Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Elk, Bison, and Bears, OH MY!


So this last weekend was a good one. My family came to Wyoming to visit me and we trekked up to the Grand Teton mountains and Yellowstone National Park.  I could probably write a book about all of the ridiculous things my family and I do, but for your reading sake I will only highlight one occurrence from each day.

Our first night was spent at Jackson lake in the Grand Teton National forest. This is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.  We stayed in a little cabin right on the lake.  After we arrived my sister and I decided to go and do some fishing.  We actually did pretty well too, catching 4 trout in less than 2 hours, tripling my summer fish total.  On my way out I was approached by a kind lady who asked me if the trail I had just come from was open. I responded yes, and quizzed her to why she asked.  I then found out only the day before there was a moose with her baby chasing people off the trail.  Shortly after this I found out that they assumed everything was ok because a bear had eaten the baby moose.  

Day 2.  On our second day we made our way north into Yellowstone National Park.  This is a beautiful place but terribly inefficient.  While in Yellowstone we saw 2 elk, tons of buffalo, and a bear (ok, it was actually in the Tetons, but close enough). We spent the entire day driving around the park and we saw only 3 species of animals. I feel that if you are out to see animals, you should probably stick to the zoo. 

Day 2, part 2.  That is not a story from day 2.  Our original plan was to camp inside of Yellowstone. We had a campground reserved, but about the time we were going to make our way to camp we encountered a furious rain storm. It was only hours before this that we had bought hot dogs and stuff to make s'mores on the camp fire.  Due to this torrential downpour we mad our way into Jackson where we tacked on an extra night to our resort.  After we arrived to our nice two bed accommodation, my mom had become deeply saddened due to the fact that we had bought outrageously expensive hot dogs to roast and we would not even be able to eat them because there wasn't even a microwave in our room. To this I responded, "It's ok, I'm an engineer."  I proceeded to use the mini coffee pot to cook dinner. Mmm mmm coffee pot boiled hot dogs!

Day 3.  We spent the day shopping in Jackson and then went to the rodeo.  I am curious as to when in life one decides to strap his hand to a bull and see how long he can hold on. I also wonder how I get started in this industry.

Day 4. We drove home. It was somewhat good to be back in Rawlins after a jam packed weekend including 2 national parks, 2 lakes, and a ski resort. I love my family. I am sad they are gone. 

5 1/2 weeks left.

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