a picnic in the park. {and bears}

{one of my favorite spots in the park}

{da bears.}

i've said this before and i'll say it again.

september is my absolute favorite month here.

we welcomed autumn with a little birthday picnic for a girlfriend yesterday in grand teton national park.

string lake is the perfect place to picnic, minus the bear encounter.

minor details.

this time of year the bears a hun-gray!

while my friends were hauling food into the bear box, i was snapping away.

this momma bear and her cub were too cute but way too close for comfort.

i think she was after those macaroons from persephone bakery.

happy autumn!

the wolf people.

{Lamar Valley, Yellowstone}

{setting up shop takes serious concentration}

at 6 am on saturday we left cooke city, montana and headed into lamar valley.
we were told to look out for a guy in a yellow xterra...he's the wolf man.
we found the yellow xterra.
plus other cars with license plates like "WOLFLVR" and "LONEWLF".
normal.
after a short hike we found 30 people all peering into their three thousand dollar scopes.
they'd been there since 4am so we were totally late.

after finally setting up our borrowed scope, (see above....such wolf amateurs.)
we spotted the pack.
incredible.
but i'd be lying if i said i thought they were more incredible then the pack of people watching them.

i had no idea these people existed.
one woman left her teaching job in san diego to move up here to watch wolves.
all. day. every. day.
they all knew each other and they all knew everything about the wolf pack.
i'm sorry but how the hell can you tell which pup belongs to which wolf at 2 miles away???
i'll give it to the pack peeps that at least they are passionate about something...
nat. geo should totally hire them.  or maybe document them.

jellystone wildlife.

{howling coyote}

{hundreds of bison in the roads} 

{can you spot the grizzly?  i didn't want to spook him with a flash}

{bison sitting in front of our cabin.  i was laughing too hard to get a good photo!}

{this monkey}

we also spotted 2 wolf packs but my lens wasn't capable of zooming that far!
i do however, have photos of the wolf pack PEOPLE.
stay tuned...