Getting the store ready for Friday's opening is a big job. The store needs to be cleaned and polished, new apparel items need to be hung up and put away, gifts will be coming and lots of paperwork to prepared. At times it can be glorious chaos and sometimes it is just roll-up-your- sleeves hard work. But there is one fabulous Adventures crew coming together and working hard.
After a dinner menu of meatloaf, mashed potatoes with gravy, pineapple, applesauce, salad, cookies and pudding I decided to head of for some wildlife viewing. The weather report for the next few days look pretty snowy (7 - 9 inches in the forcast) and I expect to be huddled up the next few nights so tonight was possibly the last I could go out. Within 10 minutes of leaving Canyon I came across a black mass in the road ahead of me as I headed toward Norris. It was too small to be a bison, could my eyes be deceiving me? My first bear for 2010!! And a nice grizzly to boot! I had startled him and he had to take a big leap to get up and over the plow drift on the side of the road. I managed to pull up to where he entered the woods and I could see him lumbering through the trees and out of view. And where was my camera? Next to me safely zipped up in its carrier and unreachable for the occasion. Will I ever learn? (I still have flashbacks to the non picture episode of the bear cub hanging from the branch by Roosevelt last year)
I also found that the Magnificent 7 was amassing once again. Currently it is only the Magnificent 4. I found them by Roaring Mountain with three of them standing in the road refusing to move with just enough distance between them for me to maneuver around them. I noticed that the skies to the east of me seemed to be filled with snow. I decided to turn back which was a good call on my part. Half way between Norris and Canyon the snow really started to come down and all I could see through my windshield was little blasts of white coming straight toward me. With about 10 feet of visibility I really had to come to a crawl and prayed that there was no bison in the road......or bears. I made it back to Canyon where I could finally enjoy the sight of falling snow. I better get the shovels ready.
