Maxwell Game Preserve

This is the one that blocked the road - huge!

Today we got up at 4 am to help Laura take off for her drive to Milwaukee.  Our intent was to go back to bed after she left but of course we were wide awake and not in the mood to go back to bed.  Instead we drove up to Maxwell Game Preserve to check out the elk and buffalo.  We had never been there and I highly encourage anyone living around here to go as it was amazing.  There must have been 200 elk and they were just as interested in us as we were in them.  They would start heading towards the fence when we pulled up and would stand still and stare at me when I was taking the picture.  These pictures are not pictures of the same herds - there were at least four big herds that we saw.

There were even more buffalo.  I never realized just how huge buffalo are until one walked in front of our car and stood there blocking our way staring at us.  It was more than a little unnerving.  I was pleased with most of my pictures, but the one of the observation tower was blurry - I guess it must have swayed in the wind.  :)  We did not climb up the tower as the weather was not ideal - the cold front didn't hit Wichita until later today but we were far enough north that it was quite chilly.    It was 55 degrees when Laura left at 5:30 but when we got to Maxwell at 9 it was 39 and very windy.  We plan to go back on a warmer day - hopefully a Saturday when they run a tram through the fields.  We did not see any of the albino deer this time and hope to see them on the next visit.