Carey Family

Archives for July 2012

Grizzlies and Wolves

by Leave a Comment

Since it’s nigh unto impossible to see grizzlies or wolves in the park, (although various Playmill actors have seen both this summer), we took a little trip to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, Montana.  It’s actually an impressive facility where injured animals or animals that can’t survive in the wild are able to live out their lives.  One of the programs there reads like this:

Keeper Kids – Join us for an exciting activity especially designed for kids ages 5-12. In this unique program, kids first learn about grizzly bear eating habits and then accompany the naturalist and animal keeper into the bear habitat to hide food for some of our resident bears. After the food is hidden, kids get to learn how bears use their sense of smell to search out food.

So the kids go in the enclosure, hide the food, then watch the bears digging all over to find their food.  It was fun to watch the bears turning over rocks and logs and fun to watch the kids exclaim when a bear found the food they had hidden.  I should mention that at no time were there grizzlies and children in the enclosure at the same time.  In case you were wondering.

The center has two wolf packs with different Alpha wolves and the walkways are quite close to the enclosures so we got some great close-up views.

this owl kept turning his head around in that funny way owls do

Brian took our picture on the bear couch in the gift shop.  Evidently it’s the thing to do because everyone was getting their picture taken there.

Mammoth Hot Springs

by Leave a Comment

Mammoth Hot Springs is a far drive north from the west entrance to the park at West Yellowstone, Montana.  We drove and drove and got stuck in traffic jams and by the time we got there, we didn’t have much time to see it.  Mammoth has a thriving community of hotels, restaurants, and shops as well as a resident elk herd that beds down in the middle of the intersection, along with its own signs and rangers to watch over it.

The springs were huge, so I guess that’s why their name is Mammoth, and there are boardwalks all over the place.  We walked around a little of it and climbed to the top of one plateau, but there’s a lot to see there.  All the thermal stuff is so interesting in Yellowstone.

Geysers and Falls

by 1 Comment

While we were visiting Yellowstone, we went into the park each day, but had to get Brian back early for his theater call times.  There is more driving from place to place in YNP than we anticipated, so we spent a lot of time traveling each day and then didn’t have much time to see stuff once we got there.  Especially when there were daily traffic jams due to bison near the road.  So we did a “power tour” and tried to see the high points, or what we could get to easily.

Sue & Brian at the Lower Geyser Basin

It was an overcast day but still warm and quite windy when we walked around the basin.  We saw the mud pots and some geysers going off.  Scott and I walked this area on May 1 during our quick jaunt after dropping off Brian and the pots were more liquid and bubbling like crazy.  The sign said they are more active in spring than the rest of the year and it was true.  They were much thicker and more like bubbling mud in July.  Interesting.  Also there were more people.

Scott at the Brink of the Lower Falls

We hiked straight down on the North Rim to the Brink of the Lower Falls.  The trail takes you right to where the water rushes over and it was awesome and powerful!

Brian and Sue at the Brink of the Lower Falls

Scott took a picture of me gazing into the water because I love all things water and moving water is the best!  I suggested we take a US tour of all the famous waterfalls in the country so I could bask in the views, but Scott didn’t take the bait.  (I was organizing photos recently and found that we actually have quite a few photos of me that look similar to this. 😉 )

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
view of the Upper Falls

After all this awesome viewing we had to climb the trail straight back up.  It’s a higher elevation than our mountain home.  Brian was breathing normally, Scott was huffing some, and I had to keep stopping because I thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest.  No, I am not in as good a shape as when Scott and I did all that hiking three years ago.  Pity, because that was a steep trail!

Visiting Playmill Theater

by 1 Comment

The set for “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”

Scott and I spent the first week of July visiting Brian in West Yellowstone, Montana.  The first night that we were there, we saw “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”.  Brian’s dance partner had been in an accident and wasn’t able to perform, so he was cut from several of the dance numbers, but one of the actors graciously swapped with him on the big number so he could dance while we were there.  Brian plays the viola during the restaurant scene and is a big-spending investor at the end, along with a variety of ensemble duties.

Brian with Scott and Sue after “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”
Brian with Paige and Lauren after “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”

For Independence Day, the theater did early shows.  After the 4 pm show, the cast ran to walk in the West Yellowstone parade, then rushed back to change and get ready for the 7 pm show.

Cast Members from “The Drowsy Chaperone” in the West Yellowstone Independence Day parade
Bailee, Brian, and Dave in the West Yellowstone Independence Day parade
The Playmill Theater has a couple of old cars that they drive around town to advertise the shows
Brian, with cast members in their “The Drowsy Chaperone” costumes right after the West Yellowstone Parade
Brian and Lauren posing after the parade

 

Cast members are kept very busy.  Before the shows, they seat patrons and take turns doing a musical pre-show while seating.  During intermission, they stay in character and sell concessions to the audience.  During the intermission for “The Drowsy Chaperone”, Sue snapped pictures of Brian hawking concessions as the Pastry Chef/Gangster.

Brian plays one of the Pastry Chefs/Gangsters and their big number is “Toledo Surprise”.  He and his fellow gangster have a lot of funny bits plus he gets to do some great dance numbers.

The third night, we saw “Annie Get Your Gun”, but, alas, we have no photos.  Brian and Dave did the pre-show: Brian played viola, Dave played the guitar, and they both sang.  The final number was a crowd-pleasing rendition of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” with Brian fiddling up a storm!

Brian and Brooklyn also choreographed the opening variety show number, “Take a Chance on Me”.  In the show, Brian plays Foster Wilson, the hotel owner who discovers Annie; a random singing cowboy; and other characters in the play.  It was a fantastic show with lots of great dance numbers and fun special effects.

We had a great time seeing all the shows and were very impressed with the cast–this is a great group of performers with tons of talent!