Yellowstone Critter Sightings

 

There were traffic jams in Yellowstone National Park. It wasn't caused by bumper-to-bumper commuters on their way to a big city job. 

Instead, the traffic snarls were caused by wildlife sightings. On our first evening at Yellowstone, we could tell that something ahead was creating a traffic jam. From the Yellowstone guide handed out at the entrance: "Do not stop your vehicle in the road or stand in the roadway. Do not block any portion of the road with tripods, chairs or other objects. Do not block the free flow of traffic."

Let's just say there were plenty of rule breakers when wildlife was around. Thankfully, we found a parking spot and wandered down to see what the fuss was about.  (I'm a rule follower from way back. It's that firstborn child thing.)

In this case, the road block was caused by a mother elk and two babies, eating and drinking along the river. We had seen elk before, but we were just as enamored as the rest of the interlopers to watch the mama and two babies.

As I've mentioned, a bear sighting was on Randy's bucket list for this trip. (Click HERE for our first bear sighting. Don't get too excited. There's no photographic proof.)

 An NPS brochure said to "Enjoy them at a distance."

Well, that wasn't a problem. We kind-of-sort-of saw another bear in Yellowstone the next day. We saw people stopped along the road and asked what they were looking at. I could see a brown speck moving in the distance. Randy found the bear in his binoculars. My extreme nearsightedness doesn't mix well with binoculars, so I wasn't successful locating the brown bear, which was probably 200 yards away. 

Randy assures me there was a bear out there - somewhere.

During our trip, we also heard a loon - also a first - and saw some antelope in fields in Wyoming. We saw one big-horned sheep in Glacier, but, again, there is no photographic evidence to support the sighting. (I wasn't the only one on the Red Bus tour to miss the photo op. It was quick!)

There was no problem seeing the buffalo that dotted the Hayden Valley along the Yellowstone River.

 

 

Believe me, I know none of these photos is spectacular. But they were taken from the car window ... as we were moving. (See above for note about firstborn rule following.)

Earlier in the day, we'd found what seemed like a "hotel" for chipmunks at the Sheepeater Cliff. 

Though it was named by the Shoshone Indians for bighorn sheep, we saw the area's much smaller mammals.

Next time: More from Yellowstone

Livin' the High Life: Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

 

Alex, the Caddy

A caddy is not something that Randy usually has on a golf course. It's not a feature at the Stafford Country Club ... or anywhere else he's played.

He has a "cheerleader" on occasion - if I look up from my book at the right time.

As I texted the kids: "Dad is living the dream. His golf game today includes a caddy named Alex."

At the Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course, the caddy was a requirement. (So was the gratuity that came at the end of the golf round.)

They have a gated course and your name has to be on the list. (I'm convinced that's so another employee can meet you at the car and collect yet another tip for unloading your clubs and getting them down to the driving range and start area.)

Alex was definitely a better cheerleader than I am. 

Alex also had better eyesight. My eyesight is just one other excuse I have for not playing golf ... oh, yeah, and being hopeless at the game. (I tell people that after trying the game, I opt to go along for the ride, along with a book. I'm a champion reader.) One of Alex's jobs was helping find where the golf balls landed for the four golfers to which he was assigned that day. Since each group had an assigned caddy, it helped move the games along - more people, more greens fees, more tips, more trips to the pro shop ... you get the idea.

The floating green in the lake to the left of Randy in the photo.

Another of Alex's jobs was to give advice about where to direct the ball on the unfamiliar course for his foursome that day - Randy, Stewart, Michael and Cole. His unwavering enthusiasm and optimism generated some laughter from the foursome throughout the game.

"We'll find it."

"That's OK. There's a free drop zone from there."

And so on and so forth.

They did keep their editorial comments about Alex's unwarranted enthusiasm among the four of them. 

 

 

The caddy and the gate weren't the only unusual features. The course also is home to the only movable floating golf green.

Alex was able to use his unrelenting optimism when two of the four golfers - including Randy - had to take a second shot to get it to the green.

Once they'd teed off, they went down to a dock, where a boat transported them to the green. I stayed on dry ground so I could take photos.

The 14th hole - which included the floating green - was not the only beautiful hole on the course. 

What's not to love about greens surrounded by waters?

There was one other big difference. While many golf courses play host to geese who like to roam the manicured lawns, the Coeur d'Alene course had another kind of birds - sea gulls.

***

The golf course wasn't our only stop in Coeur d'Alene. We also roamed what the city calls "the world's longest floating boardwalk."

It is 3,300-foot long, 12-foot wide and offers views of the marina and the lake. There was definitely some money represented there!

That wasn't the only place we saw fancy boats and yachts. If we'd had one, we could have arrived via boat to our evening supper spot, The Cedars Floating Restaurant.

It was our favorite meal of the trip.

 

 This was a view from the window. 

Randy took a video of the lights swaying in the floating restaurant and sent it to the kids. 

I didn't get a photo of Randy's meal, but I did of my cedar-plank salmon, asparagus and roasted potatoes. Their salad bar was phenomenal, too. (Not many restaurants offer salad bars after the pandemic, so that was a treat, too!)

We splurged on dessert that night, too. Randy had the chocolate mousse cake (right) and I had the half order of the Mile High Mud Pie (with an Oreo crust, espresso ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate and caramel sauces.) Yum!

O Canada!

 

O Canada!

After we left Glacier National Park, our adventure included a brief foray across the Montana-Canadian border. In anticipation of our summer trip, we had renewed our passports. We got our first passports in 2010. At the time, Randy was a board members for the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers, and a fellow board member suggested we have passports ready, just in case there was an opportunity for a trade mission or international meeting. 

There was not. The 2010 passports sat unused in the bank safety deposit box until they expired. Extensive travel doesn't mix with farming and caring for a cow-calf herd. So, since our travels to Glacier took us close to the Canadian border, Randy added a brief trip into Canada on our itinerary. 

When it was our turn at the border window, the Canadian Mountie asked us: "How long will you be in Canada?"

Randy said, "Oh, maybe 30 minutes."

That caused the Mountie to pause and then say, "You can't get anywhere in 30 minutes. Are you meeting someone?"

"No," replied Randy. 

"Are you going to pick anything up?"

"No," Randy said again.

Finally, I told him: "We've never used our passports, so we want to use them for the first time."

He handed the passports back and admitted us. 

However, much to Randy's disappointment, the Mountie did not stamp our passports. So, we still have blank passport pages.

The Mountie might not have thought there was anything to see in 30 minutes in Canada. But we Kansas farmers liked seeing the Canadian farmsteads and fields nestled beneath mountains that seemed to be playing hide-and-seek with quick-moving clouds.

One of the fields had an irrigation system much different from what we are used to around here. So, of course, it meant another photo.

Taken through the windshield, so it's a little blurry.

The fields were broken up by the mountains, much different than the large, flat fields we are used to in south central Kansas.

Our little trip into Canada added a wish to Randy's bucket list - a moose sighting.

That wish was not fulfilled. (We have plenty of deer sightings in Kansas, and it's always our hope they they are not spotted darting out in front of our car at dusk. Same goes for the moose!)

As it turned out, we spent about an hour in Canada. (Randy obviously didn't factor in stops for photos.) 

The U.S. border agent asked if we'd bought anything in Canada. 

"No," we replied. And, evidently, that was enough for him. He let us back in.

Welcome back to the good ol' U.S. of A.!

***

That was not the first time I took photos of farm ground on the trip. As we were arriving in Montana, we kept seeing uncut wheat fields. After attempting several shots at 80 MPH, I couldn't resist having Randy pull over for a photo of a Montana wheat field. It looked a little different with mountains in the background! We're not sure whether it was spring wheat or winter wheat, but there was still some green. I "searched it up" (as Brooke would say) when we got home, and learned that harvest in Montana usually occurs from August to October, depending on the year. In addition, Montana ranks fourth in the United States in wheat production, following Kansas, North Dakota and Oklahoma. 

We had to send a picture to our kids and to Tye, saying that you could take the Kansas farmers out of Kansas, but we'd still find a farm!

On the way home, we saw a combine cutting wheat in Wyoming. I didn't get a photo of that. At about the same time we were in Montana, Jill, Eric and the girls were in Oregon. Eric sent us a harvest photo from there.

Harvest in Oregon - from Eric

I told him he won the son-in-law of the year award for a harvest report. (We've trained him well evidently.)

Several of the ranches in Montana and Wyoming had big signs over their entrances. That reminded Randy of a story from his childhood. He told his dad he thought they should erect a huge sign over their driveway with their name on it, like those announcing the names of ranches in the westerns he watched on TV. Melvin told him it wouldn't make their place any more of a farm or ranch than it already was.  

Google Image (my photos didn't turn out)

"It would be like a guy with a huge cowboy hat and fancy boots ... and no cattle." 

As Randy got older, he saw the practicality of his dad's stance. It would just be one more thing to avoid when pulling a big piece of equipment. It seems plenty of our hired helpers throughout the years had difficulty avoiding things like fence posts ... and even power poles. 

However, they do believe in big log-framed signs in Montana and Wyoming.