And now...the Wolves!

They have two small wolf packs at the discovery center.  One has four wolves and the other has three.  They have separate habitats and all were being very lazy when we got there.  But the sun was out and I can understand them wanting to soak up some rays of sunshine!

 

The kids trying out a wolf den.

Grizzly and Wolf Wildlife Discovery Center -The Bears

Today Richard and I took the littles to the Grizzly and Wolf Wildlife Discovery Center.  I have heard wonderful things about it so we were excited to go check it out, even though the high today was only supposed to get to 29 degrees.  We waited until about noon hoping it would be warmer.  We saw amazing things.  They have nine bears that they rotate out into the viewing area often.  All of the bears are ones who were either injured, or who got a taste for human food and had to be taken in to protect the population of people in the areas they were from.

Momma bear and her cubs!

Imagine having this couch in your play room!

The first two bears we saw were Sam and Illi.  Brother and Sister from Alaska.

They have a wonderful activity for the kids called Keeper Kids.  After a 30 minute learning session, they clear the bears out of the play area and the kids get to go in and help hide food for the bears to find. This keeps the bears active and engaged.  So we signed up Annalina and Joseph and they ended up being the only kids that day.  In the summer they have groups of 30, so it was nice that our kids got so much one on one attention!  So they got to learn about bears, then the animal keepers rang a bell and the bears left through three solid steel doors and into their individual "homes".  Once it was verified that ALL 9 bears were in their own rooms and that the habitat was completely empty(they take safety very seriously), the keepers took the kids in with buckets of food.  They hid piles under rocks and inside wood piles.  When they were done, they came back out and four new bears were released.  Two adults(Spirit and Coram) and two cubs(Roosevelt and Grant). They went running for the hidden food and it was fun for the kids to watch them find the treats they had so carefully hidden for them!  Our tickets are good for two days, so we are planning to go back tomorrow to do it again and to see the wolf pack feeding.

Under the rock.  We cheered for the bear that found this stash!

One of the cubs.  Their mother was killed before they learned how to survive in the wild.

 

Ghost Towns....Oooooohhhh!

We knew that most everything would be closed in the ghost town of Virginia City, but we thought it would made for some great photo ops and since it was just an hour and  a half away we decided to make the journey.  Besides that, one of the few other people staying here at Worldmark said she had made the trip a couple times already for fishing and that there were lots of animals along the way!

We stopped and got out in Virginia City.  The only place open, besides the Saloon, was the Ice Cream Parlor. We got ice creams(which we ate inside) then wandered about a bit.  It was cold and windy and it was a little hard to tell what was part of the ghost town and what belonged to the people who live there year round.  We took some fun photos and then drove around in the warm van for a bit.  It was fun to peek in windows and I can see where this would be a great place to explore in the summertime!  Maybe we will get a chance to come back!

We drove up to the grave yard that overlooks the town and it was a beautiful view.  We read interesting stories about the road agents and how they were all hung.  Another interesting fact is that the hillside is covered with graves, but there are only markers for a half dozen or so.

We were not terribly impressed with Virginia City due to the freezing wind and the lack of shelter from it, so we thought we would drive a few more miles to see Nevada City.   It is a ghost town that the state has kept up and continues to collect old buildings for their historical value.  It was really neat and I would highly recommend it to anyone!  We walked around a bit and got some more fun photos here as well. Then the cold once again drove us back into the van!  It was all well worth the drive!

 

 

 

 

In Search of Wildlife

Today we made the drive to Virginia City, a well known ghost town here in Montana.  Along the way we saw....