Questionable Parenting, Part 1

Kari, Tiffany & Karen

Near Yellowstone National Park

Summer 1971

After looking at the above picture, what is your first thought? Beautiful scenery? Lovely buffalo? Gee, look at the cowboy? Is that a fancy backdrop, or.... are they as close to that buffalo as it looks? No, that is no backdrop, and yes, we are that close. Crazy you say? Why yes, crazy we were.

You see, as we were traveling along the highway on a peaceful road trip to Yellowstone, Dad spotted a beautiful buffalo very close to the road. There were a few people gathered for this all-American photo op and Dad was not going to miss out. Karen wanted nothing of the clearly dangerous situation and put up a good fight, but Dad can be VERY persuasive. So there we were THAT close to an enormous buffalo and Dad was determined to get the best picture.

What I don't get is why I look so happy and not the least bit scared... am I dimwitted or do I just trust my Father that much. Tiff looks scared and Karen, well that clearly is not her happy face. Now, all probably would have been fine if not for the.... "cowboy". Right about the time this photo was snapped, the buffalo decided to send a clear message to the cowboy that he wasn't in the mood to be bothered, and the chase was on. Not sure what ever happened to the cowboy, but we, obviously, made it out safely. Okay, so I am editing this post... according to Andy in a story that came from Dad, the cowboy actually went over to the buffalo and rested his arm ON the buffalo for his picture taking pleasure... apparently the buffalo turned around and rested his VERY LARGE head on the cowboy's chest in a gesture that probably said, "Get the heck away from me, now" and I believe the cowboy obliged. But I actually don't know since obviously we have a our backs to the whole thing.

It seems I remember a similar experience with a bear... haven't run across that picture yet. I was going to save this one for Father's Day, but since Dad wasn't in it... what fun would that be?

Maybe its time for a road trip....

Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service)