We went to Bozeman yesterday. Our friend, Rey, who went with us treated us to lunch at Ted's (Turner) Montana Grill. Yummy, yummy. When we got home we decided to drive to Canyon because we heard they got about 10" of new snow the night before. We saw a big griz on the way down.

It was snowing like crazy at Canyon. They are supposed to open a week from today and to that I say "good luck!" Grant opened today but I don't know how. They have tons of snow. I don't know how a tour bus can get in there and turn around. 24 of the guest rooms are damaged by snow which means Grant is way overbooked.

I'm loving the snow yet I'm ready to get out and hike. It is usually way too cold for that especially with the wind blowing 90 to nothing.

On our way to Canyon

Having fun in the snow

Check the fur hat

A lovely spring day

They say this year is the most snow YS has had in 25 years

Last night we went to the Lamar Valley with a friend. We saw tons of bison and many of them were battling or at least "play" fighting. It was fun watching them.

The challenge

The square off

The battle

How to take care of your itch

The big guy

The first moose we have seen in the park

This guy has a bad sore on his back/shoulder

Today 5-26 was our day off . . . we were going hiking but it was so cold and windy this morning that we nixed the idea. We decided to drive over to Tower Falls and to Cook City. By the time we left Cook City it was snowing like crazy. Our weather is so weird, by the time we got back to Mammoth it was sunny.

River near Bunson Peak cutting its way through the snow

Around noon today over by Tower Falls

Tower Falls

On the way home from Cook City. Just a little spring snow! Look behind me at hard it is snowing.

5-24

Last night we went to a fly fishing seminar, it was interesting and we learned a LOT. Tonight we're going to learn to cast (I guess that's what you call it.)
It is getting warm. It was 47 degrees this morning so now I'm wearing my short sleeve t-shirt. Yesterday we almost died at work it was so hot.

5-20 (Fri)
We drove to Billings to have the oil changed in the car. It rained all the way up there and all day and all the way back. We had the dealership drive us to lunch at the Olive Garden. When we were getting in the van to go I slammed all of ND’s fingers in the door! It was awful.

5-22 (Sun)
When I was leaving work today one of the Rangers and a guy who had POLICE - Federal Agent written across the back of his shirt had the girl who lives across the hall from me up against her car. She is married but has been messing around with Fred, a black guy. Fred was on the sidewalk and I asked him what happened. He said she was drunk. She looks to me like she’s drunk or stoned everyday. I don’t know how she’s holding down her job in the grill. When ND came by there were frisking her. I saw her husband coming out of his room. I asked him if they took her to jail and he said, “yes” and that she was going to have to go to court in the morning. Now they’ll need a replacement in the grill because she’s out of here.

After dinner we walked down to old Gardiner Rd to Montana. I was getting dark when we arrived. We had a sign that said, “Employees need a ride.” A high school girl stopped and picked up us and gave us a lift back to Mammoth.

5-19 (Thurs)
We left early to go down to Grant Village in the south part of the park. Our friend is the personal director there so we stopped by to see her. She told us that the snow has damaged 24 of the guest rooms. She showed us a room in the employees dorm where the snow had mashed the wall in. They haven't had drinking water until today. There is 25-30 feet of snow in some places. They are supposed to open Fri the 27th, in another week. We went on to Jackson Lake Lodge in the Tetons to have lunch but they didn’t open until the next day. We were starved so we went on to Signal Mountain Lodge where we had lunch at 3:00. On our way back to Mammoth we tromped through snow up to our knees because someone said they saw a grizzly. There was some guy in his flip flops tromping through the same snow! We couldn't see a thing. Later we did see grizzly right beside the road. We stopped at Fishing Bridge to see a garage that collapsed on three trucks due to snow.

On our way to Grant

This is shoveled out so the guests will have a place to park!

Most signs are buried

Tetons from Signal Mt.

Garage that collapsed under snow

The "griz"

5-15 (Sun)

Everyone had to go through the kitchen to get to breakfast this morning because there was a BIG bison blocking our main door.

We didn’t have to go to work until 10:00 yesterday so we drove out to Undine Falls to take pictures. Then we went to Lava Creek where we met the photographer yesterday. We set up our cameras on tripods and tried taking pictures of a American Dipper (bird.) I took 160 pictures and they were all blurry.
We were hoping to do some reading at work but the phones were ringing off the hook all day.
Tonight ND walked out of work and must have been thinking about something else because she walked right in front of a bison, so close she could have touched him. He coughed or cleared his throat which scared her to death. That’s when she saw him!
Tonight we drove out to Lamar. We picked up two sets of hitch hikers. The first was a couple from Bozeman who had been on a long hike, so we took them back to their car. Less than three miles after letting them off we came upon two guys walking down the road. They also had been hiking and we gave them a lift back to their car. The one from Texas has a grandmother who lives in Kissimmee and her name is Nancy!

Undine Falls

On our way to Lamar Valley

Coming home from Lamar

5-13 (Fri)

Yesterday we went to Bozeman. We spent the day shopping, eating and just messing around. As we were leaving Gardiner on our way to Bozeman this is what we saw walking down the middle of the street . . .

Two tourists headed to Mammoth for the opening on 5-13

In the middle of Gardiner, hoping not to be late for the grand opening.

This morning we hiked along Lava Creek, ate lunch at the EDR and then drove 2 hours to Bozeman to see a movie, Water for Elephants. I was totally out of it and slept all the way to Bozeman.

Last night we went to the "smack down" at the Mammoth dinning room. This is an opportunity for the kitchen staff and waiters to practice before the opening of the hotel the next day. We got to order whatever we wanted except wine etc and dessert. It was all free and a lot of fun. I had chicken with brie and huckleberry sauce, ND had trout - both excellent. Everyone at the table had to order something different.

Pictures from this morning's hike . . .

5-11 (Wed)

Old Faithful opened last Fri. Mammoth opens this Fri and Lake the 20th. Grant is supposed to open the 27th but there is so much snow down there no one can get in. They say all the employee cabins are completely covered with snow. The drifts are 35 feet high. They can't even get the snow plows through. We have a friend who is the personal manager down there. She left Tues to go down. I was teasing her that she would have to ride a snowmobile in. Turns out they could not get her in. She's waiting it out at another frozen location - Lake.

They opened the East Entrance last Fri. That's the road to Cody. So far they have had to close it 3 times because they have had 3 avalanches!

We have been seeing a black bear on the hill behind our dorm and EDR for the last couple days.

Tomorrow starts our weekend.

Today we moved two doors down into the room we had last year. The rooms are basically the same but for some reason we love our new room.

Also today they started a big project on our dorm which will last until after we leave for the summer. They are putting on new siding, a new roof and new windows. They will be banging all day from 7:30 until 6 p.m.

We used to look out our window and see the beautiful snow covered mountains but now we look not only at a construction site but our new room looks right into the out houses for the workers. Lovely.

5-10 (Tues)

It has been raining for the last three days. Thankfully we had to work and it wasn't our "weekend." Last night we drove out to the Lamar Valley. The following is what we saw . . .

Today we move down the hall two doors to our "old" room. It's only 2 doors down but we like it better.