CHIPMUNKS IN THE GRAND TETONS AUGUST 2007

For those of you who celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday, I hope your day was a wonderful one.  Ours, unusually and for the first time in years, was just the two of us but we were in touch with family and friends throughout our day, and that made it extra special. I am thinking of you all out there, especially those who have had to deal with so much.  I pray that 2021 will bring good health, keep you safe and bring you peace.  Hopefully my post today will give you a smile or two.

The Chipmunk

My friends all know that I am shy,

But the chipmunk is twice and shy than I.

He moves with flickering indecision

Like stripes across the television.

He's like the shadow of a cloud,

Or Emily Dickinson read aloud.

~Ogden Nash~

1902 – 1971

I am continuing with our vacation/road trip to the Grand Tetons National Park in August 2007. On one occasion I met these darling critters along the banks of Snake River, near Jackson Lake Lodge, Wyoming.  Gregg and I had been told by some fellow travelers at the Lodge, to not miss going to the Jackson Lake Dam, where apparently we would be sure to see moose and other wildlife.  I only got a couple of photos of the dam itself and they didn't turn out very well, but you can see what it looks like here.  I remember the roar of the water and watching a fisherman casting out his line not far from it.  

We walked up and down for half an hour, quietly enjoying our surroundings and looking for moose, but there were no immediate sightings (we did later and those photos I shared in my other post here if you missed it). I suggested to Gregg we sit down for a while and see what happened, that it would be good to relax and enjoy watching the river. Ten minutes later Gregg had gone off to explore but I was content to stare across the water, looking at the occasional duck family swimming by. The solitary fisherman was by this time several hundred yards away, but there was no one else in sight. I loved the peace and tranquility of it all, it was heavenly.

It was then that I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. When I turned my head ever so slowly, there was a little chipmunk looking up at me a few feet away. We have chipmunks back home but I rarely see them, and when I do they are very skittish and fly off at great speed.  This one seemed happy to enjoy my company as much as I was enjoying his. So here we were 3,000 miles away from home and I am sitting right next to one practically nose to nose. I watched him for a while and I thought him adorable, then I remembered my camera. I thought I may startle the little chap, but took a chance and moved very slowly.  I wanted so badly to capture this moment.  He stayed and posed for me and then ran from spot to spot to find his dinner. I was totally mesmerized and lost in the moment when Gregg touched my arm and as I looked at his face, he was staring in the distance pointing down the river. That's when we spotted our moose mum with her calf. But that was yesterday's story. This one is about my little chipmunk which I fell in love with on the spot.  Not too long after he was joined by his mate.

"CHIP, CHIP, CHIP," he sang loud and clear.
"Hey, you other chipmunks, stay away from here.
He sat beside his doorway and loudly sang his song,
Protecting food he'd gathered to eat all winter long....

~Author Unknown~

What could be better than one chipmunk, but two?

They eventually disappeared into the bush where their home must have been, a burrow just out of sight. I didn't want to leave them but the call of the Moose was too strong, and off we went to take photos of yet another most beautiful family, Mother Moose and Calf.

These are more lovely memories for me of our first trip to the Grand Teton National Park.  I hope I get there again one day.  The two maps show its location on the US map.

A closer version showing the actual park.

Enjoy  your day and 

thank you for stopping by.