Kate had a problem with spotting scope envy. John had a problem with lens envy, so he had to buy a bigger camera lens. He compromised and got a mid-level long lens instead of the $12,999 600mm f/4 prime lens or the $19,999 1200mm f/8 prime lens from Canon. He looked at getting a third party 150mm-600mm lens from Tamron or Sigma, but the professional photographer reviews claimed it was soft and out of focus at the 600mm end. He already has a 1.4x extender for the 400mm lens that has soft focus, so he did not need another long lens with soft focus.

Today, we planned to test Kate’s spotting scope “in the wild”, and pick up a camera parts delivery in West Yellowstone. West Yellowstone is 1.5 hours away, but there was no sales tax in Montana. This saved enough money to pay for gas and then some.

We went to look at the heron nest to test Kate’s spotting scope. The first challenge for Kate was to figure out how to attach her scope to the tripod and adjust the tripod. The lens can zoom between 25x to 75x. Kate started out with 25x and worked her way up. What Kate loved was how easy it was to focus (tons easier than binoculars) and move around to see the area (using the tripod). The scope came with a phone camera attachment. The attachment doesn’t fit well on the phone with the protective case on it. Once Kate removed the outer case, the phone fit. The below pictures and videos were taken with the camera attached to the scope. Tomorrow, Kate will take pictures with the scope setup and Kate using the scope.

While we were there, a Stellar’s Jay showed up in the picnic area. John started taking pictured, and a Brown Black Bear showed up. Some people said it had a cub, but we never saw it. A bear jam started immediately. Kate warned the picnic party that bears can smell their food. Not surprisingly, they had no bear spray, but they did pack away the food. John ignored all of this to photograph the Stellar’s Jay. The jay was not very cooperative. He kept moving from light to shadow and back. Their fronts are a paler blue, but their backs are a brilliant royal blue.

Next we went to West Yellowstone to pick up the delivery, … and eat at McDonald’s. The french fries in the park diner are terrible. They are stale, cold, and/or undercooked Ore-ida frozen crinkle fries. They compensate for the poor cooking by only giving you half a serving. It took all day, but the mission was completed without incident.

Okay, we did run into a bear on the drive home. Not literally. A small traffic jam started up, and when we got to the front, a bear was literally standing on the shoulder trying to decide whether to cross. Kate wanted to know if she should wait or go. John said go or we might get stuck here for an hour due to a bear sleeping in the road. Other than that, it was just the normal slow drivers.

In the evening, we took Kate’s scope out to Fishing bridge to look for animals. Unfortunately, we only saw a sleeping ducks and did not see fish, blue herons or other interesting animals. The good news is no bears.