Checked into our first hotel, Yellowstone Riverside Cottages in Gardiner. It has a full kitchen and a balcony...
... with river views, and once you cross the bridge at the far end of this photo, you are practically in Yellowstone.
Here is the famous Roosevelt Arch, marking the North entrance to Yellowstone National Park.
Our first destination - Boiling River. On the day of our arrival, September 12, it is open for swimming until 8 pm (will switch to Fall hours, until 6 pm, on 9/15), which is really fortunate because it is just after 6 now, as we are starting out.
The swimming area is about half a mile upstream from the parking lot. On the right, you can see the rising steam from thermal springs that flow into the river at this point (which is where the name "Boiling River" comes from).
There are no changing rooms, just a couple of benches and a standard sign, warning about wildlife ("wildlife is dangerous, keep 100 yards away from bears and wolves, 25 yards away from other animals, yadda-yadda-yadda") - later we saw signs like this all over the park...
... we come prepared, with swimsuits already on under our clothes, so now I am cautiously entering the river. Cautiously, because the boulders underfoot are slippery, the current is strong, and I have to make my way downstream, where boiling water from the thermal springs is coming in (now on the left) and mixing with the very cold waters of the river. I feel like Goldilocks - a little to the left and you are in danger of getting scalded, a little to the right - the water is very cold and you can get toppled by the current... have to keep in-between and find a "just right" place in one of the lagoons (like all those other people down there)...
... and as I am slowly making my way down, here is the first encounter with "wildlife"... yikes!!! (since it is Alex - who just entered the water with our TG-4 camera - taking the picture, the snake is actually swimming towards me...) It is hard to tell from the photo how big it is, so in case you wonder, it is probably 5 or 6 feet long.
I have no clue whether this snake is poisonous or what... The snake, meanwhile, brushed past my legs and swam somewhere to the side - you can see, I am cautiously optimistic...
... nope, it's back! It tried swimming upstream, gave up, moved to one side and the other, and ended up on the stones just behind my back in the previous photo.
Later I found out that this is a Bullsnake - a non-poisonous snake that looks remarkably like a Rattlesnake (same markings, same size) - except the rattlesnake has the "rattle" on the tip of its tail, while the bullsnake's tail is pointed (as seen perfectly well in the next photo). All I can say, it's a good thing that at the time of our encounter I had no clue as to what a rattlesnake is supposed to look like either...
Finally, the snake moved away for good and we found ourselves a nice lagoon...
... and started enjoying the thermal waters.
It was really great fun!
On the way back, we saw cars stopping and people pointing up... and sure enough, there were some Bighorn Sheep...
... except we didn't see a ram with huge curly horns, they were all female or youngsters, with tiny little horns...
... but very cute. This was the only time we saw the Bighorn Sheep in Yellowstone, they are not as prevalent as bison or elk.
And speaking of elk, just as we were about to cross the bridge in Gardiner, three elks came out of somewhere behind this wall, crossed the road towards the restaurant on the left - but probably didn't like the menu or ambiance, because they immediately turned around and crossed back, which is when I took this picture.
And this is the sunset from our balcony.
> Day 2
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