We got a moose!

We finally got a moose! We found this lovely creature on the way home from Bozeman! Just so you know how high these mountains are...check out the CLOUDS! I thought there was a forest fire when it was just the low clouds. It's amazing how low they were and how high we are! West Yellowstone is 6,665 feet and Bozeman, MT is around 4500 feet. The highest point in the park is the Continental Divide at around 10,500 feet.

We headed out to the Walmart in Bozeman and found a MACY'S! And for fine dining...Bennigans. We had seafood which turned out to be superb...or else we were desperate for something besides buffalo and trout and pancakes. We are still loving this place! Every day we see something new.

Tonight we went to Mack's Inn Dinner Theater and saw Phantom of the Grand Ole Opry with our boss, her honey and Dave and Gerri, our co-workers. It was a darling presentation and the cast was charming. There was a bit of envy for the Playmill in West Yellowstone...but this was different and funny. The food, surprisingly, was fabulous! Prime rib, corn, potato and baked beans...I wonder if the prime rib was really buffalo?

I'm off to Overland Park, KS this weekend to do a little HCA consulting gig...I keep telling everyone that I've retired and everyone seems to ignore that fact! We're finishing up the Hawaii gig...hope I get to go out again in October before we're finally finished!

I've taken up knitting again and have finished two scarves...and bought a ton of yarn, so get ready...all of you may be getting scarves! That's all I'm up to trying because I'm knitting at work most of the time...you don't have to worry about a pattern...just knit. Donna, you have nothing to worry about! I don't think I can handle socks! I do need the chemo hat pattern...does anyone remember where it came from?

Gotta go...come see us at Buffalo Trading Company in West Yellowstone!

Dunraven Pass and Mount Washburn!

Dunraven Pass to Mount Washburn finally opened today! We've now officially made it around the park. A German tourist took our picture at Dunraven Pass. Woody was fascinated with the snow on Mount Washburn. I was fascinated with the eagle and gopher! I'm selling notecards in Buffalo Trading! These should be good additions. We're having such fun. Tomorrow night we're going to see Indiana Jones at our little single screen theater. I swear the theater is no larger than the media room in Mary's show house in Hendersonville last June!

I've just about finished a scarf for Riley...yes, I'm knitting. I'm such a mountain woman now! Photography, knitting, working retail, hiking...wow! We had Father's Day breakfast at Running Bear Pancake House in West Yellowstone. It's our favorite breakfast place. This was West Yellowstone's Centennial weekend and the place was slammed! A little poker tonight but lost a quick $20 bucks! Life is good!

We miss all the family, but this experience has been absolutely incredible. I can't believe the beauty and grandeur!

It was a cold and dreary day in June!

Well..it's June 8th, snowing and dreary!...and we had a ball. We went to the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park for lunch. It is the most gorgeous old place, but some rooms don't have bathrooms and there is no TV, Internet....well you get the picture! I think it might be a great place to get away and have a "Dirty Dancing" kind of summer. Woody loves the old yellow bus that the Inn uses to take people around.

Old Faithful was a bit more impressive today because of the significant rain and snow we've had the past few weeks. Apparently Old Faithful shoots higher when it's been wetter. I was more impressed with Castle Geyser which is the one you see here.

My friend the bison was chewing his cud and resting in the cold. All the animals were hunkered down in the snow and rain we were getting intermittantly. The most fun were three elk grazing with a buffalo just walking by! One got a bit skittish, but the rest just ignored him.

We were driving home on a winding, little road by the Madison River when we met our little friend here head on! Mr. Coyote was out for a late afternoon walk and decided the road was better than the forest. We continue to adore the area, the animals and the little town of West Yellowstone.

This coming weekend is the Centennial of West Yellowstone...just wait for the pictures! http://www.visitmt.com/categories/moreinfo.asp?IDRRecordID=17001&SiteID=1 June 11, 1908 was the first time the Union Pacific train stopped at West Yellowstone.

New Critters in Big Sky, MT

You can not believe the animals we shot today! The longhorn sheep are incredible. They were on our way to Big Sky, Montana. On the way back to West Yellowstone, we saw the coyote. It's hard to see but he (or maybe she) has a raven in his mouth! He pounced in the scrub and came up with his dinner! We also saw a Bald Eagle soaring over a field until a hawk chased him off. The pictures of the eagle are too grainy, etc to upload here so we'll have to keep looking for one up a bit closer. You can not imagine how beautiful this entire area is...we remain amazed daily at how gorgeous the views are. I could truly say that this is the most beautiful place I've been in a lot of years!! We like this every bit as much as the beach...although there is snow in the forecast for tonight..hopefully at the higher elevations!

Big Sky http://www.bigskychamber.com/ is mid way between Bozeman, MT and West Yellowstone, MT. The ski lodge is fabulous and the area has beautiful houses and even more beautiful prices! It must be fun to be rich! Didn't see an RV park anywhere!

Last night we went to see Oklahoma! at the Playmill Theater http://www.playmill.com/ in West Yellowstone. It is a delightful little summer stock theater...the stars were mostly college students but we were royally entertained! They have two more plays this summer so I'm sure we'll go! We ate at the Outpost Restaurant and had lake trout...tasted a lot like salmon...hmmmm. I guess we'll look up lake trout and see what it looks like!

Work is fun...there aren't too many people just yet...so I hope that it picks up as it gets warmer. I'm actually thinking about doing a bit of knitting late in the evening. I'm sure around the 4th of July it will be so busy we can't think! We actually walked around the town on Sunday and had so much fun talking with some of our neighbors. We also had breakfast at Campfire which is a little restaurant on the Madison River...the whitewater was incredible and there were fly fisherman everywhere.

Still doing a bit of work in between the photography and work at Buffalo Trading Company! Hawaii is wrapping up and I'm heading to Overland Park, KS to do a little work with Menorah. With gas over $4 a gallon, we need all the work we can get!!

Hello to all our buds in the Liars Club...and to all our friends in the Nashville area!!

Miss you all!

Love, Woody and Pat

Hello from Woody and Pat!

Here we are at the Upper Falls in Yellowstone National Park...as you can see it's COLD. Just before this shot, it was snowing. I'm so glad we got to see the snow in the park but I'm ready for SUN and warmth!!!!

We shot a wolf!!!

Ok...here's two shots of the same wolf...he was way far away and even with the 300mm lens I had to really blow it up! The shots are a bit grainy but we'll keep looking. The elk in the area starting running into the river so that was the give away that something was nearby! I had my doubler which gives me the equivalent of 600mm, but the wolf explained that he couldn't wait while I set up the tripod and reworked the camera....he was hungry!

We also found Lake Yellowstone...it's the largest high altitude lake in the U.S. As you can see it's still half frozen!!! We love Yellowstone National Park. I don't even mind the snow.

And of course...no day is complete without our baby bison!

More Snow in West Yellowstone1

More Snow! We had two beautiful days in the park and then rain and snow since Wednesday. It's supposed to be bad the rest of the Memorial Day weekend. Let's remember those who gave their all for our country...and let's get out of Iraq! I'm afraid that my girl Hillary is out of contention for the presidency. I think she had a great message and poor campaign management. Perhaps her team took the nomination for granted and let Obama get a foothold! We'll see what happens but Obama alone can't win.

More fun pictures from Montana! We think the elk is pregnant

Lovin West Yellowstone!

This place is absolutely incredible! Here are just a few shots so you can appreciate the beauty! There is one draw back! We drove 78 miles ONE WAY to the closest WalMart!! The first two pictures are in Yellowstone National Park...the bison are everywhere! We hiked in on a ridge and counted 17 babies in one herd on a meadow. The fly fisherman is on the Madison River...the Robert Redford movie A River Runs Through It was shot on this river. The last picture is of an 1959 earthquake caused landslide that impacted the flow of the river and created Quake Lake. On the way to WalMart, we saw pronghorns, mule deer, wild swans!, and some other birds I haven't identified yet. Tomorrow we're going bear hunting...with a camera of course. Supposedly there is a mama and two cubs that several people have told us about! Thank heaven for hiking boots! I've always felt a little funny wearing them, but not out here. Thanks Libby..mine are hand me downs from her years ago!!

We worked by ourself Sunday and everything went fine! We have a wonderful boss...Brenda...she works constantly and has convinced us by her hours that we don't ever want a gallery! That's a big part of the reason we wanted to work at The Buffalo Trading Company http://buffalotradingcompany.net/index.html to see if we wanted to start our own storefront. Now I know we don't want to be that tied down! We'll just work for others on occasion. Starting this week we work Wednesday through Saturday from 3-10P...you know I can't get Woody up before 10A so evenings are best for us!

We are so blessed to have this opportunity and just want to share it with all of you! We are thankful for our blessings and wish you all as many as we have...your life will be full!