I tell myself after each of our weekends (that’s Tues/Wed) that I will post something…and then we decide to go out, or Old Faithful’s going off, or there’s a card game in the lounge.  All of these things Tim eagerly points out–and then I’m distracted and off we go.

The other thing that happens, of course, is that a guest says something and my mind goes” that would make a GREAT blog post!”  Do I retain that idea until I get back to the dorm–not a chance!  Oh, well, that’s life in YNP–so here’s a quick synopsis of the past two weeks.

The elk and moose have started calving–and we haven’t seen any moose yet, so we decided to run down to Jackson.  Moose-Wilson road has a 60% success rate for us with regard to moose.  I’m pleased to report that we did see one…I’m sure you can see it in this picture.

We also had some luck in the same place last year with a few beavers–Tim seems to have a thing for beavers–no luck there but, later on in the day we stopped at one of the most beautiful spots in the world, Oxbow Bend.  Tim was unsuccessfully trying out some different camera techniques on a pelican–but look what showed up in the photos when we got home…..he certainly got his beaver! (and all of you thinking of truly terrible beaver jokes just have to stop right now!)

I’m trying to do more “capturing the background” with the critter pix this year…and these bison basically right next to the car cooperated fabulously.  The Park Service must have just paid their salary for the year.

Of course, the question every visitor asks is “where can I see bears?”  Here’s the answer:

A bear jam is the perfect clue.  This particular one was caused by a female black bear and her 2 adorable “cubs of the year”.  You really couldn’t get too close (especially with that ranger standing there) so we pretty much just spent an hour enjoying the cubs and mom.  Sometimes life is better without the camera. One of the first things that mom-bears do is teach their kids to go up a tree on command (mostly for protection) and these guys were clearly intent on getting in a LOT of practice.

This past weekend was really more of the same, not a lot of luck with baby moose or elk…but, sometimes when you least expect it–another opportunity presents itself.  I couldn’t believe my good fortune when this chocolate black bear was walking on the small ridge right next to the road–I couldn’t pass up that bear and that background.

With this adventure we were running late and didn’t make it back to the EDR for dinner (oh, tragedy)  but the gods were still with us.  On the way out to West to get a pizza we spotted this young gentleman and his mother just past Seven Mile Bridge. (See-pizza really does make good things happen!)
There’s a weather front coming through over the next 2 days–and we might even get a little bit more snow.  Stay cool–and we’re off to Cody next weekend to celebrate Tim’s birthday.