Missing Buffalo...

We visited Jackson Hole and Yellowstone for the first time in 2012 - taking our small RV on the road to explore some of the National Parks. After Yellowstone we hit Glacier and then circled back down through Oregon to Crater Lake. In 2013 we were back in Jackson Hole for a family reunion - really fun to share the wonderful area with our "kids" and their kids. After the get-together Dave and I continued back through South Dakota to Custer National Park and other stops along the way.

These western adventures provided my first opportunity to view buffalo in the wild…..not in a zoo….but on the plains, or walking through a campground, or moving down the road blocking traffic as they went. Each time I was fascinated - they are huge, impressive animals. They own the road if they feel like crossing - or walking right down the center line. Last summer we watched family groups take turns walking down to a pond for their evening drink - one group waiting patiently for another to finish. The huge bulls, the moms and their calves. Family groups. We watched a bull protect his mate from another big guy, we watched another rolling in the dust….we sat and just watched.

I really can't get enough of them. I imagine what it was like to see/hear hundreds….no thousands…..stampeding across the prairie. Thunder on the hoof. I imagine Native Americans hunting them and then using the meat, the hide, the bones - every part of this animal to support their families.

This year we are sticking closer to home - and it makes me sort of sad to think that I won't see buffalo. I want to go back - west - to open spaces - to see them in their natural habitat. I miss buffalo. Why is that? Why has this animal made such an impression on me? Don't know - but I will miss buffalo this summer.

Maybe next year.