It's 1:30PM as I leave Bozeman for the Park.
Becky & Chloe have already headed south. They arrived yesterday to spend Christmas with me. We sat in my place and talked about all sorts of things, exchanged presents and had dinner. They brought chocolate covered strawberries!
The weather is 40 degrees, partly cloudy. The week was restful except for the demise of my laptop. On Monday morning, I accidentally opened a virus attachment, thinking it was a legitimate notice about my court case (work). It wasn’t. My laptop crashed and I have not been able to restore it.
Before I left this morning I had breakfast with Jane & Frank, my last chance to see them before they head back to Anchorage.
There is very little snow in Livingston. I think the wind blew it away. Pyramid looks good. Pointy Head looks the best, but still not much snow. River is low. It's 43 degrees at 2:11
Bighorns near the road outside Gardiner, then elk. Thru the Arch at 3:26. Pronghorn in the flats between the Arch & the gate. Elk just inside the gate.
I catch up with B & C at 45th Parallel. They are watching a big bull elk on the hillside. A huge flock of Cedar Waxwings has gathered in the trees on the hill, then suddenly they take off up the road, all their wing-beats making a roaring sound. A few minutes later they zoom over our heads toward the river and we have to duck!
We head east. See a hawk and then lots of bison, especially at Blacktail ponds. Stop at S Curves to scope for wolves. Instead we find a coyote, lots of elk, then two moose in the willows below us! One for sure is a bull. We have a 360 degree sunset; pink sky in every direction!
We also meet two people from Paradise Valley who want to know if we have seen wolves. They say they do not want to shoot them, just see them, so we give them info.
This evening we go to Outlaws for pizza.
Today I saw: bison, a coyote, elk, a hawk, two moose, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, a flock of cedar-waxwings and the spirit of Allison.