West Yellowstone with the Rogers!

This Thanksgiving break, the Mower's and the Rogers teamed up once again for a two day trip to a Worldmark Destination! This trip's choice: West Yellowstone! Although we enjoyed staying in our apartment watching movies, playing games, swimming, and eating, we also found ourselves discovering The Bear and Wolf Museum and Observatory! Because West Yellowstone National Park was closed while we were there (go figure) we spent an ample amount of time learning about bears and wolves. So COOL! It was a lovely short getaway, and one definitely needed
before finals come and the big move. Enjoy the pics!



I guess I'm on my own with this one... My knight and shining armor has no clue what to do!










Lee on the other hand just found his new career: Polar Bear Modeling. Danika doesn't know if this is such a good Idea..






This is Jewel. She's a Bear Dog! They train these dogs to chase away bears. It's a whole system of having the Bear Safety people with them, trapping the bear, sedating it and putting a collar on it (to make sure it won't come back again), then releasing the bear when conscious. The bear wakes to a surprise of rubber bullets hitting it on the bum, and dogs chasing it away. Once it is back in bear country, it all stops. They hope this conditions the bear to know that they have there safety zone - and human places are not one of them!



At this Bear facility, they do testing on Bear Safe containers. Manufacturers send their "Bear Safe" containers here, and test it on the bears (while videotaping the process) . If the bear can break in to it (which is more often than not) then they send the video to the manufacturers, and they modify the container and try again. The bear has one hour to attempt the break in. This bear opened this container in about 15 minutes!!! So smart!!!!






One of the wolves we saw. There were two packs with four wolves in each. They are in separate areas to prevent any fights from breaking out. These animals are so smart too. And beautiful!









At this facility, they try to keep the environment as real to life as possible for the animals. The bears are only partially trained to come to the sound of a bell (tempted with food), and go back inside their little sleeping areas inside. While the bears are inside, the workers will hide fruits and vegetables outside under rocks and what not, then release the bears to find the food on their own.






Life can be rough when hunting for food.










Lee and Danika in front of the bear observatory.









Jason and me in front of the bear observatory. For all those who are wondering, there is a fence and 20 foot drop separating the viewers from the bears. No worries!









Boys will be boys. The funny thing is, this is right across from the wolf pack area. They started making barking noises and the wolf pack came running to see what it was. It was way fun, because the wolves had been just sleeping the whole time we were trying to watch them!








The big teddy bear in the souvenir shop!











Lee and Jason as fish. Jason is the fish that is scared out of his mind.









This is the female wolf in one of the packs. This pack is made up of a brother and sister, and two brothers. They are only two years old! She is the Alpha female, and the other wolves knew it! I love this picture. She is walking towards me, and I'm on the other side of the viewing glass. She was looking me in the eyes! And let me tell you, this look is not the look of a tame dog.