Travels With Bison

 In the Lamar Valley, between Tower Junction and the Northeast entrance to Yellowstone, where Cooke City is, the buffalo roam.  This is where the buffalo were literally looking in the windows of our car a couple of years ago, and the kids didn't care.  It's more fun when you have people in the car who don't have American Bison on the continent where they live!

 It was tense at times, when some of the larger buffalo were close enough to touch.

 The paper says to stay 100 feet away from buffalo!  Obviously, this leaflet wasn't distributed to the buffalo herd at large.  I don't know where they were going, but they were using the only road to Cooke City to get there, and they weren't in a hurry.  Then again, neither were we, because you don't get to commune with buffalo too often.  It's an experience that can fill you with a primal thrill, a connection to the powerful unknown.  That the national parks exist and can function as a link between us and the natural world is incredible.  In a world of helmets and knee pads, pasteurization and sterilization, warnings and disclaimers, it's reassuring that we can go to Yellowstone and be gored by a buffalo if we want to.  Not saying we want to, just that we get so dang insulated sometimes.

 My favorite view in all of Yellowstone.

 Kids taking pictures out the sunroof, kids hanging out the windows, buffalo sauntering by...the ranger actually said to us through her megaphone, "Get back in your vehicle."  Oh, sorry, I thought the flyer said to stay 100 INCHES away from 500-pound buffalo.  Was it 100 feet?  My mistake.

 A little apprehensive.

 More and more buffalo seemed to be converging on the road, gathering in from all parts of the valley.  Their voices were low and ominous, some of them seeming to emit a menacing growl.  At one point, Olympe gathered all the kids in her arms, imagining the buffalo attacking the car.

 We were the first car in the lineup, following the herd.  We had the best view.  I felt guilty that we had the best seats in the house, so I kept motioning the guy in back of us to move ahead, but he wouldn't.  So many cars got piled up that a park ranger came to save the day.  Her efforts were only slightly more effective than ours, even if she had flashing lights and a megaphone.  Yes, she herded the buffalo, but they were determined to stay on the road.  In fact, as the ranger herded them along, they started trotting, some of them running in from the meadows as if they were late for an important meeting.  Some were hurtling down this hillside, in a big hurry.  We were wondering what would happen if one lost its footing and rolled down the hill...

...hopefully not crashing into our car.  This was when the buffalo started full-out running.  It got dusty and loud as they bellowed to each other.  I don't know what they were saying, but something was definitely being communicated.  Something every animal in the herd picked up on.  Finally, the herd left the road and dispersed into a meadow, leaving the road ahead clear for the last 10 miles of our journey.  We were an hour late, according to my calculations, so our first stop was the Sinclair to connect to WiFi and let everyone know we were not lost, not trampled, and very close to Paul and Rita's cabin, our warm and heavenly home away from home for the week.

We took a lot of video.  All of them are on YouTube.  Most are less than 30 seconds long.  One is 7 minutes of Chloe and Olympe saying good-bye to their families in case they didn't make it!  ha ha.  I think they were joking.  Pretty sure...

Anyway, here are some funny videos:

The Long One With the Ranger

The One Where I Didn't Know I Was Filming and Warned the Kids Not to Fall Out of The Car and Get Trampled by a Wild Animal

The One Where a Buffalo Growled at Me from a Foot Away and Scared Me

The One Where Chloe Thinks We Are Going to Die

Buffalo Close-Ups