Today is our 15th wedding anniversary, which is a terrific thing to celebrate in Yellowstone this winter. Our honeymoon back in 1994 was at the Grand Canyon National Park, and between these dates, we have visited forty of the fifty-eight National Parks in the United States – some many times over, such as Yellowstone (this is our seventh visit). It would be easier to list the parks we have not been to, such as the eight in Alaska, one in American Samoa, one in the Virgin Islands, Biscayne and Dry Tortugas in Florida, Cuyahoga Valley in Ohio, Isle Royale in Michigan, Congaree in South Carolina, Wind Cave in South Dakota, Kings Canyon in California, and Shenandoah in Virginia. I should also mention that we’ve been to roughly one hundred of the National Monuments, Lakeshores, Seashores, Trails, Parkways, and Memorials. To say we are in love with the natural beauty of America would start to come close to how much we appreciate this incredible country.

Onward with the day. The “Wake Up To Wildlife” tour with Doug got started so early that we had not a moment for breakfast but were supplied with a small boxed meal in the snow coach. In the dark, we drove out to Lamar Valley, a popular spot for wildlife viewing. In the first light of day, we saw three male elk roadside, quickly followed by a coyote not too far up a hill, checking us out. A car next to the road is a good indicator that someone is looking at wildlife; in this instance, that person was Bob Landis, the Emmy award-winning cinematographer for “In The Valley of Wolves.” While no wolves were in the immediate vicinity, we did get to watch a red fox mousing for food. Bob suggested we see wolf researcher Rick McIntyre a little further down the road, who had his scope fixed on a wolf pack; off we went to see several wolves.

Not disappointed with our wolf sighting, we jumped back into the snow-coach and continued further into the Lamar Valley and our first glimpses of sunlight. As though with divine insight, our guide, Doug, was talking about an elusive bull moose that had been reported in the general area. With the park’s size of 2.2 million acres (890,000 hectares), which is four times bigger than Luxembourg, it would seem impossible to pinpoint a lone moose, but within minutes, there he was – a young bull moose not far from the road. Doug could not have been more enthusiastic in his sheer delight that this animal was right there standing in the sunlight. I probably snapped one or two, maybe eighty photos while the moose made its way across the road behind us.

As the moose crossed the road (there should have been a joke found in that), we got to see it spook a couple of bison that took off running alongside it. As for us spectators, the only thing missing was a giant grizzly bear chasing all three of them.

Seriously though, there was nothing missing. Coming into the park under mostly gray skies, we are having an incredibly fortuitous moment as now, when the sun and blue sky make appearances the contrasts are downright enchanting.

There is no way to truly convey what we feel about our incredibly lucky existence and that we should be standing once again in Yellowstone while seeing it in a way that makes it an entirely new experience. One might think, “Oh, this is what rich people do,” but we are not rich in the sense that we have an inexhaustible supply of money and free time to come and go as we please. To the casual observer of this blog, do not confuse frugality in our everyday life with the opulence we wallow in when we are out gathering big experiences.

So, on the one hand, we are rich as we put great value on seeing our world wearing its many faces. We never tire of frolicking in the wealth nature lays before us. The worth we place on seeing a moose, a stream, or god rays streaming down on a frozen landscape is incalculable.

The idea that in our lifetime, we’ll have not only smiled upon one another countless times but are smiling out at nature as it offers us so much to be happy about is a gift it seems few are allowed to indulge in.

Wolf tracks are as amazing as seeing the elegant animals themselves.

Our wildlife expedition during the first part of the day is winding down as we are now heading back to Mammoth Hot Springs.

Once we get back, we’ll only hang around briefly until the next adventure begins.

Time for happy people to grab some lunch.

Funny how I’ve never been so enamored with the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, but here in winter, sans the crowds, its conveyance of being a refuge and warm shelter gives it greater significance.

Back on the road going further south than we ever have, at least during the winter.

Better take photos of all the snowcapped mountains as tomorrow they could be hidden by heavy clouds, and we cannot know if we’ll ever see them again looking just like this.

Driving over snow is a slow process which is fine by those of us who want to linger in the view.

There were times that I couldn’t remember if we’d ever traveled a particular road before or if this was a winter-specific path that failed to see at other times of the year.

Here we are for a tour of Norris Geyser Basin, led by our guide and driver, Danielle. The other passengers were Mark and Joanna from Houston, who also accompanied us on the Wake Up To Wildlife tour this morning, and as it turned out, they would also join us on the snow coach ride to Old Faithful tomorrow. (Check out their photos and experience on their blog at www.thetravelgeeks.com.)

As our small group was eager and willing to see it all, Danielle charged right in and got us going.

She marched us from here at Steamboat Geyser all the way around the snowy boardwalks, even across Porcelain Basin, only missing a small part of the basin, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

We did not sprint through the basin, mind you, as the four of us were eager to take in the sights that none of us had experienced before.

I can’t believe I shot all these photos in JPEG, but that’s exactly what I did because I felt RAW was too memory-hungry and that adjusting all these images in Photoshop would be painful.

I also can’t believe I’m foolish enough to attempt posting 38 images, but this is the price I must pay for Caroline and I enjoying so many that we couldn’t decide how to cut a meaningful number from the day.

Hoar frost is a phenomenon when the ground grows very cold and squeezes up the moisture that hasn’t frozen yet.

Through a lot of map scouring, I could figure out the names of these unnamed features, but who has that kind of time? I’ll bet I regret this in the future.

Can you tell that this is a panorama made from four portrait images? I didn’t think so.

Contrary to reports elsewhere, this is not olive oil, milk, and balsamic vinegar.

I could be wrong, but I think this is the Porcelain Basin, and just as I make this half-hearted claim, I visited Google and can confirm this is, in fact, the Porcelain Basin.

This was the path to Grandma’s house, where the big bad wolf might be hanging out. Time to leave.

Thanks to our winter guide, Danielle, for affording us so much time to see so much.

To see and hear Roaring Mountain in the winter is a treat as during the rest of the year, you get to first experience Roaring Crowd and then, only if you are lucky, do you hear the rumbling mountainside in the background.

Hmmm, where exactly did we spot these basaltic columns?

Not a well-lit bison in the foreground but an intriguingly lit mountain with some menacing clouds on its other side.

A bison a bit closer to the road wearing a milkshake mustache seemed to be enjoying itself.

The weather changes a lot out here.

Just as day gives way to night.

While we didn’t take advantage of this little luxury, the music that plays over the ice-skating rink was a constant companion during our time next door.

And next door was one of the jacuzzies that, for an hour, was all ours as we soaked in the hot water under light snow, serenaded by some golden oldies that played on over at the empty ice-skating rink. Seriously, life doesn’t and cannot get better than this. An amazing 15th anniversary, for sure.