Day 4 - Cody to Yellowstone

Weather: 41F and overcast

Steps: Shaun - ?; Shannon - ? (Shannon forgot to wear her FitBit, oops)

Varmints: Bald eagle, dusky grouse, bison, trumpeter swans, lesser scaup (like a white and black duck), our first moose, and a bighorn sheep!

Today was another travel day, during which we pretty much just traveled back to Yellowstone form Cody the same way we came. And just like last time, we saw a bunch of awesome critters. But first, the beginning of our day:

We left Cody and headed up to the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, which is on the site of the Heart Mountain Internment Camp. The Interpretive Center talks about the experiences of the Japnanese and Japanese-Americans who were imprisoned there during World War II, and talk about a desolate location. When we arrived, the wind was whipping, and there is nothing around but bare rock mountains and fields. Not even the fields were there when the detainees arrived, just dust and isolation.

The center's exhibits were really well done, if depressing as hell. For the second day in a row, we marveled at the strength of a people and wondered at the evils racism perpetuates. This is our last museum on this trip, and good thing because I don't think our hearts can take any more.

We left the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center and headed back to Yellowstone. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the top of Heart Mountain because clouds were covering it. We'll have to make do with postcards of it. This time driving into the park, we were extra vigilant watching for animals. We had seen so many last time, and we didn't want to miss a thing. Boy were we rewarded for our efforts!

First, Shannon saw our first bald eagle and has decided that it is her spirit animal because she is the first one to spot them on every trip we take. Then, we came upon a moose eating at the side of the road. We think it was a female or a juvenile male because it was pretty small, and it could not care less that we were capturing it's every move on film. Therefore, we got some really great shots. Next, we almost ran down a bighorn sheep that was meandering down the side of the road. We followed it until it walked up a 60-degree mountain face like it was nothing. It posed beautifully for us, and we got to see it in all its shaggy glory. That was the highlight of the day.

Shaun had been told about a great spot overlooking Lake Yellowstone called Lake Butte Overlook, and we were so glad we went there. The views were spectacular (the panorama at the top of this post is from there), and we made friends with a very curious dusty grouse. It walked right up to Shannon and checked her out before going back to its business. The evidence of the 1988 fire is very clear up there, as is the remnants of winter. We were all bundled up and still Shaun was cold!

We saw a few more animals and birds, including bison, on the rest of the drive to Lake Yellowstone, but finally we made it to our destination. The cabin we're in is nothing special, but at least it has a private bathroom! We ate the Lake Yellowstone Hotel dining room and were suitably impressed with the beauty and history of the hotel. Tomorrow we venture up to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and Norris Geyser Basin.

A hint of the fun to come...

Day 3 - Cody

Weather: overcast and mid-40s

Steps walked: Shaun - 5,374; Shannon - 5,417

Varmints: only a magpie :(

Today was an indoor day, thus the lack of varmints. We had a leisurely breakfast in our cabin and then went straight to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. 

The Center is actually five museums in one: the Whitney Western Art Museum, Plains Indian Museum, Draper Natural History Museum, Buffalo Bill Museum, and Cody Firearms Museum. We went to three of the above. Can you guess which? If you said the first three, you would be correct. 

Of course, Shaun and her herons; Shannon is less impressed.

The Whitney Western Art Museum is named after Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (one of those Vanderbilts), who was a sculptor and mother to the major benefactor of the museum, Cornelius Venderbilt Whitney. She also founded the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. She thought that Western art was truly American art and so should be supported. Many of the works of art in the museum were from her collection, and a bronze sculpture of Buffalo Bill at the entrance to the Center was done by Whitney. Unfortunately, we had just visited the National Museum of Wildlife Art the day before, and we decided that overall we liked that museum better.

 

 

After viewing the art, we decided to have some tea (because that's just what you do after looking at art!), and as we were on our way to the Plains Indian Museum, we decided to check out a courtyard with sculptures in it. A big group of people came into the courtyard with us, and we thought they were on a guided tour, but then we got to the little amphitheater where they were sitting and found three women with raptors on their arms! Apparently the natural history museum has a raptor program in which they house and care for six raptors that can no longer care for themselves, including a golden eagle, owl, and the three raptors we were introduced to, a red-tailed hawk, peregrine falcon, and a turkey vulture. It was a super interesting presentation, and the birds were just beautiful. What a lucky occurrence!

A sculpture made out of polished and unpolished alabaster. This picture does not do the intricacy of the work justice.

From there we visited the Plains Indian Museum and were both impressed by the resiliency of the many people who make up the tribes on the Plains and depressed by how poorly they have been treated. Their cultures are fascinating, and their material culture especially is elaborate and lovely. The museum was well done and the exhibits interesting.

 

Our final stop at the Center was the Draper Natural History Museum, which was better than we were expecting. Shaun was worried that it was just going to be a bunch of stuffed dead animals, but the museum really gave us an in-depth look at the geology, biology, zoology, and ecology of the area around Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park. The exhibits were arranged in a downward spiral emulating the changes in the landscape as the altitude got lower. It was pretty interesting and a good preparation for our entry into the parks tomorrow.

We finished the day by checking out some of the shops Cody had to offer, including a really great boutique that was our kind of place. Then, we ended the night with a movie. Not a bad day, though sadly varmintless. Hopefully, we'll make up for the lack when we head back into Yellowstone tomorrow!

Day 2 - Jackson to Cody

Panorama of the entrance to the Grand Tetons National Park

Weather:  50ish and cloudy with scattered showers that looked very cool....from a distance!

Steps walked:  Shaun - 6,345; Shannon - 6,534

Varmints:  Great blue heron, yellow-headed blackbird, cinnamon teal, American coot, red-tailed hawk, lazuli bunting (maybe), uinta ground squirrels, marmots, bison x 12, el-shitload of mule deer, herd of elk, some other deer-like creature, a bunny (maybe a snowshoe hare?), and to round out the day nicely....a grizzly bear!

            Overlooking the National Elk Refuge

Today we started towards Cody by way of the National Museum of Wildlife Art and National Elk Refuge.  We had to temporarily say goodbye to Jackson and our awesome cabin at Cowboy Village (which we gave a 10 out of 10 on our lodging rating scale), and we ate at the world famous Bunnery Restaurant for a delightful breakfast (even for a vegan!).

As a point of reference, the drive to Cody is supposed to be four hours from Jackson going north all the way through the Tetons, across the Lower Loop in Yellowstone, out the east entrance, and then another 50 miles or so.  Naturally, the way Shan and I do things turned four hours into five and a half, but we saw so many animals that we were lucky it wasn't eight!  As soon as we got into the Refuge, we stopped at a turnout and saw a heron, some cool ducks, and a yellow-headed blackbird.  I just love seeing things I never knew existed!

Shan's favorite was the dragon even though she's really an ox!

A look at all 12 of the zodiac signs with Shan hamming at the end

     The massive bison bronze called Changing Seasons

          My favorite bronze

We got to the National Museum of Wildlife Art and were greeted by a bunch of bronze statues which are part of the museum's sculpture garden.  They were beautiful, and all featured animals native to the area. There were also heads that represented all the Chinese zodiac symbols done by a famous Chinese artist Shannon was familiar with named Ai Weiwei.

Our favorite painting from the museum called "The Chief"

A uinta ground squirrel we had a relationship with while attempting to take the picture above with the Elk Refuge behind us - he was witness to our insanity but we paid him to be quiet!

                     Snake River in the background

After we had lunch and played with the prairie dog, we headed north, stopping along the way to take in the views of the mountains and the Snake River (which we will be floating down in a week or so).

As part of our adventure, we're playing a game taught to us by my Uncle Rod and Aunt Phyl where we made a long list of stuff to look out for, and whoever sees an item on the list first gets a point.  Shan got the first couple points for seeing a person with a selfie wand and then a red-tailed hawk, and then I got a point for a heron.  Our next wildlife encounter was a couple of deer-like creatures we initially thought might be pronghorns but later decided they weren't.  We saw another one much closer but it was so fast that we still don't know what it was.

                           Bison spotting #1

Bison spotting #2 - the fog is from the hot springs nearby

Bison spotting #3 - the one that almost stopped our hearts

Still part of spotting #3, but these guys were down the ravine

                          Bison spotting #4

So, the first big excitement for the day was our first bison!  He was all alone and a decent distance away, but I saw him eating in a field (so I got another point!), and we knew we had really arrived.  We ended up seeing a total of 12 bison among 4 different sightings, one of which scared the crap out of us since we had just spotted our first mule deer (Shan's point) along with two other bison down the ridge when we passed one right on the side of the road!  We both swore pretty profusely, and after we re-started our hearts, we naturally turned around and went back to get his picture.  I was a good girl though, and I stayed the requisite 25 feet away from him since a 16-year-old girl got gored yesterday.  She was four feet from the animal, though, so she kind of deserved it!

                                  A marmot

          Shannon and the king of all the Ravens

   Two of many mule deer - and half of them are pregnant!

Our next excitement was a marmot, a big honkin' raven, and then started the mule deer extravaganza. They were absolutely everywhere off the road once we got over the mountains.  Hundreds of them.  We even saw some in town once we got to Cody.  It was nuts!  We started counting them like we'd been doing all the other animals, but we gave up once we got to triple digits.

           Yes Virginia, that is a real live grizzly bear!

We always kept our eyes peeled when someone else was pulled off the road, and at one point we saw a guy who just pointed as we slowly drove by him.  Never looking a gift horse in the mouth, we turned around and he showed us where there was a grizzly bear across the river rummaging around in the woods.  How did he see it that far away with so much brush around him?  No clue, but we're really glad he did, and we're also really glad that I have a 42x zoom camera!  By the way, no one got that point since it really belonged to the dude.

Our final spotting of the day was a herd of elk who were trying to get past a fence row.  Some of them were going over, but some really clever ones decided to go under.  It was really cool, and we were glad it happened when it did because we were almost out of light!  No one got this point either because we reacted to another person this time too.

The drive through the mountains was really pretty.  We went through all kinds of different rock formation areas as well as places where fires had burned all the trees down.  We also went through the mountain side, and the tunnel was really cool!

We finally arrived in Cody around 9:00, unloaded into our less than stellar cabin, and then tried to find food....we were successful, but just barely.  Tomorrow we'll be spending the day at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.