In response, I asked them to write my next blog entry, shockingly, they did not jump at the chance to exercise their grammar and narrative skills, instead they simply provided me with story ideas (I say ideas, but really I mean complete nonsense, incomplete thoughts, and other things that would make no sense for the reader). What follows is my interpretation of what they shared with me about their day and what they felt I ought to be including for our readers to enjoy. I’ve done my very best to provide some context but my dear reader, keep in mind, I’m with 11 teenagers.
Mr. Hurley truly was the star of the day. He not only “destroyed” Carter Cooper in a snowball fight (please see video evidence to back up this outrageous claim) he also taught us about a new vegetable, the varsatona. So, the next time you are playing the alphabet game in the car with the category of vegetables, and you have to come up with a V vegetable, now you know, varsatona. It might be a root vegetable or perhaps a leafy green, but Mr. Hurley was lacking in specific detail, so we are still not sure.
Mr. Hurley also made quite an impression on Richie, apparently, they bonded over flossing. Through Mr. Hurley’s coaching, Richie has not only learned why one should floss, but also the proper technique. In return for this secret knowledge that many seek but few find, Richie destroyed Mr. Hurley in aforementioned snowball fight (there is no video evidence of this, so we have only his word, Mr. Hurley vehemently denies the claim).
Wolf watching day is an early start day, so we had to be up by 5am. Unfortunately, someone does not know how to set an alarm correctly, and that same individual (who shall not be named in order to ensure their safety now that they’ve entered the Witness Protection Plan but for this story I’ll refer to them as Miss Knoll) woke us all up at 4am. This had the unintended consequence of depriving Ellie of so much needed rest, that she was incapable of speaking in anything but an Australian accent for the rest of the day. When questioned about this magical occurrence, she responded, “I’m giving the people what the people wanted.” Actually what we wanted was to sleep an hour later, but Ellie talking all day in an Aussie accent is almost as good.
If you recall from a previous posting, we met with Rick McIntyre, the wolf expert. Carter quipped, “Rick was sick.” For my readers over 40, let me help you, Rick does not have tuberculosis or a fatal disease. He was awesome and interesting and cool and quirky. Otherwise known as sick. He also hinted I might make a good cougar (I’m really hoping that was a Yellowstone reference since the big cats are known to inhabit the northern territories of the park) and that if they make a movie about the wolves of Yellowstone, that my part could be played by Sandra Bullock. Yes, I’m afraid I must agree with Carter, Rick is sick.
On our way to the most important part of the day, we chased a coyote down the road and had the delight of watching him “do the thing.” You know, that thing coyotes and foxes do in the snow to get prey. Just picture it in your mind, you know what it is. It’s the thing. And it’s awesome. We got to see it from 20 feet away. Yep. In case you don't know what the thing is...