I always call chipmunks chippies now from a summer of hearing them being called that up in Northern Michigan. It is almost instinctual but after I saw it I always stop and wonder, did I really just call that chipmunk a chippy? Then I remember, yes, I have spent way to long using Yooper slang.

Anyway, this cute little chippy was in Yellowstone out by the confluence of the Yellowstone River and the Llamar River. He was definitely the smallest chipmunk I have ever seen. You can sort of tell by the proportion of that piece of grass to his entire body. I just love how he is precariously perched in the bush just munching away.

It is interesting that some of the most common wildlife can still be so extraordinary at times. I ask myself how I can appreciate this little guy so much when I have pictures of other more rare wildlife like a red-tailed fox and a black bear that seem so hard to compare to this picture. Still, I find even the most common of wildlife amazes me. It isn’t the animal, or its rarity that appeals to me but rather the idea that it is life in its most raw and savage form. Even these little cute guys, it is nature, it is life, and to capture any level of life within the eye of my camera is an extraordinary experience.

On my road trip from Michigan back to home, my mom and I stopped in many different places like Bend, Oregon, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Bismarck, and many other wonderful, and not so wonderful places. On our stops we saw weird stuff, some of the stuff we saw was awesome wildlife.

Here are some photos of wildlife we found, except the parrot, it was some woman’s pet that she was walking around with in Bend. We had some really great experiences and now I have personally visited at least half of the states in the USA. Cool beans.

The chipmunk was at Newbury National Volcanic Monument, and the llama was one of many at a llama farm we passed driving through Oregon. Yet another thing we passed and turned around to go see. The llama was eyeballing me, I was scared for my life. I named him Oreo, and that shall be his name. Okay, and p.s. that parrot person, is a lady. I swear to it.

Just a few of many cool animals we saw. We also saw, black bears, bison, herons, marmots, lots of deer, and a lot more.