Yellowstone Vacation - Second Post (animals)

On our vacation in Yellowstone we saw many animals. So many, in fact, that it is mind boggling.
The animal we by far saw the most of were the Buffalo. Buffalo (also known by the French name "bison") are big and ugly and they currently roam freely in and around Yellowstone National Park. I think they know that they are protected there. :D At first, we would see a buffalo and call out, "Look!! A buffalo!!" By the third day of our vacation we'd seen so many buffalo we were making fun of people who were stopping traffic just to look, not even to take a picture.
If we were able to leave the hotel early enough we would see herds of elk. One morning, on our way to an activity, we saw two bucks in a meadow and thought that it was rather strange them being so friendly to each other. So, we pulled over. Every one was silent as though trying to read their minds... What! Will they do!! Moments later, there was a stare down, they cirled and BAM! horns locked, heads shook and "Oh, oh Wow!!! That's amazing!!! That's is so cool!!"
In one place in the park (at Mammoth) there are two herds of elk that live right by the parking lot, you can get within three of them and not fear for your life.
We also saw cute little otters and lots of different kinds of birds.
One night, dusk was settling and every one was heading home for the night and we hit tons of traffic!! It seemed like it must have been backed up for a long ways and no one was coming from the other way. Finally, someone drove down the other way and called out their window, "Bear Alert!!" We'd been praying all the time that God would bring a bear to the road so we could see one and He did!! People slowly drove by and when it was our turn there was a soft, cuddly looking little black bear just as cute as could be eating weeds by the side of the road.