The driver pulled up to the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel at 7:45 a.m. to pack our bags onto his coach before herding us into the vehicle for the two-and-a-half-hour drive to Bozeman, Montana. With sunrise happening at 8:00 this morning we had not an instant for sightseeing in the park, although we stopped for a couple of minutes at the historic north entrance of the 106-year-old Roosevelt Arch.

Looking east to the rising sun, we are on a bridge in Gardiner, Montana, crossing the Yellowstone River.

We were able to catch an earlier flight than the one booked and were home before sunset this evening.

Our dreams of Yellowstone will occupy future travel plans until, once again, we find ourselves grinning ear to ear, pinching one another, wondering if it’s really possible that we should be so lucky to have come back once more – so sweet is our charmed life.

Time to retire the winter gear. Warm clothes are a fantasy here as we have enough pleasant weather that allows us to wear shorts and short-sleeve shirts nearly year-round. Now, to find our way out there in the sea of brown to the place we call home.