Well, maybe no lions or tigers, but we did see bears! Yesterday along the shores of Yellowstone Lake we saw a grizzly enjoying the tender new grass and watched him tear up chunks of grass to get at the tasty roots of wild flowers and other tasty bear treats.
The little black flies were awful! The bear seemed to always be in a cloud of them.
We also saw several bison and several elk high up on a hillside.
I hope you enjoy my pictures and sharing in our journey in Yellowstone!
We have been here for almost a week now and what a week it has been! We’ve had rain, snow, hail, sleet and sunshine. Sometimes all in the same day! The campground is at 7735 ft plus and when the weather gets loud, it gets VERY loud!
I am a Campground Attendant and as such I clean bathrooms, get firewood from the woodshed ( so far only 10 – 20 boxes at a time and we all work together at it, passing fire brigade style. Soon we will get 100 boxes at a time! Off-Da!) pick up branches, dig out campsites,(yes, there is still a lot of snow. Two loops are not open yet because of it.) and do maintenance. We also deliver messages for the guests and sometimes deliver mail to them also. I am enjoying it immensely! I can hardly believe how much! I am the only woman with all the guys, hence, when we go in the truck I sit in the middle because my legs are the shortest!
We have had two bears in the campground this week. I saw one, a big grizzly who stayed in the meadow where later on in the summer tent campers will be. The other was in the C loop which has campers in tents and hard sided RV’s. He was a younger fella and the rangers got him to head for the hills with their air horns.
Meanwhile, Rick has been doing training every day for his job as a Guest Service Agent. When he comes home his eyes are glassy and his head is going in circles! I am soooo glad I am NOT going to do his job! He is almost finished with the training and will begin his on the job training on Wed. All the other GSA’s are very encouraging and are quick to tell him that it will go better when he is actually doing the job.
Today we went on a Photo Safari. One of the perks of our jobs is that when there are spaces available we can fill them. So we could go for free! The weather was really poor, cloudy, grey and raining off and on. Our guide usually finds great spots for bears (they were all hiding today) and other critters. Today was the exception and the sun wouldn’t even show it’s face for us to get the rainbow at the Lower Falls. Still, it was a good trip. We had fun and I learned more about my camera from our guide. He is a professional photographer who started working at the park 23 years ago as a waiter. He had his degree, but it didn’t satisfy his need to be creative. After several years of doing lots of different things at the park he was approached about doing photography tours, hence the Photo Safari’s came to be. He was excellent. We hope to go again another day.
I am going to attempt to post a few pictures from today and from last week. We hope you enjoy them!
Finally, we are on the road to Yellowstone. We have had a series of adventures in automotive repair! First we were stranded on a busy interstate with the Jeep! Just picture it… after 10 at night, pitch dark with cars zipping past, and we are just off the road in a car that has, without warning, stopped! Now what??? Who do we know that can help us. We are about 40 min from our motor home. Light bulb! Brother-in-law, Paul becomes our Angel and rescues us, returning us to the motor home so that we can go back and hook up to the Jeep.
We tow it to our daughters where our son helps by towing it to a mechanic who diagnosis the problem as a bad coil. A few days later ( Memorial Day weekend got in the way) we have our Jeep back and another day later we are stranded again! Evidently there was more than a coil problem. This time it is found to also have a bad fuel pump. What a pit. We were supposed to leave this morning for Moorhead to have a visit with another son and his family before heading to points further West.
Well, now it is 10:30 PM and we are about half-way to Moorhead. The plan is now to have an early breakfast with the family and hopefully make it to Rapid City, SD before night fall tomorrow.
Ah, adventures! Life would be so dull without a few challenges along the way!
We are preparing to begin our new adventure! In just a few short days we will head West to work at…..can you guess?…..do you feel the anticipation?…….Yellowstone National Park! Just think, a whole summer in a fantastic park! The hiking, the biking, the wildlife and ….the campground!
Bridge Bay Campground to be precise! While Rick is taking your reservation, guiding you to your campsite and giving directions to the features you want to fill your day with, I will make sure your bathrooms are clean, the showers are ready to go, the firewood is ready for purchase and the campground is spiffy!
We don’t have our campsite number yet, but if you are in the neighborhood, look us up! We are anticipating a wonderful summer in the mountains and valleys of Yellowstone NP!
