Jackson Hole

Prepare yourself, for there are many pictures.  And much cuteness.

From our unexpected trip to Ohio, we left immediately for an expected trip to Jackson, Wyoming and Grand Teton National Park for the wedding of a colleague of mine.  

Cuddling in the morning

Nursing at Jenny Lake, beneath the Tetons - appropriately.

The Snake River from Signal Mountain - imagine Lewis and Clark floating by in their canoes

 After exploring Grand Teton, we headed over to a pre-wedding picnic, but not before adding the state of Idaho to my list by stepping (literally) across the border.

At the picnic, it got chilly, so Andrew put on his 3-month size sleeper.  Made for an upper limit of 12.5 pounds.  The sleeves came halfway down his arms.  Oops.  But everyone was enchanted with his cuteness.  You can see why:

The next day we headed down to Schwabacher's Landing for the wedding ceremony.  Andrew looked dapper in his wedding outfit and hat.

Jonathan and Amber tied the knot!

On Sunday, we headed up to Yellowstone - my first time to that park.  I thoroughly enjoyed learning about Yellowstone's volcanic features.

Leaving the Tetons behind - at Jackson Lake

Andrew was asleep in the car for this picture.

The crowd waits for Old Faithful

Old Faithful being faithful

Interior of the Old Faithful Inn

 We waited a long time to try and catch Grand geyser's daily eruption.  We never did see it go, but we did capture a lot of cuteness on camera....

Diaper change in the caldera

Daisy

Lion group of geysers

Old Faithful behind

Pink Cone Geyser, with rainbow

Bison

Elk

Sunset

First time to Montana!

Souvenir

 The next day, we headed clockwise around the big loop, aiming for Mammoth Hot Springs and Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

When we got to Mammoth Hot Springs, Andrew was sleeping in the car.  Travis volunteered to stay with him since he'd seen it before, so I got to run up and all over the beautiful, eerie hot spring terraces by myself.

Mound Terrace at Mammoth Hot Springs

The top terrace at Mammoth Hot Springs looks like the surface of the moon.

Me with Minerva Terrace

 By the time we got to Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, we didn't have much time before we had to leave for our flight back to Denver.  And baby was hungry.  So we got to nurse with a view, and then we had to pack up and head out.

Upper Falls at Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Flippin' Flickers

The flickers are drilling holes in my house.  Exhibit A.

The large orange blobs are, I believe, expanding foam from where the previous owner was filling flicker holes.  I keep finding more and more of these holes around the house.  I'm monitoring at least four now, and that's not counting the ones in the front porch, that aren't really integral to the house.

What's a flicker, you ask?  These guys:

Bane of my existence.  (Image from Wikipedia, where you can read more about these menaces.)  These guys sound like jackhammers.  And like any good jackhammer operator, they take great pleasure in their skill at waking me up on Saturday mornings when I'm trying to sleep in.  And I thought I moved up here to get away from the city noise!

Well, today, I learned that it's not only the flickers.  No, now I've also got these teeny tiny chickadee-looking peckers.  Instead of jackhammers, they prefer a more subtlely artistic chiseling.  They look approximately like this:

And just when I'm prepared to run out and purchase a BB gun, I spot the following on the interwebz:

Woodpeckers are migratory birds and are protected by the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty.  A federal permit is required before any lethal or harmful control methods can be employed against the Woodpecker


Awwwww... DANGIT.  The same website says they'll be gone by July 1.  Will that be before or after my pretty new house looks like swiss cheese?


A happier thought: Steph came to visit last week (yay!), and brought tulips.

Spring may bring woodpeckers, but it also brings tulips.  Ah, the yin and the yang.

WILDLIFE SIGHTINGS:

Friday 9 April: We hosted the turkey farm on our driveway.  Two toms and eight hens.

And this guy, keeping watch up on the hill makes 11:

Monday 12 April: Elk!  Eight in total, including 3 males with very nice racks, indeed.  (It's okay for a chick to comment on a dude's rack, but not the other way around.  So say I.)  I didn't get pics due to low evening light and being on the phone with mom at the time.  I hope they come back soon.  Word is, they like to come down here for the bugling (mating) season in the fall, and even one of the hiking trails nearby gets closed while the elk come shake their groove thangs.  I mean... they ain't nothin' but mammals.  I mean... *sigh*.

On that note...