Coconut Curry, Little BigHorn Days and Ricky Nelson

Woh.
So much has happened since I last wrote. It is actually overwhelming.
After I wrote this on Wednesday night, I met up with the lovely Christina, Udeitha and Eric. We went for a scrumptious dinner at the Iron Horse, which has a beautiful deck over the Yellowstone River, and went back to Mammoth to watch Airplane. Yes!
Thursday was a good day. We encountered 280 people at Canyon during the Wildlife Olympics! That is our record thus far! And I'm sure it will only start to get busier as the summer moves forward!
After work, I immediately set in to making dinner. For the last few Friday night potlucks, my contributions had been lacking or non-existent. To attempt and make it up, I decided to cook Red Chicken Coconut Curry for the entire crew. The vegetables turned out to be a little soggy...I should have done them last. BUT, overall, it was scrumptious. Udeitha made rice with cardamom in it...mmmmmmm. And then we enjoyed it outside. MMMMMM! Following dinner, we watched the movie Momento. Good stuff.
Friday was an interesting day. I had a list of things to accomplish during the day, but it soon became obvious to me that I was the ONLY person in the office. Finally, after finishing a couple of errands, I couldn't take it anymore. I decided to go to two ranger-led-programs around the park. I went to West Thumb (near Lake) and Black Sand Geyser (near the Old Faithful Geyser Basin). Such beautiful areas. It never ceases to amaze me the absolutely gorgeous area in which I live.
After returning to the office and finishing up a few other odd jobs, I quickly ran home, packed and dashed to meet up with Devaney.
My end destination was Hardin, MT...but we met up in Billings first. After a 3 hours + drive, I finally made it to Billings and we enjoyed a sushi dinner. Following sushi, we went to an interesting dance saloon called the West. It was a very interesting cultural experience. Needless to say, we didn't stay too long before heading to Hardin to crash.
In the morning, we grabbed some coffee and ran to the Little Bighorn Parade. It was fun to be involved in a small town parade where everyone knows one another!
After the parade, we grabbed food and supplies and headed up to the Yellowtail Dam on the Crow Reservation. We met up with Devaney's grandparents, loaded their boat into the water, and we were off. We quickly found a shady alcove and ate a lunch of fried chicken, fresh fruit and vegetables. After eating, we boated over to Black Canyon where Devaney and I proceeded to go tubing on the back of the boat. I don't think I can even begin to explain how gorgeous this entire area is. The pictures I provide below fail to display the beauty. And to go tubing in this area...AMAZING! I was so blessed to be able to go with Devaney and her grandparents!
After tubing was cut premature, (as my tube flipped, throwing me into the water, the rope was cut by the rutter. Sad day) we decided to stop at Mile 7. We climbed up to the Mile 7 marker and stood on the 17 foot drop. We decided to go for it, leaping into the air and plummeting into the water! It was so great!
After these activities, Devaney's Grandpa decided to drive us into the reservoir as far back as he could before we had to turn back for dinner. We got all the way to Mile 20 before heading back. But her Grandpa assured me that there are miles and miles of beautiful waterways, and we had only scratched the surface!
After getting back to the load-in area, we realized how absolutely fried we were. We drove back to Hardin, showered, got dressed and realized we were miserable. We slowly made our way to the Little Bighorn Days concert area. The streets were shut down, and vendors lined the sidewalk. We decided to share an Indian Taco (and by share, it meant Devaney eat two bites and Grant consume the rest). It was around this time that Devaney started to not feel well.
After eating, we sat down and got the introduction to the upcoming concert. The guest band was the sons of Ricky Nelson. Apparently they formed a band to tour the country, singing their father's songs and other top hits throughout time. -I must confess, neither of us knew who Ricky Nelson was. We had to ask the older lady sitting next to us.-
After a while, we met up with all of Devaney's friends. Lots of introductions. We just hung out in the streets, talking, listening and having a grand old time. Around midnight, Devaney and I couldn't take it anymore. Our burns got the best of us and we went back to her house and I crashed in her guest room.
The next morning, we woke up, cuddled with Devaney's four kittens, and ate the AMAZING breakfast Devaney's mom made for us! Around this time, Devaney had started to not feel well. We finally took her temperature and found it to be 101 degrees! After eating, she decided to go to the ER since they were leaving for Costa Rica the next morning and she couldn't be sick! It turned out to be sever dehydration and strep throat! I think we both learned our lesson about applying TONS and TONS of sunscreen!
After slowly making my way back home, I'm just chilling out, doing some laundry. There is a big week ahead and I need to get some sleep tonight! Please enjoy the pictures below. It is going to be hard deciding between all of them!!!

Dinner at the Iron Horse!

Snagging some ice cream after work at Canyon

Red coconut curry!

Eating with the gang!

West Thumb Geyser Basin

The Abyss Pool

Black Sand Geyser Basin

Cool steam!

Pretty colors!

Parade!

Not PC

Yes! Miss Pineridge!

The band!

So cool!

Always in Style

Tractor line up

Lots of cool old cars!

Yellowtail Dam

SO

MUCH

BEAUTY!

After getting thrown off tubes

The water sparkled

Glorious

See that Green Sign?

How about now?

See Devaney and I up there now?

See that splash? That's me!

Victory!

See the Arch! There were quite a few!

Amazing rock formations!

( :

Mile 20

Covering up after realizing I was red.

Indian Taco!

Devaney felt lousy

My legs were on fire!

Ricky Nelson Remembered

Kittens!

SO CUTE!!!

I heart Ornithologists

Monday night was pretty chill after I left you. I was able to talk to Miss Christine Merola for almost two hours! Always a perk to any day!
I'm not sure what I did after, but I think it was sleep. My nights tend to blur together.
The next day was pretty fun. Trudy took Alexis and myself to the Lamar Buffalo Ranch to pick up some supplies that we will be revamping this summer. Oh my goodness. Lamar Buffalo Ranch is the most beautiful place in the world. Not only is Lamar Valley amazing because it has the must abundant and diverse wildlife of anywhere in the park, but it also is one of the most arguably beautiful landscapes. And right in the heart of the valley is the Lamar Buffalo Ranch. Oh to live there.
Unfortunately, I had not brought my camera with me. No pictures of this beautiful place! :P
From Lamar, we dashed back to Mammoth for the Wildlife Olympics. Alexis and I had to run the WO all by ourselves...but I think we did smashingly!
After work, I was determined to go on a hike. I texted all my Yellowstone friends and the crew developed into Udeitha, Amanda and Christina. We hiked around Beaver Ponds! And this time, we actually saw beavers! I was so pumped. Basically, these three girls are the best thing since sliced bread. I loved hiking and chatting with all of them!
In fact, one member of our crew happens to be a field biologist...and ornithologist. That means she studies birds. Out of the blue, Amanda asks me "Hey Grant. What are you doing tomorrow during work?" I responded "I have no idea, why?" She states "Well, I am going on a hike to Grebe lake to study the Trumpeter Swan family and our restoration efforts."
I was overjoyed! What an amazing opportunity that would be! All I had to do was convince my supervisor that this was a good idea. And, let me tell you, it was not a difficult sell.
This morning, when I presented the idea to Beth, she jumped on it. She said "What better way to educate your children about what goes on in the park than going and experiencing it with the professionals yourself!"
With that, I was off. It ended up being a group of four: myself, Amanda, Lisa and Lisa. Lisa has been running the ornithology department for some time and is a resident expert. I was SO fortunate to go along with these ladies. It was about an hour drive to the trailhead, an hour hike in, and then we set up camp. They were pleased to see that all the Cygnets were alive.
The story behind the Trumpeter Swan in Yellowstone is that it is the last surviving NATIVE trumpeter swan population in the United States (aside from Alaska). The swan was poached into near extinction elsewhere. As a result, Cygnets from Yellowstone were used to repopulate trumpeter swans all across the United States. But, for unknown reasons, the trumpeter swan population in Yellowstone is rapidly plummeting. There are only two pairs that are currently mating, nesting and attempting to raise young. Unfortunately, these pairs have been nesting on shores were predators have no trouble getting to the eggs.
The park decided to take action. They created a natural swan platform that they placed in the water near the mated couples. These platforms are away from the shore and are surrounded by water. This keeps all predators away. Apparently this is the type of nesting ground swans love. Swans are very territorial. Once they find an area, they will never leave. And once they find a mate, they will never remate. What ornithologists suspect is that these two nesting areas USED to have ideal platform nesting grounds, but for some reason that space disappeared. As a result, the swans resorted to nesting on shore. Bad news.
Fortunately, the swans immediately took to the platform and the females laid eggs.
From there, the park and another group created identical wooden eggs and replaced the real with these fakes. Apparently, ornithologists think there may be some biological reasons as to why the trumpeter swan populations are declining. They want to study the cygnets from this nest when they hatch. So, what they did was take some abandoned cygnets from another area and introduced them to the swan couple at Grebe lake. The mother and father took to them immediately.
Do not fear! The cygnets that they reintroduced to Grebe lake are ancestors to Yellowstone trumpeters. If you remember, I said that all trumpeter swans in the United States (besides Alaska) were reintroduced using Yellowstone trumpeters. So all Trumpeters in the lower 48 are genetically descended from Yellowstone.
Furthermore, after 7 (weeks or months, I wasn't sure) of study, they will reintroduce the original cygnets from the eggs back into the park in areas where lonesome trumpeters live, in hopes that they will choose to mate in future years.
It was so fascinating to watch the young family flourishing. The platform really seems to have done the job. The adults were so elegant and beautiful, while the cygnets were so fuzzy and cute! It was such a sight to see these professional ladies set up there scopes and get to work observing. Amanda even let me get on her scope a couple of times and check things out!
As we walked out, we observed an Osprey nest that was supposed to be inactive. As Lisa was reporting this, an Osprey flew over us and landed in the nest. We were all so excited, but Lisa informed us that Osprey like to return to their nests to rest LONG after they have used it to raise young. She was able to observe from how the Osprey was sitting on the nest and interacting with its surroundings that there were not any Osprey chicks in the nest. SO COOL! I was such a lucky young man today! I learned from pros! And that is why I love ornithologists!
Whelp, picture time! Until next time.

I LOVE THESE LADIES!

There are two beavers. I promise.

Love.

Pretty. Ominous. Yes.

Grebe Lake Trail

Grebe Lake!

Swans!

The nesting platform.

Cute

Scoping!

A cheat sheet of swan behaviors

Too legit

You can see the two parents and the four babies!

Amanda humored me! SO COOL!

The three major swans in the United States!

Lisa decided to scope out some loons. No luck

The Osprey chilling in his nest!

And by Sunday, I meant Monday night...

Here I sit, chilling at my usual haunt, blogging after an extended hiatus. It is hard to bring myself back to Friday night...so much has happened since then. But, I shall try my best!
After I finished writing last Friday, I hoped in my car and drove to 2A to consume Breakfast for Dinner. I picked up some Nutella first, naturally, and arrived for the delicious foods! So much wonderful stuff: Pancakes, French Toast, Quiche, Fritta, Biscuits and Gravy, Toast, Grits, etc etc etc. I didn't know I could fit so much stuff into my belly. There was a really nice crowd. Besides myself, my roommate Eric, the girls and guys who live in 2A (Udeitha, Amanda, Luke, Chris), Amanda's friends from the Ornithology department were there. It was lovely.
After, everyone wanted to run into the rodeo, but I decided I wanted to go for a walk and go to bed early (since I had to drive to Bozeman early the next day for work). I decided to walk up to the YCC camp and meet up with Millie to finalize our driving plans to Bozeman. I almost didn't grab my bear spray because I figured there was NO WAY I would see a bear on my way up there. Fortunately, I did...because I ran into a cinnamon black bear on my walk. She was really far away, but she did notice me. And the trail led right to her. Soooo, I had to go to the road. Boo!
When I got to YCC, I was attacked by the entire staff and forced to hang out instead of sleeping. Story of my life.
So, the next morning, after Nessa's brilliant mousing skills, I got up, grabbed Millie, got coffee and a muffin (so hard to eat while driving) and drove to Bozeman for Montana Pride. Parade. Touch table with pelts. Dancing. It was so fun. But Ranger uniforms aren't the most comfortable things in the world...especially the hats. But I was happy to be there working for the national park.
And I was so happy to have Millie and Devaney with me. I love them so much!
The next day, we grabbed delicious food at a Chinese buffet and headed back to Mammoth. I dropped off Millie and met up with Udeitha. We decided to make chocolate chip cream cheese cupcakes for Eric's birthday under the careful guidance of the expert baker and chef, Amanda.
During this time, I got a call from the lovely Abe Katz and Morandi Hurst, telling me they were in Mammoth! It was so great to see them briefly before they had to head to bed and I had to run into town with the gang for dinner. We were ravenous. We consumed delicious foods at the Raven but were soooo exhausted when we were all done. Bed was in order.
Today was a good day at work. I shadowed a hour and a half Terrace Walk and then proceeded to try and write my own. I will hopefully get to lead my own before the summer is over! We also did some other odd jobs. But, the best part was a spontaneous lunch at...the Raven. I promise I eat at other places.
But anyway, I think I tore through the weekend too quickly. But...I'm short on time. Until next time!

Walking to YCC

The cinnamon Black bear

The crew at our table!

Millie and me holding the banner!

Making cupcakes with Udeitha!

Elk cow and calves outside! Cute!

Raven Dinner

Raven lunch

The Raven: outdoor seating!

Bunsen Peak Revisited

Curry dinner was the best. There was delicious curry, scrumptious yogurt, perfectly cooked asparagus and deliciously moist banana bread. I was so happy and content, it took me no time at all to fall asleep when I eventually made it back home. Girls in 2A(?), I love you.
Thursday was a ton of fun. Work was a tad bit stressful, though. We had the Wildlife Olympics in Mammoth, which was very slow. We only had 66 visitors compared to the 222 at Old Faithful. We are thinking about doing more at Old Faithful as a result, since Alexis and I are okay to handle it on our own now.
The frustrating part of the day was the visitor interactions with elk. Mammoth is CRAWLING with elk, as I have previously mentioned. For some reason, tourists tend to think Elk in Mammoth must work like a petting zoo. Some people will walk RIGHT UP to the elk to pose for pictures! As a result, Alexis, myself and a SCA intern named Ben ended up taking turns putting on orange vests and corralling people. At one point, when I was switching with Ben, a car stopped and two children jumped out and dashed toward the elk. The elk jumped up from the ground and slammed into one another. Luckily, this distracted the elk and they turned on each other. They rose up into the air on their back legs and began to hit at each other with their front hooves. It was a terrifying site. Ben dashed over and tried to get the kids into the car. They did not speak english, so he had to do it with gestures. Poor guy.
After that, Alexis and I ran up to the YCC camp for bear safety training. It was cool to see all 25 (or 26) of the 15-18 year olds there. The YCC program seems like such a great opportunity.
Afterwords, my YCC friend Millie and I headed out for some hiking fun. She has Thursday-Sunday morning off, so I will probably be chilling with her a lot this weekend.
Millie and I decided to climb Bunsen Peak. I was really invested in this after I failed to properly direct Devaney and I on the right trail. We DID make it up Bunsen Peak...but we took a round-about way that ended up making it a 6 mile hike instead of 2. But, I'm actually happy about that because it gave us a better workout.
As a result, we did not get off the mountain until 9:00. We jumped in the car and DASHED into Gardiner for some delicious Two Bit food. We ran into some other Interpretation Rangers who invited us to socialize with them...but we were just so exhausted that we barely talked and were entranced by our food. lol. Needless to say, I need to get some good sleep tonight.
Today at work was good. Nothing much happened, but our supervisor Beth returned from the BIE conference in Denver. It was so great to have her back.
As I write, I realize that I am supposed to be running over to 2A for our 'Breakfast for Dinner' followed by potential rodeo events. So, I better hurry. It may be a while since I write again since I will be heading to Bozeman tomorrow to work the Pride Celebration Yellowstone Booth. So you will probably hear from me again on Sunday! Au Revoir!

Beautiful sunset after curry dinner.

I get to live here. ( :

Bunsen Peak!

We are going to kill this mountain!

Pretty flowers everywhere!

We had to climb around some snow to stay on the trails.

Almost to the top!

The top. ( :

Such

Beautiful

Views!