Big Sky Country - Part 2

Tuesday morning my parents left Montana, leaving us Butlers to fend for ourselves. We decided we wanted to head back to Yellowstone to take the other main road which would take us to the East, we told ourselves we were "bear hunting." My cousin had highlighted a couple of his favorite spots in the park, one being Lower Falls of Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, so we headed there first.

Upon entering the park, we knew it was going to be a great day when we saw who was there to welcome us - our friends from the day before:

I love how the bull elk is watching over all his "lady friends."

We stopped in Mammoth to pick up some info and then headed to the Grand Canyon side. We took Blacktail Trail for a little unpaved-road driving. We just knew this would be where the bears were hanging out. So there weren't any bears, but there WERE beautiful sights like this one:

When we got to the parking for the Canyon, we put Lando in the pack and headed down to Lower Falls. He looked pretty cute on his Dad's back:
This is me and Landon on the trail down with Upper Falls in the background (LOVE this picture of Landon, including his hilarious hair):
When we got to Lower Falls, we were pretty blown away with what we saw. It was by far our favorite sight at the park... and yes, that is a double rainbow :)
The boys checking out the waterfall:
More pics of Landon in the pack (I couldn't help it, I thought he was so cute in there):

We also checked out Grandview Point which basically looks onto Lower Falls. If you look closely you can see the platform we had just been on:
Butler family photo at Grandview Point:
For some reason, I didn't take too many pics this 2nd day in Yellowstone, but we basically just took in the sights, "hunted bears," and just enjoyed our Nation's pride and joy.

No, we didn't see bears, after all. In a way it's a good thing because now we have reason to go back, right?! On the way out we did see these beautiful Big Horn Sheep chilling on this STEEP mountainside:
We got back to the resort and took a little dip in the locations namesake, Chico Hot Springs. It was nice and relaxing and Landon loves everything to do with water. After some dinner, these tired Butlers hit the hay.

The next day we were heading out. Nate and I decided we both wanted to go for a run, even though we'd have to take turns since we didn't bring the trusty BOB. I was pretty happy Nate took it upon himself to snap a couple of photos of me finishing up my run. Look closely for me in this one:
Ahhhhhh... running in Montana:
The vacation was absolutely wonderful! Chico Hot Springs Resort has now also become a special spot to me and if we ever do Yellowstone again I definitely want to stay there again. What can I say, I just LOVED Montana! Being a Cali girl, I think often you grow up thinking California is the one and only state in this country. I'm happy that as I've grown older, I've learned just how wrong this is.