Tuesday, August 31, 2010

DAY 63: "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Yellowstone..."

DAY 63:  Yellowstone (West), Wyoming - August 31, 2010

Liz & Her Masked Man.....

A funny thing happened on the way to Yellowstone today......

Upon arriving in West Yellowstone, Montana on the bike, we stopped at McDonalds to get a nice, piping hot cup of coffee cause, afterall, it was COLD (43 degrees) and RAINY outside.....burrrrrrrrrr....
Chuck's Nuts That Fell Out

CHUCK:  "Shoot!!!" ((He really did say "Shoot", I swear!)
LIZ:  "What????" (I really did say "What", I swear!)
CHUCK:  "My nuts fell out....."

Ok, I thought it was funny......He was actually referring to his pistachio nuts he had in the zip-pocket behind my seat along with his Red Hots.
Chuck's Snack Pack of Pistachio Nuts & Red Hots

We headed on into Yellowstone singing "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall"......I don't know why.....he just started singing that......when we came upon our first wildlife....a Bison crossing the road....As I quickly pulled over so I can get my camera on and focused, three other cars pass me which now block my getting a good picture of this beast......he was MY beast.....!!!! errrrrrrrrrrrr...
Looks Like Old Faithful Erupting Out of My Head....

We then headed on down to Old Faithful, watched her do her thing, and came back to our illegally parked trike to find a HUGE black hawk sitting on Chuck's rear seat trying to get the zipper open to the pistachio nut pouch.....and some dude from South Africa getting the whole thing on film when we walked up......We shewwed the stupid bird off the trike, Chuck put his scary knit mask on to block the cold and wind, and headed on down the road.

We'd been traveling maybe 10 miles when, low and behold, I'm the lucky recipient of more Bison....YEA!!!...This time, I'm not giving up my spot on the road......so I just stop right in the middle of the road; get my camera out, focused and start snapping pictures of this HUGE herbivore (impressed I knew this was a herbivore???  I looked it up in Wikipedia!).  While Chuck and I are looking to our right at this humongous beast and about how close we actually are to it;  why we could almost "spit" to it.....something catches my eye to my left........(the rest is in sloooow motion) as I turn my head to see what caught my eye, I perform an "internal" scream.....you know, the kind where instead of the air being blown OUT to create a SCREAM,  the air is sucked IN creating an INTERNAL SCREAM..........standing right next to us (like I could feel it breathing on me-close!) is another Bison; presumably a friend or relative of Mr. Bison #1.  Three seconds later, as Chuck sees what I see, I hear him make the same "internal" scream as I had made just as the Bison decided to scoot on across the road.
The Bison that breathed on me.....

I just have one word to say to those three cars that jumped ahead of me on my first Bison......"NA-NA-NA-NA-NAAAAA........"












As He Decided to Leave Us.........

8 comments:

jacquetta said...

Oh my gosh Liz - you two have quite the adventures and you are sooooooooooooo funny. You have enough stories to last till the end of time.

In our paper, The Oregonian, there was in the sports section a wicked looking woman basketball player we both thought looked like you. It was so funny we had the same impression. She was very cute BUT had huge tattoos (sp) on her arms but the others on the team had the same ones. How lovely!!! GAG! Wouldn't you like to grow old with big black tattoos on both arms?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jacquetta

Israel said...

Yes indeed, America the beautiful. Thanks!!

Israel

Chuck Stein said...

We were just in Yellowstone and West Yellowstone in early July after Melanie’s wedding in Jackson Hole. Stayed at the Super 8 7 miles west of West Yellowstone and had an adventure meal at the KOA nearby. Yes they have an outdoor restaurant!

Have fun and give my best to Chuck.

Thanks,

Chuck

Glenda Anderson said...

Puuullleese be careful!!!! You must have missed the news report this week(and film!) of the tourist couple taking photos of a bison in Ylwstn. and they wanted to get a "little" closer; they did, he was, afterall, grazing, and within a second he snorted, turned on them in a run and seriously injured both!!!! And they were a lot further away then you two!!!

Your blogs make me giggle and ooohhhh and aahhhh!!! I love the pics with your stories, too!!

Be careful, enjoy, and I love ya both!!!!

Julie said...

Doing good Liz. But my Chuck is in the hospital right now with an infection in his leg so I'm having a chance to get caught up on emails as I sit and keep him company. Still living vicariously through you as you travel around the US. Lucky you! You do make me laugh - THANKS FOR THAT!!!!

Julie

Del said...

Cute story - Del

Ant Ellie said...

Dear Liz and Chuck, that bison is so large, probably longer than the width of the road you are driving on and thank goodness it is a herbivore....otherwise you would have been lunch. Is that snow flakes on the windshield? or rain drops? Sounds awful cold for august...what a trip. what scenery! Be safe and I love you lots and lots.
ant ellie

Ellie said...

What a beautiful rainbow....so wide....real pretty setting. And you do have a double...there is photographic proof. Get warmed up again and have fun....be safe.
ant ellie