yellowstone/teton highlights

i know, i know.
i'm a tease. i gave you all a tiny taste of my yellowstone experience with my mom, then i never wrote about it.
sorry,
work got in the way.
and sleep.
and a friend's cd release party. that was a lot of fun.
but back to yellowstone.
there are about three stories that stick out in my mind from this weekend. and i will tell you about ALL of them. because i love my readers (mom, alli, abby, and carrie) and i WONT let you down again.
STORY #1: The Bears
mom and i get into yellowstone in the late afternoon on saturday and can instantly feel the change. mostly because we are no longer able to drive at 85 mph. we stretch out the map given to us by the park ranger that took our money and plot our course. because both mom and myself don't really need to make plans, like ever, we were content with just driving around until dark, then high-tail it to our hotel. after driving for about 5 mins we run into our first wild-life experience. BISON (which we called buffalo the majority of the time). they were big and off in the distance. so naturally we stop and take pictures with our kodak easy share camera. it has GREAT zoom quality.
so we take some dumb pictures that don't even really turn out and head on our way. we learn that just about every 5 mins there are wild-life expereinces. massive clusters of cars are lined up on the side of the road. sometimes its cool stuff like bison, or elk. but most times its really dumb stuff like plants, or geese, or yellow-bellied marmets (they look like big guinea pigs) that people are taking picture of. so after awhile mom and i just wiz by all the people. we were doing yellowstone on crack essentially.
one time in particular we were driving past a little clearing and there was a HUGE amount of cars stopped. we deemed this time worthy enough to stop based on the cars parked. we get out and stand by some people that are looking into the clearing. mom, because she is awesome, asks the lady next to us whats going on. she says that there is a bear and her cub in the clearing. so mom and us start scanning the area and think we have found the bear and its cub. the thing was, this clearing was totally littered with dead branches and trees. so what we thought was a bear was really a tree branch. we have many pictures of this tree branch too. then right before we left, we finally spotted the bear. which was about 30 ft from where we were actually looking.
don't worry we got some nice clear shots of it. it actually kind of looks like a bear.

STORY #2
what i was unprepared for when we went to yellowstone was the amount of driving we had to do. we were practically in the car the entire time. it was a little bit annoying. so on the second day in yellowstone, mom and i made a concious decision to get out at more of the 'turn-offs" than we did the day before. mostly so we could stretch our legs. on one particular turn-off, there was a little walk-way that takes you around a bunch of hot water springs and geysers. we are just walking around looking at the hot smelly water, then through the steam we notice something that doesn't really look right. it wasn't a tree or a shrub or a rock. it was a bison, and this bison was about 5 feet from us.
my parents did not instill in me a love and passion for wildlife. more like a healthy respect and fear for wildlife. i am deathly afraid of bird/bats for no real reason. i mostly only like dogs/horses/fish. so when we see this bison within killing distance, i scream and run away, naturally. mom freaks out because i am freaking out and she runs away too. but then mom turns right around and proceeds to take pictures of this fearsome beast. those things are MASSIVE. anyway, after much pressuring, mom finally gets me to keep walking on the path (within mere inches from this wild animal) and we proceed to see about 3 more bison on the path.
most stressful time in yellowstone, hands down.
i have no idea what i would do if faced with a bear.

STORY#3: the beaver
I really need to grow up a little bit more and learn to not be so afraid of critters. my only defence against this is that my brother, the big burly 6'6'' brother of mine, is just as afraid of critters as i am. so i think its genetic. that's all im saying.
mom and i go on a 2 hour float trip down the snake river when we are in teton nation park. it was awesome. the best unexpected expereince we had during the trip it hink. the tetons are beautiful. they really are. so while we are on this trip we see some cool things like bald eagles and cranes and a bunch of beavers. one beaver in particular was building his house when we passed. he dove into the water to avoid being viciously attacked by our 5 person (including the guide) tourist float trip. i understand, a camera would be very scary if i had no idea what it was used for. so while we are rounding the corner the beaver gives a very loud and unexpected warning slap. now mind you, i was thinking at that EXACT moment "i wonder what i would do if this beaver comes leaping out of the water and attacked me". I scream and fall into the boat. everyone else on the boat is completely startled too. even the guide, though i have a sneaking suspicion that he fell down due to laughter and now fright. anyway, i completely embarrassed myself because of my irrational fear of all wild animals, big and small.

moral of the yellowstone/teton trip: you will see actual wildlife.
also, to anyone who has ever been there. did it feel like jarassic park a bit? i kept thinking i was going to see a dinosaur any minute.