MONTANA DAY 3

Slept in a little after the late night yesterday. Well if you can call sleeping until 7:15 actually sleeping in because that's Montana time but our internal clocks still on eastern time said it was 9;15.
Hubbie and I walked over to breakfast before #2 son and Tif got up.
The view out of the lodge big windows is breathtaking.

We are in between a little community called Pray and Emigrant Montana. This historic marker is on the side of the road not far from our lodge.

We came back to the cabin just as son and Tif  were headed to breakfast..

We caught this little Prairie Dog watching us from the fence in back of our cabin.

There were more deer feasting on the alfalfa this morning.

When the kids got here we embarked on our day .  Todays travel took us back into Yellowstone and on another route. We  went through the Lamar Valley area today where the Bison surely did roam.

Our first exciting encounter of this big bull lounging right beside the road.

This was truly another amazing place and there were Bison everywhere and really up close and personal some times as they had no fear of people maybe because they were actually bigger than most of the cars they were walking past.

These 2 guys were squared off and looked like they were surely going to fight but them both turned and stuck their little tails in the air and thought better of it.

We also saw herds of Pronghorn Antelope and some deer along this valley road.. The old song "Home Home on the Range Where the deer and antelope play and the buffalo roam kept ringing through my head all day.

As we drove toward the eastern boundary of the park there was so much beauty and more snow as we climbed in elevation again.

We passed out of the eastern entrance of the park to a little town called Cooke City Montana, This little town was between to high mountain ranges and things here had a much slower pace.

We had lunch here in a small little café and it was very good. More wooden beams and paneling in this building.

One thing very different in many of the restaurants and business we have been in there is no air conditioning but every one has an wood burning elaborate fireplace .

We did some shopping in the local shops and had to check this old general store that is on the national historic places register out. It was a stark reminder of my childhood visits to some of the stores in our town when I was growing up.

We left Cooke City and went back into the park and back through the Lamar valley and the Bison herds. This guy held up traffic for a pretty long time as he stood in the middle of the road until rangers could be summoned to encourage him to move aside.

This is a Soda Butte we passed along the way.

We came back to the Mammoth hot springs general store to check it out.
We came back to the cabin and then tried to get in the lodge restaurant to have supper but they were too crowded and had a very short menu so we opted for a BBQ place with outside dining just up the road and were pleasantly surprised with very quick service and very good BBQ.

We spent the evening enjoying the warmth from the fireplace in the cabin and relaxing.

Thankful for another blessed day and for the love of family.
God Bless and Good Night