Moi: "Not your average" camper.

When driving along in Yellowstone, it means only one thing when one sees this:

BEAR!

So someone (ahem, the Anti-Glamp) thought it would be a good idea to traipse across the hidden marshland to get a pic of the bear. We follow because, hey, we wanna see the bear, too!  He runs ahead with Jorja in tow. I can see the future based on what they're running through and divert my course accordingly. The silence of the meadow is broken with Jorja crying and I look up and see her pink, glittery light up shoes covered in mud (at least I hope it's mud, since the bison use this area as their personal toilet). 

Meanwhile, Jett is intentionally jumping in mud puddles. Of course. 

We get to the edge of the stream and see two massive bison (no biggie, they're everywhere like cows on a dairy) and the bear is sleeping away-only a bit of brown fur to be seen by the naked eye. Anti-Glamp looks at me and says, "This was a bad idea," and I have to agree because we now have to cross the marsh/toilet land once again to get to our truck.

At the car, cleaning up, the kids now realize how very little baby wipes can do. We might as well be using Q-tips. They're ticked. Didn't really see a bear and now mucked up to the ankles, with mud splatters all over their pant legs. One family pulled over to see the bear, saw us, and said, "Uh not worth it," and took off. I kid you not. I start laughing and now the kids are really ticked and crying. Oh well.

It's no wonder the kids and I had no interest in seeing the mud volcano-we lived it.

In the end, we did see quite a bit of wildlife in the Tetons and Yellowstone, most of which was seen from the sanitary  confines of our truck.

Moose:

Coyote:

Bison:

Grizzly:

Elk:

Wolf:

Sleeping raccoon:

Deer (see my hand antlers?):

In the end, we only saw a glimpse of the fur of two bears. Although disappointing, it does validate my choice to refuse to spend $50 on a can of "non-refundable for your safety" bear repellant spray. Smart choice-I'm "not your average" camper.