Grand Tetons National Park

8/3/16

Dear NS,

How is your week off going? Have you done anything interesting? I hope that things are going well for you.

I've been in National Park area the last couple of days. First, I visited Yellowstone National Park. Yesterday, I finished up seeing the sights in Yellowstone. I saw more bison, pronghorn antelope, and even a bald eagle.

After finishing up with Yellowstone, I traveled through Grand Tetons National Park. The park is famous for three large mountains that you can see from pretty much anywhere in the park. In Grand Tetons, the main activities are looking at lakes, looking at mountains, and looking at wildlife.

One of the sights to see is a Mormon village from the 1800s. These Mormons lived together in this farming community on land that now belongs to Grand Tetons.

 The amount of wildlife I saw yesterday in this park was incredible! I saw a herd of bison in the afternoon. I had already seen bison in Yellowstone, so I didn't spend much time watching these. What I really wanted to see was a moose. I had asked a park ranger where to go, and he told about two different spots. He also advised that I go near sunset since that is when the animals will be more active.

Last night, I tried the first spot. There were animals there, but these animals were elk. Elk are one of my favorite animals; however, I really wanted to see a moose.

After driving around for awhile in the are of the first spot, I tried the second spot. A park visitor pointed me in the direction of a moose eating near a river just a short distance from the forest. Following in the direction the visitor pointed, I was easily able to find the moose. I took a bunch of photos and watched him until it was almost too dark to see.

At that point, I decided to take a walk around the area. As I walked further upstream the river, I made out two beavers on the opposite river bank. If I looked carefully in the fading light, I could see two beaver dams, a beaver den, and at least two beavers swimming. I even heard a beaver chomping on sticks.

I look forward to hearing about your week.

Your teacher,

Elaina

P.S. I also saw a grizzly bear eating a bison carcass in Yellowstone!

Animals in Yellowstone

8/1/16

Dear I-

How are you? I hope you are having a good week.

I am so excited to tell you about all of the animals I saw today! First, I saw two baby mule deer drinking milk from their mother. I was surprised to see deer in the middle of the day. I should also mention that the deer weren't in a forest. Instead, they were next to travertine hot springs (hot springs where the minerals in the water made cool formations).

Next, I saw buffalo! When driving in the park, you can just look out your window and see herds of them. A park ranger told me that there are about 3,000 of them in the park. Many people pull off of the road and park in order to see these animals better. That's what I did. I watched a herd of buffalo migrate from one side of the road to the other. It is so funny to watch what happens when a buffalo walks into the middle of the road. The cars have to stop, and the buffalo kind of just hang out, annoying the drivers. A car can sit there waiting for a long time before the buffalo decides to move.

At night on the way out of the park to the only available campground, I saw a pronghorn antelope and a fox! I went to a spot that often has wolves, but I didn't see any. I wonder what kind of animals I will see tomorrow.

I hope your week is going well, and I look forward to hearing about what you are doing.

Your teacher

Elaina

Mammoth Hot Springs

8/1/16

Dear A-,

How are you? I hope that camp has been fun this week.

Right now, I am in Yellowstone National Park. The park is beautiful! Have you been to Yellowstone before? Today, I saw so many beautiful sights. One of the main sights I visited was called Mammoth Hot Springs. In this area, water from hot springs that is full of minerals trickles down over terraces. If you can, look for "Mammoth Hot Springs terraces" on the computer to find pictures to get a better idea of what this spot looks like.

Basically, when the water trickles down, the minerals inside the water attach themselves to the terraces. More minerals are being attached all the time which means that the terraces look a little bit different every day. If you go back to see the terraces in one year, they will look totally different! I'm really excited to be in this park, and I'm having a great time.

I look forward to hearing about all the things you have been doing.

Your teacher

Ms Elaina