2012 Winter Adventure Day 8

We were up at 6 again on a day we could have slept in. Babs didn’t get much sleep, too much light and heat. This pretty much sets the tone for the rest of today’s mood! So we’re switching sides of the bed tonight. Me, I slept like a log.

It snowed a couple of inches last night and the morning temperature was -4 degrees.  After eating our breakfast we went to the Laundromat then returned to our room. Our heater wasn’t working, too hot, which is better than not hot enough, [not according to Babs] so we waited for the maintenance man to tune our heater.  This killed most of the morning. 

We had lunch at a small restaurant named “Kiwiz”. It is owned by a New Zealand transplant who is really a unique, for loss of a better word. She took her good time taking our order and had Babs and I in stitches as she tried to teach me the English way to pronounce “Hawks Bay”.  After several hugs she took our order: Fried New Zealand mussels, “chips” (fries), and burgers. Babs had the traditional “fixings’”, and I had beets instead of pickles on my burger. Everything was excellent. When I was the brushing the snow off of the car she came out to help me smoking a joint. No wonder she was so entertaining and wouldn't let me take her photo!

Wall that is a shrine to her family

Deep fried New Zealand mussels

Modeling the bib my kids gave me for Christmas

From lunch we went over to Grizzly Park where there is an IMAX theater and a Wolf & Grizzly Center. We first went to the IMAX theater to see the Yellowstone film that was playing. It was a waste of $20. 

Next door was the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center so we decided to give it a try.

 

The Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center is a not-for-profit organization specializing in the education of the public about bears and wolves.

They obtain animals as cubs as donations from organizations that either rescue animals or breed them for profit but have too many to care for at one time. All of their animals have been spayed or neutered so as not to attract wild animals or result in too many animals for the space available at the Center.

While we were there, they were feeding the pack and the bear cubs.  First they feed the wolves 2 pounds of raw meat. Next, the wolves are provided with an animal carcass often donated by local hunters so they can keep their natural rituals of pack feeding

Big male Grizzly

Alpha Female Wolf

Alpha Male

Ravens hoping for leftovers

Alpha Male with carcass

Alpha Female looking for choice morsels

Alpha Female of other pack

The bear cubs are fed vegetables which are hidden in the enclosure to simulate natural habitat.

Tomorrow we take a snow coach into Yellowstone Park, heading to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

Babs Says: When the temperature is 0 or below it is so easy to clean snow off the car. Just a quick brush and it's gone. However, it gets to be a pain to have to "sweep" the car every time you get in (6-8 times today). You know it is cold when the coffee left in the thermal travel mug turns into a block of brown ice over night.