The Travel Nutt: On Our Way to a New Adventure . . .

John and I just shared a wonderful and amazing experience with our friends, John and Ruth, from Nine Mile Falls, WA (just outside of Spokane). . . Snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park! I can't even begin to describe the beauty and wonder of seeing Yellowstone in the winter - it's something everyone should have the opportunity to experience at least once. Here's my attempt to share some of the gorgeousness with you . . .

On Friday, February 11, we flew from Ontario to Denver, and then on to Jackson Hole, WY, and met John and Ruth at the airport there. Here's how the Rockies looked from the window of the airplane as we flew over them . . .

And here's our first look at Jackson Hole just before the plane landed at their teeny tiny airport . . . they don't even have a tunnel to walk through from the plane to the terminal - you actually climb out of the plane and walk (carefully) across the icy tarmac . . .

That first day we settled into our hotel/motel, and then spent the afternoon walking around the cute little town of Jackson Hole . . .

The next morning, Saturday, we got suited up for our snowmobile trip (more about that later), and then we were off on a horse-drawn sleigh ride through the National Elk Refuge . . . What a fun ride it was. You're in a big huge wagon type sleigh pulled by beautiful Belgian Draft Horses . . . and you get fairly up close and personal to the elk - within about 20-30 feet of them. When the winter brings heavy snowfall, as it has this year, the refuge often has upwards of 7,000 elk enjoying the protection and supplemental food that is provided there. Really quite a sight to see.

The Beautiful Horses and Sleigh

Our friends, John and Ruth

John and Me

It's pretty cold out there, but they provide blankets to snuggle up in.

Here's our first look at the elk herd
(click on the photo to make it larger)

We got pretty close to some of the elk.

Isn't this guy a beauty?

The refuge provides supplemental food
(about 40% of the elk's daily diet)
It looked a little like rabbit pellets sprinkled on the snow.

Here's another beautiful buck showing off his antlers.

The bucks will start to shed their antlers in March, and this field will be covered with them. The Boy Scouts in the area gather the antlers, and then they are auctioned off. There is a grading system for the antlers, which from our sleigh driver's description, sounds quite complicated. What I understood is that a set of matching antlers that is ranked high in the grading system can often go at auction for as high as $20,000! Can you imagine? About 20% of the money from the auction goes to the Boy Scouts, and the rest goes back to the Elk Refuge. You can maybe pick up a not-so-perfect antler for around $10-$15 if you're lucky.

The antlers are used for all kinds of things around the town . . . . .

Some are made into light fixtures or chandeliers like this . . .

Others are made into arches
The Town Square has one like this on each corner.
At night the arch is lit with white lights and is really pretty.

While we were cruising around the preserve and watching the animals, the sleigh driver was spouting out tons of little interesting facts and tidbits about the animals. The elk are constantly chewing their "cud" much like a cow - they have the same 4 stomach digestive system as a cow. They also do not feel cold when lying on the snow, the snow actually acts as an insulation much like an Eskimo would be inside an Igloo. The rutting season (mating season) is in the fall (Sept-Oct) so many of the female elk are pregnant now. The gestation period is about the same as for humans, and the babies are mostly born in the spring. And, it seems that "teenage" male elks are similar to teenage male humans . . . full of restless energy and mischief. These two decided to practice sparring . . . .