Have you ever seen a stop light in the Middle of Nowhere, Wyo.?

We hadn’t either. And that would become the theme of our Yellowstone vacation: inconvenient traffic stops.

OK, not really (well sort of, but not really). Our Yellowstone vacation was much more about seeing things we hadn’t seen before.

Now, I have been to Yellowstone twice before this trip. Once as a youngin’; once about four years ago. But each time you go, the place is a little different. And as the circumstances around your visit change, so does your entire outlook on the trip. And I guess, that’s really just how life works.

Seeing out of place traffic signals was only the first out of the ordinary – but no less remarkable – things we saw.

[Disclaimer: This post is rather long, with many much pictures. But there is a grizzly bear at the end of it. Which is also like our trip – ended with a grizzly bear.]

See? Seriously. Look up “middle of nowhere” in any conventional dictionary and you’ll find this place. Now those unconventional dictionaries, well, you’re on your own.

Hello! That’s me sporting a Rockies cap. (Oh, Rockies…you and your crumbling season. Too soon? Too soon.)

Once you get to Yellowstone, you see a lot of this: people pulled over to the side of the road snapping away. (Not that we didn’t do the same…)

You also see a lot of this fellow. Not this same fellow mind you. But a lot of his brethren. And sister-ren. Sistren. Sis…oh never mind.

Babies!

OK, you get the idea. Lots and lots and lots of buffalo.

Petrified tree. The people, as far as I know, were not petrified.

Rainbows, rainbows, everywhere, but not a drop to…wait a second…

And speaking of drops: Don’t. Drop. The. Camera.

Inspiration Point. It used to be more inspiring when this outlook extended 100 feet further over the ravine. Then an earthquake made it crumble. Don’t think I wasn’t thinking about that earthquake as I looked over the edge. I was. The entire time.

I didn’t really know who this was. Luckily, he didn’t seem to mind me taking a picture of him and his wonderful hat. Perhaps he was too inspired to care. Perhaps he was too busy thinking about the crumbling walkway. Because frankly, I still was too.

He’s my new favorite. Check out that beard.

The water moves very, very fast. And fish have to beat this vast and fast water to get upstream and reproduce. Mother Nature plays mean sometimes.

Comrade, doing his thing. Which is also my thing.

Old Faithful, doing its thing. Being faithful. I like that in a geyser.

And as promised: grizzly bear! Taken from the (relative) safety of the car. We were ready to flee should the grizzly start to look upset with us. Which, perhaps, is that face right there. What do you think?

I’m pretty sure this is a grizzly bear anyways. If it isn’t and there’s a nature/wildlife expert in the house, please don’t hesitate to correct me. I aim to grow.

And that’s it!

Thanks for sticking through this rather long post with me. I love you for it.