Day 10 - Great American Road Trip - Bear Tooth Pass/Red Lodge

We loved Yellowstone, but after several days the kids were done with the great outdoors.  Too bad for them because we still had to drive to the northeast entrance to the park on the Bear Tooth Pass Scenic Byway.  If you ever get to Yellowstone and have any reason at all to enter/exit through the northeast entrance, I highly recommend it.  It's closed part of the year for weather and there are lots of switchbacks through 11,000 feet of mountain, but it's awesome.

We saw lots of bison - herds for the first time.  Previously we were only seeing them individually, but mating season is almost here.

The views were spectacular and we were rewarded with snow on top.  Christian loved it!  Unfortunately, there were swarms of mosquitos in the snow area so my Arizona boy is experiencing the joy of multiple mosquito-bite welts on his arms and legs.

Mackenzie loved the little chipmunks/ground squirrels we found at the top of the pass.  At the rest area they darted in and out of weep holes in the retaining walls and ate right out of your hand.  (I know, they are wild and it's probably not a good idea, but it sure was fun!)

The ride down to the valley was full of switchbacks - the Google map looked like a child's squiggle drawing - no kidding.  We were rewarded at the bottom with more great views and lush settings.

We stayed in Red Lodge, Montana for the night and this was one of those places I wished we could stay longer.  The town had an old-fashioned main street with more antique stores in two blocks than I have seen in all of Scottsdale.  We had a great time walking through them with the kids.  For Kent and I we saw some things our grandparents had in their homes.  Christian found a rotary phone "from the 50's", but it was the same model Kent and I had as kids.  Sigh.

After dinner in town and more card games (still no wi-fi), we settled in.  Tomorrow, back into Wyoming and Devil's Tower.

Thanks for riding along with us!

cindy