Ok, I admit it. I cry at Hallmark commercials; I cry at that Folgers commercial..the one where the parents realize their son has returned because they smell the coffee he’s brewing; I cry when Kate Smith sings “God Bless America” and apparently I cry when I watch baby elk finally succeed in standing on four very wobbly legs.  How on earth do they ever manage it….and how do they know?

The park never fails to provide and amaze…we went out at the crack of dawn to check out an elk carcass is hopes of seeing bears or wolves…nope, no luck. Instead we got to see Mammoth become a maternity ward as not one but two elk gave birth out among the buildings within an hour of each other. Apparently it’s not an unusual occurrence there….as the elk have learned that it’s a “wolf and bear-free zone.” Out in the rest of the park you will not see it happen as it’s just too dangerous for the calf to be exposed…they are a favorite bear food.  50% of elk calves do not survive—I’m certainly hoping for these two.

On Wednesday we watched a bison…thankfully on the opposite side of the road.
Five baby bison, four mommy bison traveling leisurely down the middle of the road..followed by 51 (at last count) cars moving very slowly.
Bison are amazing…snow doesn’t melt on them, they give birth wherever they want (including in the middle of the road), cause visitors to panic when they roam the parking lots and have the most astounding and serene self-confidence. They have a life assumption that they may do as please; other beings are irrelevant with the exception of an occasional wolf or grizzly. In addition, Tim does an excellent bison imitation complete with snorting, head swaying and grass chomping.

To give you an idea–here’s a sampling of local police reports from West Yellowstone:

• May 25:  A large bull bison was disturbing traffic in front of a local hotel
• May 26: A crowd of people were gathered to watch a large bull bison in the town park
• May 28: A large bull bison was in the school parking lot.
• May 29:  A large bull bison was seen in the city park
• May 30:  ispatch received a report of a driver slapping a bison on the rear as he drove past  (This personis CRAZY!)
• May 31: A caller requested to speak with the Chief of Police concerning a bull bison in town
• June 1:  An individual expressed their concern to the WYPD that tourists standing too close to a bison would be hurt.

On another note, we had our own run-in with a bison late last night.  We were coming back from Bozeman at about 11 pm…and suddenly there was a bison in the middle of the road  (it’s amazing how hard they are to see in the dark.  Tim did was we have always done, slowed down and gently passed him  (he was on the opposite side of the side–but heading in our direction.  Apparently there was something he didn’t like about us–do he decided to head butt the car—we now have a nice bison-sized head dent in the left rear quarter-panel…and yet another trip to Bozeman–but at least this time is will be for the card and not for me.

All in all, the entire event was somewhat scarey….but I’m hoping the bison was OK.  One of Tim’s co-workers last year apparently killed a bison in a head-on collision….she walked away from it…..but the bison was no match for her truck.