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.

A ROAD TRIP TO THE GRAND TETONS - AUGUST 2008

With more time at home I am enjoying going through our travel photos.  The following were from a trip we took to the Grand Teton National Park in August of 2007. We stayed at the Jackson Lake Lodge.  Since this trip we have been back a couple of times but not for quite a while now.  

One day we saw what only can be described as a buzz of activity from several people with cameras  on the overlook. We had been in the sitting area of the Lodge, where the windows reached from floor to ceiling. 

When we looked to see what was going on we saw Mother Moose and her calf not too far below. This was our fourth sighting on this vacation, and they were closer than the other three. It was very exciting and I just about fell out of my shoes when I saw them. Before this trip I had only seen these amazing animals in photos or on nature shows, and as I looked at them this wave of happiness came over me, I can't describe fully how I felt.

Mother, in the photo below, is doing what any mother would, waiting for her little one to catch up when he or she lagged behind.

Good Mum!

The following photos show another mother moose and calf from the previous day, when we were near a dam. We weren't as close here but it was our favorite moment as it was such an idyllic spot.  

I was already happy as a sandpiper having been in the company of two adorable chipmunks who had joined me as I sat next to the river enjoying my surroundings. We were obviously not going to get any closer as we didn't want to disturb them but also for our own safety.  I made the most of my new zoom lens, which we had invested in just for this vacation. 

Do you see the extra set of ears to the right of baby? Mum is keeping a watchful eye, come to think of it so is baby. We have been spotted and it wasn't long afterwards that they disappeared back into the brush. What a magical moment they shared with us.

On our way back to the Lodge more people on the side of the road and of course we had to join them. In this scene there is a standoff. On the left is another mother, in the middle is her calf and on the right is a very cantankerous bull moose. We watched him as he galloped up and down and stomped his feet, he was not a happy bull moose and this went on the whole time until after about half an hour we decided to move on. Mother was having none of him being very protective of her calf. Bull Moose was not a happy moose.

In the last two photos we were in the northern part of Idaho on our way here.  It was our first sighting ever of a very unexpected moose. Gregg had decided to follow his nose and get off the map that I was following, just to see where this road took us. Sweet Other Half is a 'follow your nose’ man, and I am a 'butter my bread from corner to corner' kind of girl.  I follow those directions to the ‘T’. We are a good balance he says and meet each other somewhere in the middle but I have to admit, I get a little fussy when I know we are off the beaten path because I don't like getting lost. "Are you sure you know where you're going." "Are you absolutely positive we're not going to get lost?" I always have visions of having to sleep in the car and we were in the wilderness. I know that wouldn't be so bad to sleep in the car, as believe me I have done it before (maybe when I was ten), but I really don't like getting lost, and we were also in bear country. With Gregg we always get off the beaten path, his sense of direction is excellent and I should know better by now, but I can't help myself. I really don't like getting lost! Have I mentioned that before?

Well, here we were lost! But it was the best thing that happened because this is what greeted us when we came around a bend. Our very first sighting of a moose ever. No, he wasn't close and these photos were the best I could get but oh my, I just about did a double flip and I looked at Gregg after the moose had disappeared into the woods and I hugged him and thanked him for getting off the beaten path. It always works out somehow, and it wasn't long after that we got back on track and were heading for the Grand Tetons.  I knew these gorgeous animals are big but he was huge!

With all the thanks I could muster to my Sweet Other Half, he really is the best 'get off the beaten path' husband who always ends up finding his way, and next time we go on a road trip I will zip my mouth because you just never know what is around the next bend. "Yeah, right!" I hear him say, and yes we are both smiling. 

Writing in August 2008, I wrote that Gregg is on his own trip right now. He just called me from the airport about ready to get on the plane for Kansas City. It's going to be a quick trip as he heads back tomorrow (this original blog post was before retirement when he used to travel quite a lot on business so no, Gregg is safe at home with me and we are following all the safety guidelines).  

Thanks for traveling back with me a few years ago, and I hope your day is a great one.