| (Yellowstone Trip - June 9 to June 24, 2000 - Part 3 ) | |||
| Monday, June 12, 2000
- "Loonion" Feeding Frenzy Day
Slept in and relaxed, then headed across the street for the "Loon Fest." It turned out to be a small affair with only KenD and Shannon, Ballpark Frank, Webcam Tom and us. We figured the pouring rain may have kept lurking loons away. |
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| We were a little late getting our act together, but Webcam Tom managed to get a couple of close ups of the group between downpours. "John and Carol in NC" were easy to recognize clad in our rain gear (Big Burly Bear must be psychic!), KenD and Shannon with the "invisable loon" standing in the middle (feel free to insert yourself!), and Ballpark Frank. | |||
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| Webcam Tom showed us around
his office, and promised a live demo of the new web cam technology after
lunch. Not much of a "feeding frenzy" followed with just four of us (Ballpark
and Tom had to work), but we enjoyed a meal together at "McMammoth" and
spent a little time browsing around the shops before the wolf film. We
found out later that Charles had come into the grill looking for us, but
with the rain and cold none of our loon shirts were visible, so he couldn't
identify us!
As everyone has reported, the Bob Landis film was great! It was really terrific to watch it, and then later go out to the Lamar Valley and see the stars in person! The ending is a little confusing, knowing what has since transpired with #40, etc., but the photography is spectacular. |
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They may be cold and wet, but you can actually see KenD's face! |
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| After the film, on the Mammoth
Visitor Center's porch, Webcam Tom demonstrated some new web cam gadgets
(even though the skies were still regularly opening up the floodgates).
We can't wait to see his ideas implemented! He took close ups of squirrels
way out in the parade grounds, and the newspaper box that sits at the door
to Mammoth grill (at least a football field's length away) so that it filled
the monitor screen. A coyote also dashed across the parking lot, to help
in the demo!
What a great guy Tom is! It was such fun meeting him and being caught up in his enthusiasm for what he is accomplishing, and sharing his vision for bringing the wonders of the park to folks the world over! |
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| Early in the evening we headed out to the Lamar Valley, beyond the Soda Butte, to look for wolves. We heard that there had been a kill just short of the Pebble Creek campground. Sure enough, the Druid's alpha male, wolf #21 was lying near the day-old kill, but he must have been too full to move, because all we saw was a raised head now and then. | |||
| In the rain we struck up a conversation with a fellow from Los Angeles who had heard about the loons. He pointed out a guy named "George" in a red jacket who he said was a loon. We walked over to talk to him, thinking he might know Charles ("Go Druids!"). When Carol asked "Is your name George" he looked kind of startled and he replied, "No, it’s Charles. I don’t know of any George here." We then startled him further by being delighted to meet him! We introduced ourselves, and said that we were looking for George because we had been told that he might know who Charles was! He was most gracious --didn't run from these nuts!-- and also introduced his friends Gillian and Marty who were traveling with him. | |||
Charles, with Marty and Gillian in "Druid Heaven" |
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| Nothing was happening with the wildlife, so we chatted in the drizzle with the other "scopers" until the drizzle became a downpour. As we started back toward Mammoth, we spied a black wolf trotting along the creek bank, checking out a lone bison. We watched for a while until she headed up the hill and out of sight. As we pulled into a nearby turnout, some other "scopers" told us that it was #105F. Cool! | |||
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