Mammoth Springs, Yellowstone National Park

 

Yesterday we decided to change things up and have breakfast outside the hotel.  The included breakfasts have all been buffets with mostly the same items.  Angie found a place called The Station which was a converted gas station which has delicious crepes.  After breakfast we headed back to the hotel for our 7:50 departure. We were headed to the Buffalo Bill Cody Center.   

What a fascinating place. It's five museums in one!!  In addition to a museum about the life of William F Cody, there is also a firearms museum, a natural History museum, an Indian Lands museum and a western art gallery.  We had two hours to explore and did the best we could. We both thought the natural history museum was the best part. Focused on the geology and wildlife of the area. If you are interested in firearms, they have a collection of over 7000!!  So many!!

After the museum we started the trek towards Yellowstone. 

 We'd be using the Northwest entrance so would be making a brief stop in Cooke City Montana. This town (officially an incorporated community) is literally only a few blocks long and has ~75 residents.  It's about as "small town" as you can get without being a ghost town.  We had some pizza from Trailhead Grill that we brought with us and that was our lunch as we sat near the mountains. We also visited the general store which had an old fashioned cash register!!  And no stop in a mining town would be complete without visiting the saloon for some liquid refreshment. 

Soon we entered the park.  I had no idea how massive this park is. Over two million acres and covering three states. We arrived at the hotel and before we got our keys we took a short stroll on the boardwalk to what is known as the terraces.  These are calcium formations from the hot underwater springs.

We received our keys and luggage and headed to the beautiful Map Room prior to our dinner. They have a wooden map using wood from all over the world. 

Dinner highlights were a wonderfully smoky trout dip and mushroom tortellini. After dinner we returned to find about twenty elk just grazing for their dinner out front of the hotel.