Snow in June - it MUST be Wyoming!

June 6, 2009

Holy Guacamole! Three days without the internet or cell. Amazing! We have had such a good time even though Ken’s pain level has skyrocketed to about a 9; but he knows we won’t be back here so is gritting his teeth and moving on. We watched a movie this morning and left to explore about 2 pm. Drove the east side of the park up to Monmouth in a circle back to Fishing Bridge (stayed there as we are too long for the other cg’s.) Today the rain stayed away until late afternoon and we were able to do a couple of walks looking out over the Canyon.In spite of his eye problems, Ken spotted a loan elk WAAYY over in laying in the middle of a small clearing. I took a picture of it. Why? Because I could! You can even tell it is an elk. (It is the small things that keep the FTer Retiree happy. J New toy, remember.) There are new walkways in several areas. We have had a marvelous time in YNP. The lake is so HUGE – especially this year. Water, water, water everywhere!There are trees growing out of the river – no land in sight. Obviously this isn’t a typical year. 29 years in Wyoming and this is the FIRST time we have stopped to “smell the flowers”. There are new lookouts over the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Magnificent! Beautiful colors of the rock formations as they have sloughed off. We have managed to not harm one another as we learn the new camera. Ken doesn’t have the best use of his right hand thumb and first figure, so not shaking the camera has been an obstacle for him at the fine zoom mode. Thus we have purged many a picture but we have some wonderful keepers.I think I’m going to do the web album thing – Olympus or Picasa3; Olympus or Picasa3………………It’ll be a surprise and will depend solely on which one I figure out first. It is baby season and we have managed to spy quite a few babies. To date we have seen buffalo, antelope, deer, elk, geese, pelicans and a mouse. Yes, I said mouse NOT moose. Of course we have seen many STUPID people. Walking up to buffalo – they must not have read their history about the fact that the Indians had to outsmart the buffalo as their horses couldn’t keep up with the buffalo at a 30 mph sprint. Nice, bull!Nice, bull.

June 7, 2009

Woke up to 3” of snow on the vehicles this a.m. I’m getting ready to venture out and see what the road report is. We might not hook up the Pkp this morning. We are to leave to go south through Grand Teton NP on to Moran. Then we’ll spend the rest of the day ‘ploring GTNP.We found a road down through it we never knew about let along drove on it. I told him he needs to keep thinking – Moose! Moose! Moose! By the time we got ready to go it had really started to snow and it was sticking - to the tune of about 5". We had decided to hook up the toad and prayed that we could get down to a lower elevation with no physical or property accidents. We realized that our new tires were going to pay for themselves RIGHT NOW! Traction is what we were going to need. About 3/4 of a mile from a smallish hill we met a 5wheeler that gave us the slow down problems ahead hand signals, so I pulled it down to about 10 mph and around the corner vehicles were sliding to stops, etc. Folks were locking brakes coming down the hill (no slick driving experience). Ken drove the MH in case we had to unhook. That way he could stay inside. Slowly everyone got going and we waited until a van was about out of sight before we started out. We took off with no problems but around the corner we saw we were doomed. The two vans in front of us were overpowering with the footfeeds and had the road plugged. There was a 5wheeler stopped in the downhill lane off to the far right. Yup! We pulled it to a stop. I got out to unhook. A 5 wheeler behind us came and helped me. I had it in 4WD. A MH had unhooked it's toad and the wife was slowly coming down the hill first with him right behind. She began to slide and she locked up the brakes and here she came. I yelled to get off the brake but she was petrified. I slammed it in gear and went forward and the guy behind me ran over and pushed the front end down and she went onto the side of the road without hitting either of us. The pavement was warm and after everyone would sit a couple of minutes the ice was gone and if they didn't floorboard it they could ease up the hill without spinning their wheels. I stopped the downhill traffic at the top of the hill and waved Ken to come on. He and the other 5 wheeler eased over the hill and kept going. THEN the snow plow came with the Park Service person. What a day! We proceeded with no problems. Ended up at an RV park west of Moran, took a nap and went animal hunting. We went down through GTNP on a road we hadn't been on. The mountaians up closer were beautiful. Saw lots of elk, two bull moose, lots of deer and torqued off two cow elk. We couldn't see their babies; but we knew we were close by the way they acted. The bulls/bucks are in velvet but you can see how big they're going to be by the foundat that is beginning.