We encounter a Moosie on our first day in Yellowstone!
My daughter, Sarah, has a stuffed
moose which is about 2 feet tall. She got it for Christmas three years
ago and named it Moosie. At that time, my wife worked at Macy's which features
a new stuffed animal every year as part of their Christmas promotion. One
day when Sarah and I went to visit my wife at work Sarah saw the stuffed
mooses (or it that moosies?) all over the place. Of course, she fell in
love with them (they are REALLY cute - with antlers and a nice scarf) and
wanted one badly. Guess what showed up under the tree that Christmas? MOOSIE!
Over they years, I have had to sew Moosie up several times. Strangely,
the antlers (which are almost 18 inches across) only needed mending once.
Usually it was the armpits that developed a hole. (Maybe Moosie has pit
rot from never having taken a bath?) She checked out book from the library
that featured a moose in Yellowstone and read it many times. So, of course,
when we went on vacation to Yellowstone, Moosie had to tag along to see
his real brethren. As we are driving up to the entrance to Yellowstone
on the first day, Sarah and I kept saying "Where are the Moosies?" In fact
we said it so much that my wife got testy. She started saying discouraging
things like "You won't always see animals because they are afraid of people
and stay hidden." Well, we drove up through the Tetons to the South Entrance
to Yellowstone. We were about halfway from there to Old
Faithful when we came around a bend in the road and encountered a bunch
of cars stopped and pulled over to the side of the road. There in the woods
along a creek was a female (cow) moose. MOOSIE!
On
the other side of the stream was a bull moose with a great rack! We stopped
and got out of the car. I was able to walk right up to the cow. She seemed
unconcerned and continued to graze. I took this picture from about ten
feet away. Out of consideration for her, I didn't get any closer than that.
Sarah was ecstatic!
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Last Updated 4 July 2004 by Art O'Connor
