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Don't Forget to Enter the Created to be His Helpmeet Contest What a long and enjoyable weekend. When hubby is not in Seattle, he has a four day work week. So, our weekend started Friday morning at 3am. By this time we were off to my most favorite place on earth-my reason for moving to Montana-Yellowstone National Park. As we were coming into the park a rare gray fox stopped in front of our headlights. By 6:30am we were 90 minutes into the heart of Yellowstone, parked at a turnout that overlooks Antelope Creek and Mt. Washburn. While everyone snoozed, I watched the sun rise (I did snooze for about 30 minutes). Once there was enough light to see clearly, we glassed for animals-nothing. We were on our way. From there we headed to Canyon, Hayden Valley, and Fishing Bridge...nothing. This was looking to be a poor wildlife watching day. We stopped for breakfast and hoped that our luck would change. On our way back to Mt. Washburn, the sunrise was still beautiful and we spotted a crane and a pair of trumpeter swans. Hubby wanted to take some photos.
We continued back up the road, past Canyon and onto Dunraven Pass. To our delight there was a black bear and her cinnamin cub eating on the side of the road.
After a brief chat with a fellow photographer hubby drove us another mile up the road. It was at that moment that I spotted them. Then, that a once in a lifetime chance came along. Then, that my expectations for this trip came true. You see I had read about her, about this extremely rare occurance and even more rarely seen event. A grizzly sow with FOUR cubs of the year:
I watched her for 90 minutes. I was jealous for her days. She played with her cubs and tended to their needs. After about 45 minutes she laid down for a rest. Two cubs joined her and two others played close by. Once she had to raise her head to correct a naughty cub. After a bit we drove to Lamar Valley. We were hoping to see wolves. This was also our hiking destination for the day. Along the way we saw many of God's creatures: bugling elk bulls heavy ino the rut, cow elk in their harems, huge herds of bison, pronghorn, and coyotes. Shortly after passing Tower we entered an area known by the locals as Little America. Here we met up with a wolf manager. We touched basis with him about volunteer opportunities this winter and he showed us where two black wolves has been spotted. We were thrilled to spot them through our scope and watch them for several long minutes. One was uncollared, the other was wolf 525F from the Agate Creek Pack. We didn't watch for long, they were on the move and soon out of sight! After some more chatting with Yellowstone regulars we parked and ate our packed lunch. It was time for our long hike back into Cache Creek. It was a good hike, it felt nice to stretch our muscles. 5 - 6 miles in all. We got a litte freaked when we stumbled upon two badgers sunning themselves outside their den. Ever heard stories of what a badger can do to an unexpected guest? It isn't pretty! We also met up with a coyote and a bison carcass!
We raced a thunder storm back to our car and won! By this time is was getting late. We decided to try and catch some elk rut action and headed towards West Yellowstone via the Madison River. We were slightly disappointed. The normal harems and their big bulls were absent. We did stumble upon this little guy. We couldn't believe that this tiny elk had a harem of 20 cows. Apparently he killed a much larger elk the night before. I had a hard time believing that story-but that was the word on the street!
After 30 minutes of uneventful elk watching we headed out of the park. A giant bald eagle bid us farewell and we were on our way. We stopped for a nice dinner at our favorite West Yellowstone eatery and got home around 11pm. ****Editors Note: hubby should have some really nice pictures of this trip up in a few days.**** Saturday evening we went to a homeschool kickoff BBQ. We met some incredible families and I found out that their are actually several homeschooling families near me. I am excited to get to know these families better. Sunday we spent tooling around the house. We winterized the RV and did some general upkeep stuff around the property. Sunday night hubby and I went out on a fancy date (or at least as fancy as you can get around here). This morning we drove hubby to the airport and waved goodbye. He is gone for another two weeks. I didn't even shed a tear this time. That makes me sad...I am obviously getting used to him being away. Before coming home the kids and I went to the grocery store and got everything we would need for the next two weeks. The forecast says snow is coming. We are prepared. The rest of the day has been spent baking and doing book work. My vision for the next two weeks revolve around a 'being at home' theme. It is a wonderful opportunity to work on training. We can concentrate on book work and getting on a routine. More importantly I can focus on tying strings and making wonderful fall memories. These kinds of opportunites are rare and I would be a fool not to take full advantage of them. Some of the 'tying strings' things I have planned: watching the Christy Series together, teaching the kids to cook and bake fall items, and everyday we are making at least one new food from the new Gooseberry Patch Fall book. I don't like hubby being gone. But when he is gone I can turn my heart and actions towards the children in a way I normally cannot. |
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Posted by Heather's Brain
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