Snow Days

Snow Days . . .

What kind of bird is this?

Again, what kind of bird?

5-29

Yesterday was Memorial Day so part of our reservations staff worked the first half of the day and the other half the last part.   We were lucky enough to only work until 12:30.  This gave us enough time to drive with two other friends down to the Lake area.

    We toured the hotel including the Presidential Suite which was fantastic.   If the President visits the park he isn’t allowed to stay in it because it is directly over the dinning room and someone could shoot up into the ceiling from there and kill him.  I guess they would put him in a Budget Cabin with no bathroom! We explored some other areas: Lake Lodge, Fishing Bridge and Bridge Bay.  On our way home we saw a grizzly with two huge cubs.   We stopped to take pictures until the rangers showed up.  Some man got out of his vehicle and walked into the woods to take pictures up close, he got in big trouble.
We also saw a  beautiful fox with a ground squirrel in its mouth hunting for more prey.   I got some really good pictures of him/her which I hope to post soon.  (It’s bedtime now!)

5-27 snowing

5-27
It has been snowing for the last two days.  Everything is covered in angel dust and is absolutely beautiful.  Today most of the roads were closed coming into the park so people were madly canceling their reservations.  At one entrance the rangers wouldn't let people in unless they had snow tires.  Yesterday there was a head on accident plus a trailer hauling horses went off the road.  The rangers closed the road between Mammoth and Norris and several people got stuck between the closings, the rangers had to drive down and lead them back to Mammoth.  It has been a mess.


To top it all off last night around 7:30 one of the married couples was popping corn and it set off the fire alarm in Aspen Dorm.  We all had to go outside.  The snow was falling so hard and the flakes were so big that everyone was covered in less than a minute. Fortunately ND and I ran into our room and got our coats and umbrellas before heading out the door.  They finally told us to go into the dorm next door until the fire department got there.  If it had been a fire the dorm would have burned to the ground in the time it took them to arrive.  We got the "all clear" about an hour later and headed back to our "nest."  Oh the fun we have here!


By this afternoon all the snow has melted.  Someone said it might snow again tonight but I doubt it.

A Couple of Fun Days Off

We had a great two days off and saw lots of animals.  It has been snowing all day today 5-25.

Oh how Yellowstone weather never ceases to amaze me . . . yesterday it snowed, by the time we walked down the hall to go outside it was sunny and bright. This morning - no snow- I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and when I came out the cars were totally covered with snow! You can't even see Everest, the mountain near us.  It is still snowing like crazy.  We're off for another adventure today . . .

Hi Everyone,
I just found out that a blog of mine that I posted in March on our way out west posted again.  No, ND and I are not on our way home.  No, we are not on our way to Alaska.  We are still happily working in Yellowstone until Aug 4th.

Trip to Idaho

On our last days off we went to Mesa Falls in Idaho, ate lunch in Ashton, ID and then accidentally stumbled onto Cave Falls (inside YNP) which was a real find.  

We left the park on a misty morning.

The canyon wall beside Mesa Falls

Mesa Falls

We saw this eagle on the way to Ashton

Sand Hill Cranes dancing

 

Cave Falls (inside Yellowstone)

Cave Falls

Cave Falls

 A cute "red dog"

We saw this grizz on the way home

On the Blacktail Trail

I'm such a pretty boy!

Singing for a mate

    Only in Montana - Donkey Basketball

Elk on the hill

   Yesterday (5-10 Thurs) we got up at 5 a.m. so we could leave for the Lamar Valley at 5:45.  Cindy from the kitchen/wrangler  and Dan (reservations) went with us.  We saw some wolves, red dogs (bison calves), a black bear and of course the usual elk and bison plus we saw two moose!  We drove almost to Sliver Gate then turned around to head home.  All of a sudden I lost power steering.  We were able to pull to a stop.  Dan and I got out and looked, naturally I had no idea what I was looking at.  We did look at the power steering fluid and it was full.  In a minute a car with a couple of men pulled up beside us.  They asked if we had lost a belt.  We looked and sure enough the belt that goes around all the pulleys was missing.  The men drove back down the road and picked it up for us.   We couldn’t put it on because we didn’t have any tools.  They went back to the East Gate and told the rangers that we were stuck.  Ranger John came out and asked all kinds of questions.  He said he would call the Tire Iron (a garage in Gardiner) but we knew they were hauling one of our friends to Livingston that day to have her car fixed.  We were right, they couldn’t come for us so Ranger John called the garage at Canyon.  In the meantime Ranger Kevin arrived with a big tool chest on the back of his truck.
With the help of Ranger John and Dan they got the belt back on. Then they decided they should take it back off, they said it wouldn’t stay on and it might mess up something in the engine.  Ranger Kevin hand pushed our car up a small hill with all of us inside.  Ranger John put his hand on the back of the car but we could tell he wasn’t pushing at all.  We got to the top of the hill and then coasted down to a “pull off.”   Both rangers left us to wait on the tow truck.  As we were sitting there it rained, hailed and finally snowed.  The tow truck finally arrived, loaded the car on the back and the four of us into the truck.  We then took the hour ride over the Dunraven Pass (which is closed) to Canyon.  We saw a huge grizzly along the way and the driver let us get out and take pictures.  When we got to Canyon it was snowing heavily.  One of the pulleys was totally destroyed so we had that replaced.  It only took about 15 minutes.  When the car was ready we headed back to Mammoth.   ND got her stuff together because she’s leaving for Washington DC in the morning for her grandson's graduation. 
    We picked our friend up around 2:30 in Livingston and the three of us went to Bozeman.  We went to two camera stores, a thrift shop and Walmart.  We dropped ND off at the Holiday Inn and then headed back to YS.  We got here around 8:30.  I was ready for bed!

This guy looks old

I said, "Get off the road!"

Cute "red dog"

Another itchy girl

I don't want to get off the road