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PDyer Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 25 2005 Location: Ohio
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Posted: Oct 12 2007 at 6:09pm | IP Logged
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We're currently in Vermont. We've been making jokes about seeing a moose ever since we saw the Watch Out For Moose sign on the side of the highway on the way up here. We still haven't seen one but I think we heard one while hiking yesterday.
I've never heard a sound like that before. We all stopped in our tracks and listened, and looked at each other and said, "What was that?" We heard the sound twice; it was really loud, and seemed to reverberate in the mountains. The closest sound I could think of was a horn of some kind, but what could be that loud?
Today while we were out I read something that said the moose (mooses? meese?) are trying to (ahem) find each other at this time of year, so it finally occurred to me -- we could have heard a MOOSE!
So I've been on a quest to Find That Sound, and I think I've finally done it.
Page down to female moose call sound file
I'm convinced now...we heard a moose in the wild! Isn't that just the coolest thing? I do have to admit I'm really glad we didn't meet her in person. I think I would have been scared out of my wits!
Now...how to preserve this moment in our nature notebooks 14 hours away...
__________________ Patty
Mom of ds (7/96) and dd (9/01) and two angels (8/95 and 6/08)
Life at Home
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MacBeth Forum All-Star
Probably at the beach...
Joined: Jan 27 2005 Location: New York
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Posted: Oct 12 2007 at 7:16pm | IP Logged
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So cool, Patty!
Last time I was in VT, I saw a bull moose charge a motorcyclist. Two weeks before that, I nearly hit one on the road (seems to be a habit ), but was forewarned by an oncoming car flashing its lights.
Sounds of these animals in the wild remind us of how close we are, even in the city. VT is not too far from the rest of the northeast, but there's a world of difference in the sounds.
__________________ God Bless!
MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
Nature Study
MacBeth's Blog
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PDyer Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 25 2005 Location: Ohio
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Posted: Oct 12 2007 at 7:46pm | IP Logged
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MacBeth wrote:
Last time I was in VT, I saw a bull moose charge a motorcyclist. Two weeks before that, I nearly hit one on the road (seems to be a habit ), but was forewarned by an oncoming car flashing its lights. |
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Eeeek! how scary! My husband hit a deer a year or so ago, and that scared him silly. I can't imagine hitting a moose. Isn't the typical moose several times larger than a deer?
Hiking up here is a whole new world of hiking for us. We've never hiked where there's a log of hikers at the start of a trail, or sleeping lodges at various points along the trail. We've never seen a moldering privy before. We've been in the wild.
Yesterday we looked at past log-ins for fun, and saw a BEWARE OF MOOSE warning from about a month ago. Silly us -- we thought it was a joke. now, I don't think so...
I'll have to post pictures when we get home. We saw a beaver lodge and dams too!
__________________ Patty
Mom of ds (7/96) and dd (9/01) and two angels (8/95 and 6/08)
Life at Home
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MacBeth Forum All-Star
Probably at the beach...
Joined: Jan 27 2005 Location: New York
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Posted: Oct 12 2007 at 8:02pm | IP Logged
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PDyer wrote:
I can't imagine hitting a moose. Isn't the typical moose several times larger than a deer?
Hiking up here is a whole new world of hiking for us. We've never hiked where there's a log of hikers at the start of a trail, or sleeping lodges at various points along the trail. We've never seen a moldering privy before. We've been in the wild.
Yesterday we looked at past log-ins for fun, and saw a BEWARE OF MOOSE warning from about a month ago. Silly us -- we thought it was a joke. now, I don't think so...
I'll have to post pictures when we get home. We saw a beaver lodge and dams too! |
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Patty, this sounds like such fun! I hope you are truly enjoying your wild adventure! These are days that even the youngest will remember forever. I hope you can post the beaver dam photos.
The "beware of moose" sign reminds me of a sign we saw in some town in WY...game crossing. In the middle of the day? Yep. Two mule deer that I fondly named "Wilma" and "Betty" looked both ways and crossed the road in the middle of town.
The moral of the story? If there's a sign, there's a reason!!
Yes, a moose is quite a bit bigger than a deer. An elk (which I did actually hit), btw, is more on the moose side than on the deer side.
__________________ God Bless!
MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
Nature Study
MacBeth's Blog
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Chari Forum Moderator
Joined: Jan 28 2005 Location: California
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Posted: Oct 13 2007 at 12:22am | IP Logged
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That's cool, Patty. What a great time you all are having. I have heard moose (that is singular AND plural, btw ) on videos........love their noises. We saw one this summer hanging out in Yellowstone, chewing and playing like a dog with a piece of trash. I tried to load a photo.......but I STILL cannot figure it out! (I have to go tell Janette that I have tried four times to do it exactly as she said....because I am a moderator, and moderators are supposed to know how to do that
MacBeth,
We arrived seconds before dark into Yellowstone Park this summer on our trip.....only one hour from our campsite .........we were only twenty minutes in when a bison was in front of my car.........came up so suddenly.....I was very grateful to have been able to stop in front of him! Especially in my new car!! See my blog from today........a deer hit my car this week .
I am SO infatuated with Yellowstone after our recent visit(reading my THIRD book written by naturalists, etc from Yellowstone ). We loved it there. I am enjoying your blog, MacBeth because I opened it up today, and there was Yellowstone!
Can't wait to go back!
Ask Willa who had to listen to me go on and on about it tonight on the phone
__________________ Chari...Take Up & Read
Dh Marty 27yrs...3 lovely maidens: Anne 24, Sarah 20 & Maddelyn 17 and 3 chivalrous sons: Matthew 22, Garrett 16 & Malachy 11
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PDyer Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 25 2005 Location: Ohio
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Posted: Oct 13 2007 at 8:04am | IP Logged
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MacBeth wrote:
Yes, a moose is quite a bit bigger than a deer. An elk (which I did actually hit), btw, is more on the moose side than on the deer side. |
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I just re-read your story. Scary! But what a trip you had.
I would love to head out west. My husband likes to attend continuing education conferences so he can get his hours all at once and be sure to get it all done (he's a CPA). His favorite conference presenters offer a conference in Wyoming. I want to drive out and see America. He...doesn't. I mean, he wants to go, but he wants to fly rather than drive. For now that trip is probably far too long for our youngest, so we wait. He said next year's New England conference will be near Acadia National Park. Wouldn't that trip be great! I haven't been to Maine in over 30 years!
__________________ Patty
Mom of ds (7/96) and dd (9/01) and two angels (8/95 and 6/08)
Life at Home
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MacBeth Forum All-Star
Probably at the beach...
Joined: Jan 27 2005 Location: New York
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Posted: Oct 13 2007 at 10:47am | IP Logged
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Chari wrote:
MacBeth,
We arrived seconds before dark into Yellowstone Park this summer on our trip.....only one hour from our campsite .........we were only twenty minutes in when a bison was in front of my car.........came up so suddenly.....I was very grateful to have been able to stop in front of him! Especially in my new car!! See my blog from today........a deer hit my car this week . |
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Hey Chari!
Ahhh! Those beasties are so quick, especially in the dark. And when the animals start hitting back...
Quote:
I am SO infatuated with Yellowstone after our recent visit(reading my THIRD book written by naturalists, etc from Yellowstone ). We loved it there. I am enjoying your blog, MacBeth because I opened it up today, and there was Yellowstone!
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I have only posted a few of the 1000 photos we took out west, but the majority were taken at Yellowstone. We had the best geological road trip ever, and Yellowstone was a big part of it. Plus, we got to see almost every variety of mammal in the park; we never saw wolves, though, except in a game preserve in Idaho. We even saw the grizzly mama with her 4 cubs (from a ridge, looking down at them). I don't blame you for going on about it! Yellowstone is magnificent!
__________________ God Bless!
MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
Nature Study
MacBeth's Blog
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MacBeth Forum All-Star
Probably at the beach...
Joined: Jan 27 2005 Location: New York
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Posted: Oct 13 2007 at 10:51am | IP Logged
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PDyer wrote:
His favorite conference presenters offer a conference in Wyoming. I want to drive out and see America. He...doesn't. I mean, he wants to go, but he wants to fly rather than drive. For now that trip is probably far too long for our youngest, so we wait. He said next year's New England conference will be near Acadia National Park. Wouldn't that trip be great! I haven't been to Maine in over 30 years! |
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You know, the great thing about the US is that you can stay relatively close to home and still enjoy amazing scenery, spectacular wildlife, and vast empty spaces. Acadia is so much closer than the west, yet it is so wild!
I say, stay close while the kids are young, but expand your trips as they get older. As long as they ride well, you can add a bit of distance on...
Would you get to fly to WY with your dh? It's even fun just to drive around there locally and see what's out west!
__________________ God Bless!
MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
Nature Study
MacBeth's Blog
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PDyer Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 25 2005 Location: Ohio
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Posted: Oct 13 2007 at 11:44am | IP Logged
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MacBeth wrote:
Would you get to fly to WY with your dh? It's even fun just to drive around there locally and see what's out west! |
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Do you mean just dh and I? I don't want to leave my kids for that long just yet. If we did the conference thing, we'd all go. I can't bring myself to buy plane tickets right now. Flying is just so expensive when we are able to drive, KWIM? We have a year to ponder the possibilities, though. Who knows what next year will bring...
__________________ Patty
Mom of ds (7/96) and dd (9/01) and two angels (8/95 and 6/08)
Life at Home
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vmalott Forum All-Star
Joined: Sept 15 2006 Location: Ohio
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Posted: Oct 17 2007 at 8:28am | IP Logged
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Ahh...we love both Acadia AND Yellowstone. Our kids are quite seasoned travellers, having started them out quite young on our adventures. The youngest we ever took a child somewhere was at 3 months (with a 2yo older sib) out west (from Ohio). Did the whole Rushmore, Yellowstone (only a surface visit, sadly), Grand Tetons, Great Salt Lake, and had been hoping to see the Grand Canyon thing. Car blew an engine rod south of Salt Lake City...fortunately my brother lives in Salt Lake, so he helped us out. Had to fly back home.
Of course, the kids didn't remember the trip, so we did it again a few years back...this time w/five kids, the youngest being about 9 months old. And this time we did make it to the Grand Canyon! We've done Maine/Acadia twice, once w/3 kids, once w/6...youngest being around age 3. Backpacks are definitely our friends!
AND WOULD YOU BELIEVE, the only moose we saw was from behind, scattering across the road as we crossed from WY into ID??? Even traveling through Maine in deep moose country (Millinocket, Baxter SP), we never saw one! Yeah, we saw tracks and scat, but no moose. Still, we'll keep seaching for the "elusive moose", as our family has dubbed the creatures.
Valerie
__________________ Valerie
Mom to Julia ('94), John ('96), Lizzy ('98), Connor ('01), Drew ('02), Cate ('04), Aidan ('08) and three saints in heaven
Seven Times the Fun
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