Zombies and Wolves... OH MY!!!

What a crazy weekend!! There was no school on Friday so Shackie, Little Miss Do-Little, Steck, Inigo and I did the only logical thing we could think of .... go to National Park. That was a complete no-brainer.

It was mostly non-eventful. We wanted to show Steck some of the places she hadn't been before... which is basically the whole park. I love that place so much, I'd move into a bear cave or wolf den if I could. I think we're teaching Steck to love it and enjoy all there is to do there! Before long she'll be as fanatical as we are... I know it!! :)

There was a serious lack of animal sightings. Usually when the hoards of tourists leave and the weather turns colder, we see more animals. We only saw a few bison and elk. It seems rutting season is over, so the elk have calmed down and dispersed into the trees to prepare for winter snow. And to be honest, I was glad the rut was over because on one of the trails, we walked right past this guy... he was only about 20 feet away and could have cared less that we were there. Whew!

The highlight and absolutely SCARIEST part of the day was while we were eating lunch. There is a spot we like to go because there are a lot of "camp robbers" there. (FYI: A camp robber is a bird that likes to fly around your table and steal food. They are very brave and will even take food out of your hand -- or off your head -- if you offer it to them.) We were happily feeding our faces and playing with the birds when Shackie said, "Is that a wolf?!?!?" We looked and about 1/4 mile away into the meadow was the BIGGEST black wolf I've ever seen!!

My DSLR camera was in the car, so I ran at top speed to grab it out and snapped this ONE picture before we realized the wolf was headed STRAIGHT FOR US!!! It didn't ever look at us and acknowledge that it had seen us, so we were unsure where it was going. With great haste and some panic (mostly on my part) we literally THREW our food into the basket and scurried back to the vehicle to wait for either a very scary encounter or possibly a really cool photo moment.

There is a small ditch that the wolf went down into and that is where we lost sight of him. (It's that dark line in front of him.) We were nervous losing sight of him because we weren't sure where he was going to come out of the ditch and the trees. (Yes, we were hoping that a tall, muscular, bronze skinned young man named Jacob would come out of the trees....) This was seriously, the BIGGEST wolf I have ever seen -- in captivity or the wild.

(Cropped photo)

He moved FAST. Within about 3 or 4 minutes a car drove by and the excited driver asked us if we had seen the big black wolf. So, this wolf must have travelled up the ditch and across the road south of us.

What can top that experience? Beautiful scenery of course!! We had an enjoyable rest of the day. The weather was perfect, the autumn colors beautiful and peaceful moments abounded.

We've got one more trip planned before the Park closes for the winter. I can't wait to go!!


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This weekend Max participated in his first 5K race. It was called the "Zombie Chase." He registered as a "survivor." The survivors got a one minute head start before the Zombie's were let loose to chase them... (The Zombie's were instructed to NOT eat any of the survivor's.)

Max did a great job. His running usually takes place on a tread mill in the gym, so he didn't feel completely comfortable, but he pushed forward and finished with a respectable time.

Before the race... the wind had come up and it was pretty cold!

And he's off! We forgot to bring a pair of gloves for him to wear, so he's wearing a pair of socks on his hand.

The Zombies are chasing the survivors now!

Finishing the race!! Go Max!!!