The well laid plans of pups and friends oft go awry...

 

Phaedra here:

No, I'm not in Yellowstone or in the Grand Tetons.  You'll never guess in a million years, either!  Sometimes, things happen to make plans change, right?  I bet you've all been where we are right now.

A couple of days ago in Chapel Hill, the skies opened up and poured, and poured, and poured! It poured so much that the usually dry stream in our back yard rose to at least 4 feet and went over the top of our fence in the back.  Unfortunately, the river of water also sneaked into our lower level and made a mess.  So, Papa and Mama thought that we should stop our trip and go home.  I don't know what they think we can do.  Sweep the floor with our tails?  I don't think so!!!

Anyway, we have lots of places we love.  We saw great vistas in Yellowstone.  There were babies everywhere, wildflowers in bloom, and spectacular views all around.  I think that sometimes photos are better than words.  Here are some things we thought you might like:

Friends become family, sometimes.  Meet our extended family.  Only one missing is Jimmy, King Charles.  

Old Faithful erupting

Mammoth Hot Springs is hot, smelly, and beautiful!  We loved seeing things like this!

Cleopatra's Terrace at Mammoth Hot Springs

Clear blue hot springs bubbling away

Official Tour Guide

Highest place in Yellowstone NP - at Dunraven Pass

Yes, that's snow!  In July!

The Lamar Valley is famous for the tremendous herds of bison.  These are really close to our truck and they don't like dogs.  We had to be really careful that they didn't smell us - or so we were told.

Mama and Baby

Check out the traveler on the back of the closest bison...

American Bison

Makes Zoe and me feel really small!

What a surprise we got one day!  We set up a picnic right on the bank of the Yellowstone River!  Well, what'd you expect?  The Mississippi??
Anyway, we put our chairs on a flat rock, relaxed, ate, and all of a sudden realized that water was coming up out of the rock right at our feet.  Of course, you can imagine that Zoe had to go over and stick her feet in the HOT water!  She didn't get burned at all, but much preferred the chilly waters of the Yellowstone!  See the green stuff?  That's algae which grows where there is warm water.  And, this water didn't smell funny either!

Hot water is flowing out of this vent.  Really hot water, too!

Our own private riverside picnic area - Yellowstone River, again.

Papa didn't like this road AT ALL!

Elk herd from Mammoth visiting Gardiner, Montana.

Young elk - everywhere!

Twins and even triplet elk calves were everywhere.  Each herd had multiple families and many young!

Pronghorn in Gardiner, MT

Mom and baby hanging out at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel

Finally, on the very last day before beginning our journey east, we saw not only one bear - we had two different sightings.

Black Bear in the distance

Black Bear

Grizzle and cub

Grizzle Mama and Cub

Celebrating Mama's Birthday at Mammoth Hot Springs

Field of Flowers - and maybe "Field of Dreams", too.  Dunraven Pass is about 10,800 feet in altitude.  Flowers have to bloom fast up at this altitude.

Mama's idea of the perfect RV - but only if it comes with horses.  We get the air conditioned front part!

You'll never guess what river this is...

Sunset from our windows.

Great Blue Heron

Young American Coots

Sandhill Crane - another Southern resident

American White Pelican - maybe this one came here from Ding Darling NWR!  Probably not, but fun to think about!

Remember how we had to leave for home early.  Well, that is a story in itself.  Long story short, the truck lost its fuel injectors so we couldn't drive anywhere.  We had to move - no room at the inn (or campground).  No truck!  Now, that's a problem because Zoe and I certainly can't pull a 16,000 pound 5th Wheel.  Somehow, Papa and Mama can fall into a pile of you know what and come out smelling like roses.  The place where our truck had to stay helped us find another great campground - a mile from the Tumbleweed Coffee Shop but walkable.

Coffee for sure - every morning, every day! Tumbleweed Coffee Shop in Gardiner, MT

We already knew a tire guy - it's always something with an RV!  So, Papa called James who said sure he could tow us to the Yellowstone RV Park and Lodge.  He was a great guy - and had a surprise for all of us...

If you look closely, James is "packing"!  It was very exciting!  And he told us that picking up people at night isn't the always the safest.  Still, it was a new experience for us.  Toting a six-shooter isn't exactly the norm in Chapel Hill!

The same night, Mama's phone kept going off with sirens and warnings.  Flash Flood!!!  When she pulled up our security cameras at home, sure enough, we had a flood in our home in CH!  Lucky for us, friends and family got rid of the water, our mold guy dried everything out, and our contractor went to work.

We started home!   2400 miles in 5 nights!  Boy was my bum sore!

Teddy Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

Wait a minute!  Who's driving the bus???

The LONG road home