October 6, 2010   11:31 p.m.

Day 12 was Sept. 15, 2010

We woke up in West Yellowstone, Montana.
Temperature was 31 degrees F!

Today we felt a lot better and decided to select one feature and spend a lot of time there.  We decided to go to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, which I recall from my last visit here to be very beautiful.  We hiked half the length of the North Rim trail, snapping photos and some video of the waterfalls and canyon.  The canyon is geologically young, being about 1000 feet deep, and the soft rock it has carved through is definitely yellow in color, giving the river, and consequently, the National Park, its famous name.

At Inspiration Point, we had a pleasant chat with a lady from Flagstaff, Arizona who was an oil paint artist.  She had just completed a small painting of the canyon that she intended to sell.  She explained to Sweet Girl her use of a sketch pad to plan out her paintings.

Later, we had deli sandwiches and browsed the shops near the canyon before driving back to the campground in West Yellowstone.

Wildlife sightings: by now, we have seen bison, elk, deer, trumpeter swans, and coyote.  Not sure whether we saw bear -- they were too far away to tell.

West Yellowstone is a good town in which to camp.  We can leave the van at the campsite and walk to many places, and everything is still open in the evenings, including restaurants, shops, ice cream shops, and museums.  There is even an IMAX theatre.  We have enjoyed our evenings here, as well as our days in the park itself.

My favorite picture of the children from this trip!

one of the Yellowstone falls - con't remember if it is Upper or Lower.

You can see the yellow color of the rock here.

This was much larger than the photo lets on, too.

She loves her Daddy.

Hard to get a photo here.  Very popular overlook.

Most beautiful scenery in Yellowstone, IMHO!

Closest photo of bison we got.