Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Yellowstone 10'

Yellowstone this year was absolutely perfect! Small crowds, perfect weather, good company, cozy cabin and tons on animals. A friend let us stay at their cabin in Island Park. On the way up we stopped at Bear World and let the kids play with the animals - What a fun tradition for them.

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Mackay loves animals. Whenever he see's an animal he barks at them. He loved throwing bread to the ducky's.
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We want a deer. How do we go about getting our own domestic deer? This little friend was so nice.
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The boys loved the rides as usual.
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Eli was loving the little buggies.
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We always take a picture on this bench. Last year it was without Mackay. It's crazy how things change in a year.
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The new cubs were very active and we got to watch them wrestle.
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Uncle Scooter thought it would funny to make Mackay's hair like a vampire.
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We spent all Saturday in the park from dawn till dusk taking in the beautiful scenery and searching for animals. We saw all sorts of critters - coyote's, bison, deer, elk, eagle, bear, wolf, etc...
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Mackay fell asleep on top of Scooter's shoulders.
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Lunch time!
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This is the trail to the waterfall.
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Uncle Pauly taking advantage of the photo ops.
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Matt spotted this elk and approached it to take some pictures. He could tell something was wrong with it. It is rutting season for the Elk so they are really aggressive. This bull had been fighting with another bull and was gored in the forehead. The antler of the other bull had broke off and is sticking out of his head. It's really sad to see this, but this is the circle of life for these animals. If you look close you can see the other elks antler stuck in his head.
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We actually spotted our first wild grizzley in a field. It was eating something that it had killed previously. It was fun to watch this griz eat it's dinner.
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Eli spotted some wolves coming out of the trees. They had caught wind of the bears kill and wanted some for themselves. There was a total of 8 wolves. We knew that things were going to get exciting. The wolves starting moving in on the griz.
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Closer and closer they got.
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As soon as the wolves got to close the griz became upset and attacked the wolves. The wolves are way to fast for the griz though. They attempt to get the kill from the bear about 7-8 times and finally give up and go their separate ways. We were SO excited to be able to witness this. The boys were totally STOKED. Matt caught the entire event on film and will get it uploaded soon.
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The boys loved hearing the elk bugle at each other. This bull was very active.
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We had so much fun with our family and friends - can't wait till next year.

7 comments:

Bellblogging said...

That is awesome! What a fun trip. You don't usually see that much action at yellowstone!!

Joey and Nettifer said...

I don't even know where to start! I can't believe you saw all those animals! seriously! Plus wolves & a beat together - wow! What an amazing trip!
The scenery is beautiful and the leaves!
GOod times!
Good time of year to go also!

Janica and Dan said...

I AM SO JEALOUS!!! I can’t wait to see the video of the wolves and bear! Looks like an amazing trip!

Eli and Candace said...

SO FUN to see those close up pics of the bear and wolves!! Gorgeous pics of the water fall!

melynda said...

how fun, we love island park and yellowstone. thats SO cool you saw that much activity with the bear and the wolves, i wish i could have seen that.

ps. love the vampire hair, awesome!!

Rachel said...

What an amazing trip! You guys got to see some amazing things. The pictures are all beautiful as usual!

Bel said...

That first picture totally took my breath away its so beautiful and fantastic, congratulations to your hubby for taking that, love it! What a fun trip and the fact that you saw that many animals, so fun!!