WOW!!!  That's almost all I can say.  This was an intense storm - howling winds, electric out most of the night and nearly three feet of snow on the ground by Tuesday morning.  But what a beautiful sight :-)!!

Monday.

This all began with the booking of a destination wedding in Michigan for Labor Day weekend.  We decided that rather than fly, it would be a great idea to drive and see some areas of the country we have never seen before.  Thus began the planning and execution of the Great American Road Trip!

We really wanted to visit Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Park so those were our first big stops.  We spent 2 days in Grand Teton and almost 4 in Yellowstone, both of which far exceeded our expectations!!  We spent much time in the company of bison (my new favorite animal), sometimes finding ourselves within 20 feet of the 2000 pound animals.  It was great!  The rut was in full swing so we got to see plenty of spit-flinging, snot-snorting fights which was also great!  We loved the many geological features of Yellowstone, but not the smell so much :-).

We then headed across the heartland through lovely, and flat, North Dakota, picking up plenty of bugs along the way.  We finally ended up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where we spent a couple of days exploring Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore along the wild shores of lake Superior.  I have always wanted to go there and it was well worth it!  From there we headed down into lower Michigan for the wedding and then continued on to Chicago to have a very quick visit with my friend Daniela (she photographed our wedding last year.)  We left Chicago on Monday knowing we had to make good time ... we had to be in Tucson on Thursday for another wedding.  We did spend a little time in Taos, New Mexico on the way home which was really cool.  After the Tucson wedding we headed straight home so we could be at a wedding in Sedona by Saturday!

So there it is!  Three weeks, 15 states, and 6500 miles later we came full circle on our Great American Road Trip.  Some of the highlights included spending a lot of time with bison, being charged by a male Pronghorn who confused us for a male he was catching the scent of over the ridge, a raging thunderstorm over the plains complete with american symbols in the foreground like bison and bald eagles, seeing the world's largest cow, Salem Sue, seeing my friend Daniela and those are just to name a few.  It was an amazing trip and I am so glad we decided to do it!  We took thousands of images while we were there, but these five emerged at the top!

Bison grazing at Sunrise

After this trip my new favorite animal is the bison!!  I completely fell in love with these giant lumbering creatures.  We had many amazing opportunities to be in the company of, get way too close to, observe and photograph bison in both Yellowstone and Grand Teton.  We were there during the rut and that was definitely something to witness.  Side note: don't find yourself in the middle of two rutting bulls - bad, bad idea ... we are OK though :-)!  We also saw and photographed Pronghorn, mule deer, elk, coyote, bald eagles and much more.  It was nice to concentrate on wildlife photography ... something we haven't done in way too long!

Yellowstone Bison

If I were to try to find words to describe Yellowstone National Park - and believe me, words will definitely escape you when you lay eyes upon this place - they would be somewhere along the lines of primordial, surreal, sublime ... especially sublime.  This place really did leave me speachless.  I haven't felt a sense of peace like this since Africa.  I didn't want to leave.  We are already planning another trip back.

Old Faithful