Last week me and Sam had the pleasure of entertaining my mom and the Coleman's here in Yellowstone! We had a blast and felt like real tourists again after living here all summer. Watching my family get excited over all the wildlife and scenery was awesome, and we are glad that they enjoyed the trip out here, I'm so lucky that they all came out to visit us! We tried really hard to show them as much as we could, but it is very hard. One of the coolest things was when me, Sam, and mom saw the big bull elks bugling near Canyon Village, and when we went to the cookout on the covered wagons. Also hiking down the Canyon on Uncle Tom's trail with the Colemans was really fun, even though some of the group was a little scared of heights. And of course, everyone loves seeing the bison everywhere! It was also really cool that my brother got to celebrate his 16th birthday out here in Yellowstone and Cody, Wyoming. That was a really memorable experience and I hope that he had a really great time. But of course, getting to see them only a few weeks before heading home just made me miss all the rest of the family and home even more...but as of right now we only have 10 days left here in Yellowstone!
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| Our horses: Bo and Luke! |
We have been working on our travel plans, and it looks like it will be a 5 day trip back home. We will be heading to Sioux Falls, SD on the first day back (leaving the 26th), then on to Toledo, OH. We will be staying overnight in Cleveland, stopping at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as our tourist spot on the way home. That is Sam's treat to me since I wanted a really adventurous trip home but we needed to conserve money. So we will be seeing all of our friends and family very soon!
In true Yellowstone fashion, the last week has been exciting in that we have seen wolves, grizzly bears, tons of bison, and celebrated Sam's birthday. There was a bison carcass very near to Fishing Bridge, and a lot of animal activity around it since the animals here are getting ready for the winter season. When we first heard about the carcass from a tour guide, myself and two friends decided to check it out after breakfast one morning. We ended up following a wolf as he got closer and closer to the carcass. At one point, he was coming straight towards us and ended up staring us down from 20 feet away. It was an incredible experience filled with excitement, and a little fear at being that close to the top predator of Yellowstone. He was just curious, and soon found his way to the carcass. The next morning I ventured back to the same spot and saw a mother grizzly with a yearling cub feasting. The mother was intent on the food, but the cub just seemed to have fun chasing around the ravens that were lurking nearby. After 3 days the carcass was pretty much picked clean and the animals had moved on to other food sources, but it was very exciting to have that so close. Sam had gone out to see it while I was working one night, and while everyone was watching the sow with the one cub, another large male grizzly approached from the other side of the road. She said the ranger made everyone get into their cars while the bear approached. The sow smelled the male coming and evacuated the scene, while he crossed the road right where all the cars were and proceeded to the carcass. Super exciting!
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| The wolf that was really close! |
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| The bear that sneaked up on the tourists. |
For Sam's birthday we headed to Bozeman, MT. On the way we stopped at the Bear and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, MT. This is one of our favorite spots out here, it is just so much fun to watch the wolves and bears up close. All of the bears have been rescued from the wild, but the wolves were raised in captivity. It is really neat to watch their natural behaviors and interactions with each other. The wolves are playful, but clearly exhibit a social hierarchy even in the confined settings. The bears are curious, clearly have a defined routine, but can do unexpected things. For example, we watched a bear scratching his back on a tree, then proceeded to start shaking the tree around until it snapped in half like a twig. And he was one of the smaller ones they have! We had a good time in Bozeman with some of our friends, one of whom turned 21 and had the same birthday as Sam. The next day we walked around downtown before heading back to Yellowstone. But before heading back we stopped by the Discovery Center one more time! This time we got to watch the wolf caretakers provide "enrichment" for the wolves. They placed bones, fish chum, and other meaty smelly things around the wolf exhibit to stimulate the wolves. It was really neat to watch, one wolf even jumped onto a tree to shake a bone out of the branches. In the one wolf exhibit they have a little pond with trout swimming in it, and we saw a wolf catch two fish in a matter of minutes for a little afternoon snack. Sam took so many pictures of the "wolfies" that our camera died...
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| Wolve love! |
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| The tree after he broke it! But I beat it was a great scratch! |
Until next time! This has been the Mike and Sam Yellowstone Summer!!!!
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