Another Weekend in Yellowstone

Another week has pasted in Yellowstone and I'm having as much fun as ever. It's my Sunday and I've spent it relaxing but thought I should make some time to catch everyone up on the happening at Canyon.

May 13: This was my last Sunday and I spent it driving to West Yellowstone for groceries. It was nice to drive the park on a pretty day and get to see the animals. I was able to see several bison calves and, of course, a ton of adult bison. I also saw an eagle out near West Yellowstone. I had hoped to see the eagle. They have a nest out that way but it was empty when I passed. Actually, the eaglet was probably there but not the adults - at least not in view. Then, just a bit past the next, I saw the eagle flying overhead. They are always so fun to see.

I didn't do anything in West Yellowstone except buy groceries. I spent another hundred on the groceries but got a lot more than last time - and still stayed (mostly) on the diet. On my way to and from West, I had to wait in the construction area. I took a book because I knew I would be sitting for awhile Even though there is a wait, it is much better than last year - when the road was totally closed. As I came through the construction on my way back, I saw a school bus. I quickly grabbed by phone to snap a photo for Clayton. Speaking of school buses, last week a school bus broke down on the south end of the park and had to be towed out. It was full of kids at the time so I'm sure they loved the excitement.

May 14: I worked with our new crew for the first time today - my Monday. Our new people are Sarah, a 21-year-old girl from Arkansas (who has a pet rat) and Dan, a 63-year-old guy from Pennsylvania (who has been RVing full time for 12 years.) After work, Sarah and I took a drive because she doesn't have a car and has never been to the park. I took her from Canyon to Fishing Bridge and then to Lake Butte. It was a really nice drive. We got to watch a bison walk through snow - and often fall into it. The lake was beautiful and still frozen. On the way home, we stopped at the Fishing Bridge dorm and I introduced Sarah to all the cool kids down there.


May 15: Just work.

May 16: Today, I worked a split - which means I open and close but have a long break in the middle of the day. During my 3 hour break, I made spaghetti for the dorm. It was only 4 of us eating that night - Wes, Sarah, Dan and me. Dan lives in his RV but I asked him to come over for spaghetti. It was a fun night.

May 17: More work and then some fun. At work, a cute redhead came into the store with his girlfriend. He was 20ish and made me think of how cute Clayton will be when he gets older. I also had a guy buy beef jerky and may me with 16 half dollars. Before he paid me he asked, "Do you need some half dollars." Which made me think, "when does anyone ever NEED half dollars?" Of course, I took them. After work, Sarah and I went for another drive. This time, we went from Canyon to Fishing Bridge and then on around the entire lower loop. I wanted to go in order to see the damage from last year's fire. It was the Arnica Fire and ended up burning close to 11,000 acres. It was interesting to see such a recent burn and we saw a ton. On our drive, we also went to the Old Faithful dorms to see the cool kids down there. On the way back north, we got to see the cutest baby bison. There was a group of bison with 6 babies. They were galloping around, head butting each other and otherwise being awesome. Further down the road, we got to stop and let a HUGE bison walk down the middle of the road. He walked right by us. We could have reached out and touched him - but then he might have rammed our car.


May 18: My Friday! I worked until 4 and then took a long nap. I got a good laugh at work because my friend wrote about seeing a tourist chased by an elk at Mammoth. The guy was inching up to the elk - for who knows what reason - and when he was about 2 feet away the elk went after him. The guy ran and then did a tuck & roll behind a trash can. I can picture the entire scene and it makes me laugh every time. A customer came in and told us about an injured elk. The elk had been attacked by a wolf and taken refuge in a pond between South Twin Lake and North Twin Lake. The wolf got her leg. After she went into the water, the wolf waited near by in the woods. The elk ended up dying. I assume the wolves feed on her for awhile. Then a bear came along and drug the carcass out of the pond. He feed on the elk until park service decided to remove the carcass. I'm guessing they thought it was too close to the road - causing traffic and danger.

May 19: Saturday! I slept in, read and then showered. Then I headed to Mammoth to pick up Kelly Jo. On the way to Mammoth, I saw a bear. When I got KJ, we went to Gardiner to have dinner at Helens. We both had bison burgers and they were delicious. We left there stuffed - but still got ice cream for the road. We headed toward Tower with our ice cream. I wanted to go to Tower because Wes had seen a great grey owl there the evening before. On our drive, we saw 2 griz, 1 black bear, and a moose. It was a really fun drive.


May 20: I slept in again today and then had lunch at the Canyon Soda Fountain. My friend, Jackie, is one of the managers there. It was a pretty good lunch - cheeseburger and fries. Clayton would have loved it. After lunch, I took a few things to the post office, hung out at the station for awhile and then back to the dorm. At the dorm, I listened to some music while making corn dip. Once the station was closed, Caleb made chicken tacos. Then we all had tacos and corn dip for dinner. We also got a new person today. It's a young guy from Utah. I'll be closing with him tomorrow.

I have better photos but I'll have to add them later. My new laptop doesn't have a slot for the memory card of my camera. I also have a great video of the bison in the snow. Watch for that to be added soon. More later!