Sun, May 8, 2011

Sunday, May 08, 2011

I am blessed to have had wonderful parents.  I grew up in a “Leave It to Beaver” environment.  No my mother did not wear pearls every day but she truly is a gem.  In June she will be 92 and I am so grateful to have her.  I love you mom. – Donna Downey

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone!  Hope you all had a good one.  I do want to say a special thank you to my mom for being so special and doing her best to give me and my brothers such a great growing up time.  I think we all turned out pretty good.

Of course the first order of business was to make those phone calls to our mothers and luckily we were able to talk to both of them.  Both were surprised to hear we were in the snow and then immediately expressed concern about our safety.  After reassuring them the roads were completely clear they wished us well but I don’t think they liked the thought of us driving about the mountains of Montana with even a hint of snow in the forecast. 

With the temps in the mid thirties, cloudy skies and intermittent snow/rain we headed back into Yellowstone in search of wildlife to photograph.   We are often amazed at our luck of being in the right place at the right time and today was another lucky day.  I guess because of the large amount of snow still on the ground and a lot of melting snow and coldish temperatures not many folks made the decision to come to Yellowstone this weekend. The crowds just were not there.  There were as few people in the park today as we have ever seen and it was very helpful in moving around the overlooks and making those illegal u-turns to get into position to get a shot. 

Thanks in large part to Charles we were able to get shots of a buffalo and her calf laying together, a trumpeter swan, a pair of ground squirrels, elk, osprey, bald eagles and a coyote.  We’ve been doing this photography thing together for quite a few road trips now and we have developed a great system.  I usually spot the wildlife; give him an idea of where we need to be and he positions the Jeep so I can capture the moment.  With the two of us working together we are able to get shots that a lone photographer trying to shoot from a vehicle could never get.  We worked especially well today and I hope the photographs will show our technique to be successful.  I write my journal before looking at the photography so we will see.

There is a slight Mother’s Day theme to the photography today as well since we were able to shoot a nice sequence of shots between a buffalo cow and her calf and a ground squirrel and her baby.  There is also an interesting sequence of shots between two bald eagles vying for the same perch.

The weather never got too bad to drive us inside and at times made for some tremendous views.  We had a picnic overlooking a meadow filled with buffalo and before we left a wonderful nap by the Madison River. It was a great day in the park today.

More winter weather is set to move into the park tonight, tomorrow and Tuesday so we decided to move on to other parts of the West.  After leaving the park we made our way thru some beautiful scenery along the Madison River and then the Beaverhead River (great fly fishing areas) and are spending tonight in Dillon, MT.   

We are well tonight and hope y’all are too!

Peace, Hope & Love,

Donna, Charles, Paris & Dodger



Comments

[Dottie Sharp]

Love the Mother's Day theme.... That baby buffalo knew exactly where to get to be warm! The winter wonderland scenery is pretty to view, but must admit I'm quite content with our high 80 degree Mississippi sunshine..... Love y'all!