Back to Yellowstone

Last week, I told you about how happy I was being back at my favorite home, RedRock RV park in Island Park Idaho. Now, I'll tell you about going back to my favorite National Park, Yellowstone. We are only about 22 human miles from it. Now don't get me wrong. National Parks are not my favorite human place. They discriminate against us dogs because they think we will chase their animals and destroy their pretty plants. They won't let us run free. But.. they also have the best selection of wonderful smells and weird animals to see of any place I've been. So, you take the good with the bad. I enjoy going with Dad to Yellowstone because I get to hang my head outside the window and watch all the humans and other animals from the safety of the car. Dad lets me out often too, especially if he wants to take my picture. (plus a guy's gotta lift his leg occasionally!)

I'm waiting to see if Dad asks me to go. I hope he does...

So, we went to Yellowstone National Park yesterday. I could tell that Dad was getting ready to go someplace as he packed the car and I was a little worried about whether I could go too. I stood next to the car to make sure he knew I wanted to go. I was very happy when he told me to hop in the car after he put a lot of stuff in it. His friend Steve came with us, but his beagle dog, Casey, had to stay home. I was sorry that Casey couldn't go because I would have had a good barking and sniffing partner.

It was a very nice day to go because it was warm and sunny. Usually in the time of May, Dad says it is really cold there, but not today. (Dad says it got to be 80F whatever that means.. but it is warm outside when he uses those big numbers.)

One of my favorite places in the National Park is along the river. Dad says they call it the Madison River, named after human that was supreme pack leader many human generations ago. There are lots of those big cows that Dad calls Buffalo or Bison that eat all the grass and have big horns (he can't make up his mind what they are called.) Yesterday they were walking in the middle of the road and we followed them ever so slowly along with a lot of other cars. Sometimes I get a little excited and bark a lot at them, but hey, they ARE giant cows and they might hurt Dad if I don't scare them away. He doesn't understand that and yells for me to stop. They still don't move very fast even when I bark at them.

This Osprey was flying over our heads along the Madison River. He's a good fisherman!

Dad also found some eagles and a bird he calls the fishing eagle or Osprey flying over this river. They like to hover over the river looking for fish for dinner and they dive real fast to pick them out of the water. I wish I could fly that fast (or at all).

There was a lot of water everywhere, even not in the river. Dad said it was because the snow (that white cold stuff that is all around right now) is magically turning to water. So all the ponds, lakes and streams were very full of water. Dad thought it was very photogenic, but I thought it was just wet. The Canada Geese like it though because they have a lot of water to splash and play in.


When the water runs over a steep cliff the water gets very angry and jumps and spits, turns bright white and makes a lot of noise. Dad said this was called a waterfall. Makes sense to me. Water is falling. Humans are so clever sometimes. Dad took my picture in front of a couple of these big waterfalls. I had to jump up on a wall to have my picture taken and it was very scary up there because it was very far down the cliff on the other side. But.. anything for a photo treat. (Remember, Dad gives me a treat for every photo he takes of me.)

Later, we stopped where a lot of humans were standing along the road. Dad took photos of an bald eagle (a very big bird with a white head) and a black raven (a big bird with a black head and more) that was eating an elk that had died in the lake. Dad says that a Grizzly bear had probably killed the elk for dinner and the eagle and ravens were feeding on his leftovers. I would have liked to had some too, but it was on a small island in the middle of a lake and I didn't want to swim. (Dad probably wouldn't have allowed me out of the car anyway.) Besides, I wouldn't want an eagle or raven or a Grizzly bear to eat me either!

Lots of mountains covered with snow, like these Gallatin Mountains.

Most of the mountains in Yellowstone were covered with the white snow on top. They looked nice to me and Dad likes to stop and take his photographs of course. Sometimes I got out and could smell around. There were smells of squirrels, goats, bison, elk, pronghorns and a lot of things I couldn't even know their names. This place is wild according to Dad and a lot of animals live here. I still don't know why I can't wander around freely if all those other wild animals can! I can be wild if I want too.

We stopped at another place where some humans were looking far in the distance. Dad set up his big stick with the big camera on it and took a picture of a small little buffalo with his dead mother. A coyote (one of my distant cousins, I'm sure) was eating the mother while the little calf looked on at him. Dad said the mom probably died while giving birth to the little buffalo calf and the coyote was having dinner. It was sad, because there was no mother to feed the little guy and he was sure to die soon too without his mother's milk.

Later we saw a lot of mountain goats. They have sharp horns. They were very white and changing from their winter coats. They weren't eating any other animals, but were eating a lot of grass. A little further along we saw a couple pronghorns. They have long horns and like to run and jump a lot. I didn't bark and Dad was proud of me.

Dad also saw a Downy Woodpecker bird jumping from tree to tree and Dad chased him with his camera. Dad can be funny sometimes. (and embarrassing).

Udine waterfalls are below me. It's scary to look down there!

We didn't see many wildflowers this time, but Dad said he'd come back in a few weeks and there would be a lot of them to photograph.

Even though I can't run around free, it's nice to know that there is a place that wild animals can run and play (and eat) without humans putting up fences or shooting them. And for big trees, wildflowers and bushes to grow without humans cutting them down or burning them. The National Park is good for that I guess.

It was a fun day for me and I got to jump out of the car and sniff a lot. I hope you come to visit me in Idaho and you can see all of these things for yourself. Bring your dog. The park rangers at the entrance to the National Park give great treats if you hang your head out of the window and look really sad.

Arf

Reggie