Monday, August 3, 2009

OH WHAT A WEEKEND!!!!

Since I left N.C. the day after I finished my exams there was no time to celebrate my graduation, so my Mom and I decided to celebrate in Wyoming!

Mom arrived early in the morning last Friday and we headed over to the Jackson Lake Lodge for lunch, it was a beautiful day and we stepped outside to take in the view.





















On Saturday we had lined up a spa day in town - deluxe pedicures, haircuts, makeup and all, it was a blast!

After the spa we spent the day looking for wildlife in the park, we saw some elk, moose, a blue heron, and our favorite, the bison!









This big guy came strolling up while Mom and I were visiting "Mormon Row", I saw him coming our way, so we headed toward the car and a minute later he was standing right where we had been. He's a big softy though - I later took a video of him rolling in the dirt that you can see below (turn the sound off if you don't want to listen to my mom and I chit chatting during the video).....






We also went to the the National Wildlife Museum across from the National Elk Refuge, it was fun to look at all the wildlife art, they had a special piece there that we both fell in love with by Robert Bateman, it's called "Chief", can't show it here but you should look it up - amazing piece of work!

Here are a couple pictures of Mom with the Elk refuge behind her, the National Elk Refuge is a place where thousands of elk migrate to in the winter to feed, they say it is amazing, and the other picture is on the patio of the museum when we took a break from walking around....




















On Saturday night we ate dinner at a nice little restaurant here in town called "The Blue Lion". Yummy food, great atmosphere! We had a really nice time!




Sunday we wandered the park again, this time to stop off at the turnouts and read the information about the park

We learned about glaciers, this one is the Teton Glacier and it's the largest in the park. Glaciers
are amazing, I'd love to learn more about them!



Then we went down to the snake river to take a little break - it's absolutely beautiful out here, I can't begin to describe it, I suggest anyone who hasn't seen this area of Wyoming, put it on your list of things to see before you die!










Here's an old barn on Mormon Row, I thought it was neat looking.....








I only have 8 days left here in Wyoming, it's so hard to believe as it feels like I have just arrived! I'll post more before I leave.....and look forward to seeing you all again really soon! :) Pam

Sunday, July 26, 2009

My buddy Richard comes for a visit!

Richard came to Wyoming for the weekend, we fit as much as we could into our 44 hour window!!

He arrived a little late, slight delay in SLC but he arrived and that is all that mattered. We went straight to a restaurant called Dornan's in the park for a late lunch.



We weren't the only ones eating lunch, as we left the restaurant we saw a moose chowing down beside the river, we watched him for a while......












After we had seen enough of the Moose, we drove over to take a boat ride across Jenny Lake, and from there we hiked up a hill to see some waterfalls.....it was a nice day, pretty hot, but near the falls you could feel the cold mist, it was great.


After the hike we drove around the park so Richard could see it from all angles, and along our drive we found another moose, this time one that was taking an afternoon swim in one of the ponds......

The rest of the evening was spent just driving around taking in the sights. The next morning we got up on a quest to find more wildlife, we entered the park around 9am and had to stop at the ever popular photo point to have our pictures taken as tourists....


We went straight to Antelope Flats Road to find some Bison, and boy did we ever find Bison! At first they were pretty far from the road, but soon they wandered toward the road, so we sat in the car and just watched. It was fun seeing Bison and a calf wandering right in front of us.....
One big guy had a bird taking a ride on his back for a while



and then Momma Bison and baby calf crossed the road, looking both ways as they passed by....glad they were playing safe!














We went to Jackson Lake Lodge for lunch, it was really nice and there is a great view from the restaurant. Here we set up my tripod right outside the lodge, what a view!!!





After lunch, we drove to the Signal Mtn Summit, the summit is at 7700 ft so you can see a long way from up there! It was a beautiful day, everything is so green and flowers are bright beautiful colors.
Another wonderful weekend in Grand Teton Park and I am so glad I got to share it with my friend Richard. He's on a plane headed home now, and I'm off to enjoy my day and prepare for another grueling (ha ha) week of "work" in the park.
:) Pam

Friday, July 24, 2009

Camping, Mapping, Hiking and more.....

My time here in Wyoming is more than half over, I just can't believe it! I'm having fun though!!
This past week we went camping for 4 days with the GIS crew from Yellowstone to work together on utility mapping. It was fun, I learned a lot about utilities, we worked a little and played a lot -




On the way to meet the Yellowstone gang we saw a grizzly bear on the side of the road! I was very excited as this was my first since my arrival, during the trip we saw another one.






Anna, Janice, and Alex getting ready for dinner the first night -














After dinner, Alex talked Janice and I into taking a 10 mile drive down Grassy Lake Road, it's a really rough road out in the middle of nowhere - it was amazing, the sun was going down and by the time we got to the dam it was totally dark, that is when we found out we were almost out of gas, we took these photos wondering if we'd be sleeping in the car that night -







Lucky for Alex, we made it back and the gas light came on right as we were reaching our campground.











The next day we worked at Colter Bay: Andrew, Alex and I hung out on the dock while we waited for the rest of the crew to finish out a little hike they took. As you can see, it was a brutal day at work......







On Wednesday we went to Lewis Lake in Yellowstone to map utilities - we split up into teams and went to work! I was on Andrews team, before we got started we took a moment to take in the view of the lake, it was amazing!









Once we got started, we hiked up a hill to get to the water tower, here Andrew takes the coordinates while I take in the view.














On our last day we were done with our utilities so our boss gave us a trail mapping assignment - it was at Glade Creek Trail and here we go into the wild.....




















At our turn around point Anna decided to climb an old tree that had been burned in the forest fire - all fun and games til she came down covered in soot.....







There is still so much more to share, but I have 5 minutes left on my time here on the library computer and then I'm off to the airport to pick up my friend Richard who is visiting for the weekend. I'll post more in a few days!!!


Love, Pam

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Bison Bison Bison and a little Yellowstone....

Am I bragging yet? Yesterday we had a meeting in Yellowstone park regarding the White Bark Pine Trees, they are dying and the meeting was about both preservation and restoration. Very interesting stuff. I was just an observer, but was glad to learn about it! We left at 6am and arrived at our destination in Yellowstone at 9am, and here the first thing I see are a few bison out having breakfast.......

















How would you like to wake up to find these guys in your front yard?
I have learned that no matter where you are, Bison have the right of way...........

After the meeting we were able to spend a couple hours driving around Yellowstone to see a few things........here are a few pics........


Today, Anna (one of the other interns) and I finished mapping the bike pathway, I biked, she rollerbladed, and we were out there from noon to 5pm, it was fantastic. When we were done we took a break to pop in the shop at South Jenny Lake for an ice cream, but first we had to finish our work.....
I am still amazed that I have the opportunity to do this, I am having the time of my life and can't think of a better way to spend my summer!