Blue Skies in Yellowstone Park

It was a glorious day in Yellowstone Park!

Did you hear me out there?  It was a glorious day!

Look at those skies over this geyser and don't pin me down on it's name.  There are only about a zillion of them here.

My friend, Ken, came down from Mammoth Hot Springs and brought blue skies with him.

It didn't rain and I got out of the prison dorm for the day.

"I'm walking on sunshine....whooo oooo....I'm walking on sunshine..."  I hope some of you know that song cause if you don't I'm going to have to record my rendition of it and it won't be pretty.

My spirits were in fine form today.  It's amazing what some decent weather can do for a shut-in.

Look!  There are little yellow flowers growing by the hot springs.

I love little flowers.

I'll try to stop using exclamation points for a while.

See.....more of those yellow flowers right beside the bubbling water.

We stopped at the Grand Prismatic.

I've been there a couple of times, but it was particularly colorful today.

My goal is to take the hike up the hill beside this and get a view from the top.

There will be a great deal of panting and puffing, but it should be worth it.

This is a close up of the microbial mat at the Grand Prismatic.

Don't expect me to explain what a microbial mat is or my head will explode.  Not a pretty sight.

But what do you see in the mat?  Could those be bison tracks?

It looks liquidy and gooey, yet there are tracks in it.  Can bison levitate just a bit?

One more picture before we move on.


The next mission of the day was to go back to Old Faithful and pick up my co-worker, Judith, and drop her off in West Yellowstone.

She was picking up a rental car for a few days.

Her news made me even happier.  The computers went down all over Yellowstone.  My front desk friends were checking people in by ESP and paper and pencil.
Here's the happy dance part.  I wasn't working.  It didn't happen on my watch.  It was my lucky day.  One more verse of  "I'm walking on sunshine....whooo oooo..."

The three of us made a bee line for West Yellowstone and a good meal.  We dined on tuna salad sandwiches that were scrumptidelicious.  That may not sound like much to you, but you have no idea how deprived we are for something other than mystery meat and frozen vegetables.

We stopped in to chat with David at Yellowstone Traders. 

This rainbow was right over his store which I take as a sign of good luck for him.

His hot dog stand is opening next week and will be on the left of the parking lot in furious competition with the taco bus.

I plan to return for a hot dog with the works.

Ken and I topped off the day with Huckleberry Hound and Old Faithful ice cream sundaes.

So much for the Yellowstone Park diet.

I will pay for my sins tomorrow by walking at least 3 hours...in the rain if I must.

One more shot of the rainbow on my drive back.

My poor little camera just couldn't capture its beauty.  It was the most vibrant one I have ever seen.

Today was so brilliant (I keep forgetting to use that word) that I could stay here until October.

While I was floating on my little Yellowstone cloud, I started to think about the friends I have made here and the blue skies and the darling bison and West Yellowstone and I started to tear up just a little and....

Then I thought about 5 more months sharing a room with the jack hammer, eating the dining room food, worrying about my poor broken tooth and working 40 hours a week for minimum wage.

Sigh.  Hubby needs me, just a wee bit, and perhaps I need him, just a wee bit.

The adventure isn't over yet, dear friends, so stay tuned for more.