Behind The Scenes: Mule Deer

My mom, Munchkin & I had had a long but fun day at Yellowstone.  We ended up driving the entire outer loop of the park and were exhuasted.  Our hotel was in West Yellowstone and we were on our way out of the park when traffic slowed down.  At Yellowstone, that usually means one of two things: road construction or wildlife.  We had driven this road on the way in and knew it wasn’t road construction so it had to be wildlife.  We had already seen our share of bison and really wanted to see elk or a bear.

We slowed to crawl.  I opened my window and try to spot the animals but could see nothing.  We were coming up to a bridge so I undid my seatbelt, hoisted myself up and leaned out the window.  I has about halfway out the window as we slowly drove by a lady carrying a camera.  I called out to her “What are we looking at?”  She called back" “Mule Deer!  There are three of them.”  I said thank you and in about 2.5 seconds my mom & I agreed not to stop.  After all, we had a sleeping baby and we didn’t want to get her out of her car seat again.  I’m sure Mule Deer are cool, but not cool enough to get her out of the car.

Mom was still driving S-L-O-W-L-Y and I managed to see one and snap the picture of it. I know it’s a horrible picture but my mom was laughing me because I had shouted at some lady.  I love the photo because you can see the deer and you can see my shadow taking the picture.  I also don’t know who that lady is but if it’s you, I’m sorry I took a photo of your bum.  It was just kinda there. 

After I took the picture we were able to speed up for about a mile and then traffic backed up again.  We had about 8 miles left and were surprised that there was another animal sighting.  We waited and waited and waited to get to the animals but none appeared.  We were crawling and had no idea why (I actually could have run faster than we were driving and that’s saying a lot!)  To make matters worse, Munchkin woke up and was screaming.  Not just crying but SCREAMING.  At the top of her lungs.  It took us about 45 minutes to go those last 8 miles.  As we reached the park exit we figured out why traffic was so slow.  We were behind a line painting truck and he moves at a snails pace.  It was torture.  We were so excited to get to our hotel room and crash!

I’m linking up with Crystal Stine for the Behind the Scenes. Wondering what it’s about?  Here is how Crystal describes it: Social media and online relationships can make us feel like everyone else has it all together. We're edited, proof-read, Pinterest-perfect versions of ourselves  (or so some might think!) when - in reality? There is an unfinished pile of laundry around the corner. That cute toddler smiling for the camera just had a massive meltdown seconds ago. That yummy breakfast-for-dinner you just showed us on Instagram? It's because the cat licked the chicken that was supposed to be for dinner.

 

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