Norm, Chris, John and I took a jeep ride this morning. We were told we had Christy, the “best” guide of the group, for our trip. She was a darling blond blue eyed woman who had spent her life visiting the park and raising bison and elk along with two kids in Iowa. Now she was living her dream living right here! She knows all there is to know about bison and the wildlife here. She was worried we would be disappointed the bison had moved north along the paved road. When we told her that was no problem we had seen many sightings she was delighted and we headed for the backroads in the grasslands. She talked and talked both about the park and her experiences with the animals. We loved every minute. One special moment was seeing coyotes racing along a hill in the distance. We have coyotes at home but seeing them racing across the grass was really special. They are really elusive in the park. She had only seen one prior to this. We heard a little history of the early ranchers that came in here about the turn of the century. She delighted us with stories of close encounters with the bison. We passed a truck with elk researchers coming down from the mountain. The elk herd is the only animal having difficulty keeping their numbers up. The mountain lions a getting the babies. Their numbers are doing just fine. We bounced and bounced all over the grasslands and ended up high on a hill with a magnificent view looking out in all directions! She really wants to get hired on by the state with a permanent job. I hope she can end up working with the elk research group.
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| Looking for elk on our jeep ride - didn't find any but the view was beautiful! |
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| Our fabulous guide on our jeep tour. |
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| We have seen many pronghorn. |
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| John enjoying the view. |
We all had lunch, some took naps and some played cards, very relaxing afternoon. We had Faye and John over for hamburgers and s’mores over the campfire. We had fun entertaining at the Manor! Our “bug room” worked out great. We dined and played cards without running interference with the fly swatter. Thanks to Faye and John, our own See’s candy boxes made a great dessert.
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| Dinner party at the Manor |
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| Burgers - Yum! (John love to give the camera a silly look) |
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| Cards after dinner in the "bug room." |
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| Roasted or should I say burned marshmellows! |
Wow! What a wonderful trip! I know you are getting close to heading for home! Thank you Kathy thank you so much for blogging and taking pictures, so I got a good glimpse of your travels!!! I sure enjoyed it!!!
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