Bison on the Wyoming Prairie

Today was a good day!. Mike and I spent it with Jennifer, our favorite little Aussie/American.

Jennifer's parents were very special friends to us during the early years of our marriage.  Her Dad, a Montana Native, married Anne, an Australian Native. They both taught in Turner, MT where we lived. 

One day when Anne and I were talking, we discovered they had gotten married one week before us. They had gone to Calgary for their honeymoon, one week before we did the same!  We became great friends and a few years later, discovered we were expecting babies, our's due one week after their's, of course! 

Sadly, for us, Jennifer's family moved to Australia when the girls were about 2 1/2 years old. Honestly, I remember breaking down and crying in our car after we said goodbye to them. It was a rotten day.  It was not so easy to keep in touch them as it is now, either.

Years later, Maria and Jennifer reconnected.  One year Jennifer decided to come visit us here in Wyoming. We were so impressed with her courage! She really didn't have much of a memory of Maria, yet she came. Anyway, this is now her 3rd trip to Wyoming and we are always so happy to see her.

Maria and Eric has several responsibilities today so Mike and I asked Jennifer if she would like to go to Devil's Tower with us.  Although it meant another 6 hours of travel, she was willing. Off we went! 

Occasionally when driving the route we were to go today, we have seen a few buffalo so I mentioned to Jennifer that she may see some if we were lucky. As it turned out, we were very lucky! We came upon a giant herd, more than I have ever seen, and they were right by the road!

So many! 

And so close! 

We were happy for the fence and stayed near our vehicle but the buffalo (bison, actually) were not much interested in us anyway. Still, we knew to keep our distance.

For those of you who may not know it, those docile looking creatures are not pets and should NEVER be approached for photo ops.  Like I said, we stayed by the road, behind the fence, near our vehicle.

Fine animals to look at, not to pet.

So, from there we moved on to see Devil's Tower. Since it was 3 hours one way, we enjoyed a really nice visit with Jennifer. We really love that girl! 

Tomorrow I will upload some great photos from Devil's Tower!