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.

Heading to Yellowstone

Today, is May 31 and I just went outside to walk the dogs but I was told a Grizzly Bear was nearby. This is the time of the year where they are quite active in the area in which we live. Well I should start from the beginning.

We left Florida May 4th. and arrived in Yellowstone May 8th. The trip went well without any hitches. We were concerned about the flooding in Nashville since our trek west would take us into Nashville. After some hesitation I decided that we should chance it as there were not many ways for us to go unless we wanted to lengthen our trip by going a different way. There was some traffic but it was not that bad. We were able to see some flooding in the town area and outlying areas. We did get through with some delays. We had spend a night in Nebraska and the morning that we got up there was some frost and ice. Being from Florida and being a little old, I told Claire that we need to be careful walking out to the car. So with two dogs in tow, our luggage, drug bag, etc. we headed to the car. Now I am in the lead because the dogs needed to relieve them selves. Claire is coming up behind me and lets out a howl. Turning around to see what happened she made a four point landing onto the pavement with her luggage and bags scattered all over. She had tripped on the curb and slid on some ice and down she went. As a concerned Husband, I quickly looked around hoping no one saw this, then picked her up praying that nothing was broken. Well, her pride was hurt but she was OK.

Sat. May 8th. we arrived into the park just ahead of our 5th. wheel (trailer) that was being brought into the park from Billings, Montana. With the help of our friends, Jim & Ann we got it set up and the next two days Claire was turning it into our summer home. All of May has been cold with temps in the high 20's to low 30's at night with snow. Yellowstone Lake is still frozen over but showing signs of breaking up. We still have snow on the ground but it is starting to melt giving our dogs some snowless areas to do their business.

I have included some pictures. The Bighorn Sheep greeted us as we entered into the park. Our trailer being set up and a view of our neighborhood for the summer. And we can't forget Molly & Mia as they had on their coats and were about to walk on snow.

More to come.

All in a Days Ride

Sunday, March 28th. we got together on a ride to Cafe 27 which is located on Hwy 27 and borders on the Everglades. This is a great ride which is about 20 miles away away from the city lights. Every weekend we try to get together to ride and enjoy South Florida on our bikes. Today Chris, Craig, Al, Paul, Joy, and myself enjoyed the ride, the music and food at Cafe 27. By the way, I had gator tail and it was yummy. We are planning to head to Leesburg April 23 - 26 for their bikefest. Leesburg is about 240 miles from here. I was planning to go to Daytona Bikefest but something came up and I could not make it. Looking forward to Leesburg. Should get some good photos to share. With that, I bid you all farewell, have a great day and just, "Do It".

The Final Chapter

Well boys and girls every story has a beginning and an end. I now write the final chapter of, "Our Adventure in Yellowstone". I left Florida on April 28th. with my two dogs, Molly and Mia, and my Harley in tow. Claire was still teaching and would not be able to join me until the first week in June. She flew out of Ft. Lauderdale into Cody, Wy where we set up house in our new travel trailer which was located in the employee RV park. I had never been in a RV or travel trailer so I had no idea what to look for. All I knew was that it had to be new. I purchased a 27Ft. travel trailer on line in Billings, MT. Now 27 ft. sounds pretty big, how would I know that I should have had slide outs for more room? Well, we did manage although it was small but comfy. I should not complain as we had a great time. Will we come back for another year? As Arnold would say, " I'll be back". Yes, we will return. Why wouldn't we. YNP is such a beautiful place. Why would anyone ever deny Creation. OK, to get up with my final chapter. Oct. 6th. would be our last day. A week before that we had to deal with the fire which was closing in on us. We were under a 24 hour possible evacuation. Now we only had one more week to go, the temperature was dropping, with snow on the way. We were told that our trailers would have to be towed to an area that would not have electric, propane, sewer or bathroom facilities, should I say more. Well we prayed a lot and our prayers were answered with snow... lots of it. This stopped the fire from advancing and we were safe. The fire is behind us and now it is snowing. Guess what? Due to the snow the park services started closing the roads due to snow and now we are wondering if we get get out. The 6th. rolls around and the weather should be nice and it was. We were anxious and got up around 4:00AM even though we couldn't check out until 9:00AM. With snow on the ground, all over the car with ice on the windshield, (temp. was 9 degrees) Claire went out to start up the car. Now if you live where there is snow and ice you do this to warm up the car. As the car was warming up she decided that perhaps she could get some laundry done before we left. As she was putting all the clothes in the back of our SUV she shut the back window and heard this beep. We all know what the beep means. The doors are locked. She comes into the trailer and asks me where my keys are. My reply, " they are in my pants where they should be". Panic now sets in. Her keys are in the ignition with the car running and my keys are in my pants, in the car, with the car running. She had placed my pants on top of the dirty laundry and when she closed the back window it connected with my remote and locked the doors. Now the big problem. It is 6:00AM, the service stations at the general store within one mile of us is closed for the season. Several roads are now closed. We got in touch with YNP park service and they had one service station that was still open for a few more days. This was 30 miles away and he had to dig out his truck from the snow in order to get to us. Two hours latter, the car still running, however with no snow or ice on the car as it all melted. We went to the hotel where the retail staff got together for the last time and to take photos. We then got into the car and the RV dealer arrived to take our trailer to be stored in Billings, MT. Driving thru Cody, Wy we saw a cattle round up with real cowboys. Claire was thrilled. We spent the night in BIllings and made our way to S.Dakota. The next day we spend driving around the Bad Lands which was a real thrill for me. We stopped for lunch at an outpost where I had a bison burger and Claire and bison indian tacos. On the way out we stopped a ANOTHER general store so Claire could buy more books, (we now have a couple hundred pounds of books) After a few stops at a couple of service stations,(because the bison didn't agree with Claire) we made it to a motel in S.Dakota. I was playing with the computer when Claire comes in sobbing, "I can't find my wallet". What now? We both have the same credit cards so If I cancel them, how do we get home? I called the credit card company to get phone numbers of the places we had stopped at. Now remember, one place we stopped at we did not get gas. Was that the place where she lost her wallet? No, it was the service station that we got gas at. Someone turned in the wallet. No problem. Sir how far are you from where we are staying for the night. His replay, "140 miles". Guess what? We got up in the morning and traveled 140 miles seeing the same sights as the day before. We got the wallet and now traveled back 140 miles seeing the same sights for the third time. Made it to Iowa for the night. Next morning we get up, snow and ice, a white out. Now driving 30 miles per hour is right up my alley. Hate to drive fast. Did we have an exciting drive up? Check out the photo of the dogs. They tell the whole story. The final chapter comes to an end. Two people, two dogs, in a trailer, in Yellowstone National Park, what an end to this beautiful story. Thank you all for reading my blogs, it has been fun. Life is short, enjoy every minute of it. God created all this. Just for you.

The fires of Yellowstone

We are sitting in the path of a rather large fire that has consumed 9500 acres of mature lodge pole pines. The wind has not helped as the firefighters are having a hard time controlling the fire. The area is filled with smoke and the sky turned the sun and moon into a blood red color. They have set up sprinklers and barriers around the hotel, circa 1891, to save this historical site. Our trailer is in the employee RV park which we share with park service employees and park rangers. Many buildings as well as the power plant is in this location. They are saying that they may evacuate all trailers to an area on the other side of the Yellowstone River and move us all into dorms and cabins. If we are relocated it will be in the Canyons which is 15 miles north of here. The hotel and lodge still has to be closed and winterized for the winter. Our store is still open and will close on the 4th. Inventory has to be taken and all merchandise will be picked up and stored at the warehouse in Gardiner, Mt. There is the possibility that they will shut down the hotel and tell us to leave early. The full time staff in Gardiner will then come back to shut everything down. We are waiting on a huge cold front to move in tonight with temps in the teens and snow. They are expecting 2 to 4 inches of snow which would be a blessing as it would help put the fire out. We will know soon what action will be taken. The photos were taken two days ago and gives you an idea of what we are going through. The cycle is in the trailer as well as all the stuff that we plan to take back to Fl. We are ready, whatever we have to do.