Bison!

Three months before our wedding day, Ed and I drove halfway across the country together. We knew that if we spend 1500 miles together in a car without killing each other, then we just might be able to make our marriage work.

And so we drove through Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, and to the western side of Wyoming, stopping at all the tourist spots, until we finally arrived at our final destination: Yellowstone National Park.

Our first impression of Yellowstone was that Yellowstone is BIG. There is no way to see Yellowstone in just one day. Everything about Yellowstone is BIG; the geysers, the waterfalls, the canyons, and the bison. Bison are HUGE. And a little big scary.

We were staying in the park for six days. The very first morning we looked out our cabin window and saw a bison. A big bison. A bison so large that I didn’t want to leave our cabin.

Top o’ the mornin’ to you

It didn’t help that we were given this flier in our park information.

As we were walking along a bridge one day, we noticed a bison behind us. As the bison approached the bridge, he started speeding up. I got a little nervous, and so I started speeding up. Ed claims he wasn’t as nervous as I was, but I did notice that he kept up with me. The bison started running across the bridge. Ed and I starting running across the bridge. All I wanted to do was get back into the car, although if the bison decided to tackle it, the car would have been totaled.

As we got back to our car, the bison crossed the bridge and slowed down, climbing up the grassy hill by the side of the road. He was just as nervous about crossing that bridge as I was of him!

As you can already predict, neither one of us was gored by a bison.

And we lived happily ever after. So far, anyway.

Mama's Losin' It

Written in response to the following prompt for Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop: A vacation to remember.

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13 Replies to “Bison!”

  1. What an amazing experience! At the time I bet is was scary but seeing such a large animal so close is something you'll never forget!

  2. Having been to Yellowstone, I can agree it's H-U-G-E! For fun we used to catch "suckers" (what can I say, we were bored teenagers). Our parents would pull over so we could stretch our legs and my siblings and I would go to a random spot on the road and one would point towards the woods, one would hold binoculars and point and the last would have the camera aimed – at nothing. Before long, there would be cars lined up and people would be pointing out what they "saw." Looking back with an adult perspective it was a bit mean, but entertaining none-the-less!

  3. Ginny, What a great "test" trip. Glad it all worked out! Nice photos. I love Yellowstone, have been there a couple of times. One time in SD our car got surrounded by a whole heard of bison on the road. I was terrified they would charge the car, but of course they didn't. They just took their time getting out of the way!!

  4. What a fun memory! Isn't it interesting how things that are not fun at all when they are happening are so fun to remember down the road. Next time something crazy happens, I'm going to remind myself how fun the memories will be!Visiting from MamaKats!

  5. Ginny, I love this story. My husband has a thing for bison. I know, weird, but it made your story so much more special to me. Sounds like you had a successful road trip!

  6. Oh my, my heart was pounding just thinking about those bison chasing you. Glad you survived without any holes– and with pictures, too!

  7. I am not sure whether I am more or less excited about going to Yellowstone one day after reading this. The illustration in the flyer is a hoot, though – I would have photographed it too!

  8. Oh how funny…but it looks wonderful also…I have been chased by a cow, does that count!Oh those park signs.Your writing to these prompts are great!

  9. I remember seeing bison for the first time like that in the wild in Yellowstone some 35 years ago.So glad he didn't continue to follow you. Our son-in-law was in Yellowstone last summer and they have really become big herds over the years.

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