More adventures lay ahead...

But not in this blog.  Our time winds down here in the Tom Miner Basin, and we head east tomorrow morning.  We hope to arrive back in Newport on Thursday night, but conditions on the road will determine that!
We went in to the park yesterday with the Doolittles- much fun. We missed seeing 14 mountain goats up on Thunderer Mountain that others have seen (we did look hard). Just a bison roll in the dirt and an antelope for pictures:

Sam, the owner of the house, was here for the weekend.  He did a training run for the Boston Marathon yesterday- 16 miles up the gravel Old Yellowstone Road from Gardiner to the Tom Miner Basin.  Ginny drove the car along behind him, providing stops for switching shoes and water and nourishment.  A great outing for them.

We had Ginny and Sam and Malou and Dre here for a big ham, scalloped potatoes, and asparagus Easter dinner.  A calf was born this morning- which was great with Sam here to be the one keeping an eye on the process.  Then Betsy espied three sand hill cranes in the field.  I was hoping to catch sandhills in their courtship dance. If you think human courtship can sometimes seem strange- wait till you've seen the sand hills dance for each other!!

Starting the dance:












A third kept his distance, knowing he was no competition for this other dude:

Hey, I'm over this way!

Wanna see me do the upside down?

Trippin' the light fantastic:

Guess we've decided, you're the one:

And so with a new calf born, the cranes settled in, Sam back off to Richmond, VA, Ginny down playing Easter hymns on the pump organ in her cabin, and Malou and Dre off to watch a March madness basketball tournament, we pack up and close this chapter. It's been an adventure, and we have loved every minute.
And now we look forward to getting home, re-connecting with family and friends,  planting a new vegetable garden, and all that Newport has to offer.
Signing off from the Tom Miner Basin,
Steve and Bets