Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Moving North to Gardiner

Hi All,

We checked out of the West Yellowstone condo around noon and headed to our rental cabin just north of the park in Gardiner, MT. Not too much car traffic but . . .


These guys are still shedding their heavy winter coats so they look pretty shaggy.

We took the narrow, winding upper terrace drive to see some beautiful travertine terraces.

Just before we arrived in Mammoth Hot Springs, we got two timely emails. First was a park service press release describing a cow elk attack on a woman near the Mammoth Hotel. Seems the woman inadvertently got too close to a calf and mom kicked her multiple times requiring that she be LifeFlighted to a hospital in Idaho. When we got into Mammoth we saw many cow elk sitting on the lawns but all was calm.

The other email was from John & Myra Bridges, a couple we volunteered with in Oregon nine years ago. We hadn't seen them since but they get our travel emails. Realizing we were in the area, they invited us to stop to see them at their camp host volunteer site in Mammoth campground. We stopped for a brief visit before meeting our kids at the cabin.

In case you've wondered what all this National Park stuff is about, from a display in the Mammoth Visitor Center, here's a quote from the law that created the Park Service.
Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Sunday, June 3, 2018

West Yellowstone MT

Hi All,

We all slept in this morning, some slept further in than others🙀. We spent the day touring around West Yellowstone, the town just west of the park. Here the Florida Greenbaums check out a carved eagle.


We spent a lot of time at the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center.

We arrived in time for a naturalist presentation and feeding.

Adjacent to the wolf enclosure is a small Uinta Ground Squirrel community.

The Center has about nine grizzlies that are on exhibit two or three at a time.

The enclosure has many enrichment items to keep the bears sharp. One item is a locked cooler with food inside.

The Center is the Test site for the Interagency Grizzly Bear Group. If a cooler (or dumpster or trash can) survives 60-90 minutes of bear attention, it is considered "bear resistant".

Not all coolers make the grade!
The Center also has very informative exhibits.

While shopping around town, Carl engaged in his hobby of noting funny or poignant signs. Two standouts for today were the bear drawing that said,"Be alert-Out here not all organ donations are voluntary". 

This pillow was the best

Tomorrow we move to Gardner, MT for more exploring.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Saturday, June 2, 2018

Day 2 Highlights

Hi All,

We had a long, exciting day 2 in Yellowstone. 

Best photo of the day was Wyatt's portrait of this golden mantled ground squirrel.


First stop was the Norris Geyser Basin, a huge expanse of boiling pools, thermophilic algae and steaming fumaroles.

Visitors are cautioned to stay on the walkways. We hope this was just a hat and not the whole human!

Next stop was the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

with the lower falls roaring into the canyon.

We saw lots of bison but only one bull elk.

Our final stop was Grand Prismatic Spring.

The terraced mineral deposits show lots of bison tracks. Hope they have asbestos feet.
We returned to the condo nearly 12 hours after we departed-tired but worth every step.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Friday, June 1, 2018

Off to Yellowstone

Hi All,

We headed north today for our week in Yellowstone with the kids. First stop was Lewis Falls where they took this selfie.


After a picnic lunch in a snowstorm we headed to West Thumb where we were greeted by some cow elk.

The West Thumb Geyser Basin has many beautiful thermal features like Black Pool.

The rain/snow continued at Old Faithful but the crowd was undeterred 

and not disappointed though the geyser looks better against a blue sky.

From Old Faithful we drove to our rental condo in West Yellowstone . We drove past this guy on the way.

We were surprised at the Mountain View from the condo patio.
A great first day of our Yellowstone week.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Touring the Park

Hi All,

We spent a wonderful day touring the park. No bears showed up but we enjoyed many of Grand Teton's other delights.

First stop was the Chapel of the Transfiguration.

This is the view from the altar

and this is one of the stained glass windows.

Next it was on to Schwabachers Landing. Who knew that Wyatt was a budding herpetologist? He found this wandering garter snake (that's the name not the behavior) in the grass

and it caused a snake jam along the trail.

The Florida Greenbaums posed in front of the mountains.

The Chapel of the Sacred Heart has this beautiful stained glass window.

Next stop was Signal Mountain Lodge for their Mountain of nachos!
We did see some distant pronghorn on the way home but scenery and cultural history filled the day- oh, and the snake🙀. Tomorrow we do more exploring and hopefully the bears will cooperate.

We now have a snail mail address here if anyone needs to send us something:
PO Box 291
Moose, WY. 83012

Love 

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Six Bear Day

Hi All,

Day 2 started with grizzly bear 793 (AKA Blondie) and her two cubs north of Coulter Bay. They nursed, ate and napped for two hours before they moved towards the road and we shut it down so they could cross.

Late afternoon we were called to a black bear plus 2 cubs in Jenny Lake campground. We hazed them out of the campground and into the woods.

We also saw mule deer, a cow elk with a very small calf and lots of pronghorn.

No owls today.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Our First Patrol

Hi All,

We got our radios, uniforms and bear spray Monday morning and set out on our first patrol of the season. We soon  got called to a jam with over 50 cars parked along the roadway. It was a great gray owl perched about 75 yards from the road. Since owls are nocturnal, this guy was going nowhere. We watched the owl from 10-3:30 and our relief was with him until evening.

Here is some of the crowd.

After work we met Scott, Tara and the boys in Jackson for dinner. They are having a great time and we go with them to Yellowstone on Friday.
Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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