the U.S. and Canada.  We were all friends by the end of the week.

Our first day, way before daylight, we boarded our bus on our way north, our first stop being  in the Grand Tetons.  My first picture is showing the moon setting over the Tetons (in west) as the sun was coming up behind us (in the east).  It was way below freezing, the wind was blowing like crazy, and was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen.

From there we traveled to out next stop, which was a short distance from the entrance to the park.  There we transferred to our snow coaches.  Really unique vehicles, skis on the front for steering and tank treads on the back of traction, as the snow was over 3 foot deep.  The park is closed to all vehicular traffic in winter except for snow coaches and snow mobiles.

Each coach held 7 plus the driver, so we were a caravan of three.  And the magic really began.

We arrived in the park, and there is no way to describe the beauty, everything snow covered. 
The roof of the snow coaches was one large hatch, and every time we saw wild-life, the driver would stop, open the hatch, we could stand up and take pictures of the animals. They were used to the snow coaches, and if we kept quiet, they didn't mind.

 These were a few of the buffalo we saw.  Also saw the trumpeter swans.  They stay in the park year 'round, as the rivers don't completely  freeze over, even though it will get 40 - 50 below zero, because of the thermal heat under the ground.

I can't begin to tell you all we saw, this first day was just so full.  We arrived at Old Faithful, where we were to spend two nights in the new lodge there.  We were tired, excited, and in awe of what we had seen.

Over the entire trip we saw elk, moose, coyotes, wolves, foxes, buffalo, all kinds of birds, and snow, snow, and more snow.  And the geysers, erupting, and everything near the geysers, became coated in layers of frozen fog.  Unbelievable.

I'll tell more about this trip tomorrow.  It is the trip of a life-time, if you ever have the chance take it.  You will never forget it.

In the meantime, complete your last-minute shopping, last-minute wrapping, last-minute baking, last-minute everything and God Bless.