Bison, Pronghorn and Bears, Oh My!

Our animal watching experience on this trip, was over the top.  We were definitely among "our people" when we drove through Lamar Valley (aka The American Serengeti) and it was like the paparazzi outside of The Ivy... except instead of Paris Hilton, we had a bear and her cubs.  This was my highlight of the Yellowstone section of our vacation.  We saw baby bison (red dogs) and pronghorn on the side of the road:

One point we decided to have a "picnic" by the side of the road but the bison wanted to join us so we had to jump back in our car.  About 10 minutes before this photo was taken, we were standing right by these signs:

I know, you're thinking bison - fat, slow, mellow creatures, but no, they can "gore" you and run at 30 mph.

BUT, my most special/memorable/significant experience was watching from a hill with a handful of people and a ranger, a bear and her cub cross in front of us.  It was spectacular to stumble upon this. That's our car (second car in) that we walked out of and was lucky enough to capture the bear so close up.

Grounding ourselves among nature is important and a good way to center yourself before returning to the grind of the workforce.