Every day is a surprise in the "Stone"

June 17, 2010. Sitting here looking out our window and Yes, it is snowing.The temperature is below 30 degrees and now a little light snow is falling. Weather here is always changing, you never know what to expect.

Yesterday on the way to work at 6:30AM Claire saw this Grizzly walking in the field off to our right. This is very close to where we live. This must be the same bear that has been paying us a visit in the RV park. We pulled over to watch him and he then decided to cross the road. This was a real treat as he was within 50 yards of us. When he reached the other side a Coyote came out of no wheres and started running after the bear. When he caught up to the bear they just walked together rooting around in the ground. I guess they were buddies?

The other day on the way home from work, in the same meadow we saw a mother Grizzly with her cub. The mother was walking around and rooting in the ground. The cub was playing and every now and then would look up to see where Mom was then would run up to her. It was really cool to watch this.

We decided to take a little ride and encountered the Pronghorn that was just sitting off the side of the road. It is very hard not to see wildlife in the wonderful park. The Elk are now having their babies and we plan to go off tomorrow on our day off with hopes to see many Elk babies.

Today we work the closing shift which is from 2:30 - 10:00pm. Tonight the string quartet will start playing a the hotel. They set up in the Sun Room which is in front of our Gift Shop so I get a chance to hear them. They are really good.

This ends another blog for the day.

Cheers,
Dusty

Wildlife galore

May 28, 2010. This was my day off and with Claire in Florida for the week I thought I would take a trip to West Yellowstone which is a small town in Montana just outside the west gate of the park. This was a great day to view wildlife. I was fortunate to see Elk, Bison and their babes, Coyote, Trumpeter Swan, Bald Eagle, Grizzly with two cubs. What a glorious day. Got some lumber in town so I could build stairs that lead up to our 5th. wheel trailer. I do miss Home Depot. In town they have a hardware/lumber store which is about as close as I am going to get to a Home Depot. All the wildlife were on the way to town and back. At Madison Junction I can head north towards Mammoth or head east to Canyon which is the way to get back to my RV park. I decided I would head north for a few miles to see if I could find the Grizzly and cubs. About 6 miles I saw a bunch of cars pulled over which tells me something is out there. A Park Ranger was present and that is a sign that a bear is nearby. Sure enough there was a Grizzly with two cubs. I was not able to find a place to pull over so many of my photo shots were taken from the car and I was not able to get the shots that I could get if I was out of the car with time to focus. I have a 500 mm lens and have to manual focus and it is hard to do while driving in the car. After awhile I was able to find a parking spot but Mom and kids where moving back up into the woods. It was fun watching them. There is a Grizzly Mom and cub near our RV park which I will get photos of.

Work is going well and it appears that we will have a banner year. Many people from all over the world are coming into the park and stopping by our gift shop. Claire heads back into town on June 3rd. flying into Jackson Hole, Wy.

Hope you enjoy the wonderful wildlife here in the "Stone".

Trip to Jackson Airport

May 25, 2010. I was taking claire to the airport as she was heading back to Florida for a family reunion and to celebrate her Mom's 90th. birthday. I was not able to go since I am an Ass't Mgr. in our gift shop and we had new people to train. She had a real ordeal with plane delays, then in Atlanta someone picked her pocket and stole her two credit cards. This presented a real problem as she was to rent a car at the airport and you can only rent a car with a credit card. She was able to get a hold of our son, Rob who picked her up at 3:00AM. Needless to say Claire was pretty upset and it took its toll on her.

After I dropped her off I headed into Jackson Hole for lunch and to get a haircut. Yes I know, I don't have a lot of hair but at least I still have enough to get a trim. Jackson Hole is a neat little western town in Wy. The town square has four entrances and has a arch way made up of Elk antlers. The Elk drop their antlers in the winter and the Boy Scouts collect them in the spring.

Heading back to Yellowstone I stopped at Moose Junction where there is a Visitor Center, a place to eat, etc. They even have a Post Office. I was fortunate to see a female Moose in the woods. I was able to walk into the field to get a few photos. The male Moose has quite a rack but they are harder to find. Leaving Teton National Park I came across a black Wolf which I assume was the dominate Alpha Wolf. The Alpha Wolf gets to eat first then the rest of the pack is allowed to eat. This appeared to be a fresh kill as the carcass was still intact. There was no place for me to park so I was pretty much in the road. I would like to have stayed longer to see the rest of the pack come in to feed. Getting photos of Wolves in the wild is pretty hard has they tend to stay pretty much in the woods and seeing them you need a spotting scope. I was really excited about seeing this wolf up close, especially seeing a black Wolf.

Got back to the trailer just before dark and settled in to be a single guy for the week. All is well in Yellowstone.

Our first few days in the "Stone"

May 11, 2010. We had two days to get the trailer in order than we had to head to Gardiner, Mt. for training. But before heading out Mia and Molly had to have their morning walk. There was quite a bit of snow as you can see in the photos. Of course we had the good old Bison jam on the way into Gardiner. These guys act like they own the road as they are always walking the roadways. They are a very interesting animal and they are becoming one of my favorites. Besides the Bison we saw Elk and Deer but that was it. On the way back from Gardiner we stopped off at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The view of the falls were taken at Artist Point. This is a favorite spot of ours as the views are outstanding. There is a trail on both sides of the canyon which is a nice hike and offers fantastic views. We will do the hikes when the weather gets warmer. We also stopped by the Lake Yellowstone Hotel where I work as the Ass't Mgr. of the gift shop. It is the oldest hotel in the park and the oldest wooden structure hotel in the United States.

Night fall brings the snow and it is a beautiful sight as you can see from the photo. Not much to do at night although I do have direct TV. I have a portable dish which I keep here and bring one of the receivers from home. There is no cell phone service here but in the RV park I do have a land line and dial up internet. Well that is it for now. More coming.