Grousing in Yellowstone Park

Now that my days are numbered in Yellowstone Park, it's time you meet some of the cast of characters here.

Meet Jacqueline from Washington.  We first met when she commented on my blog.

As you can see, she is a cute 20 something.

What you can't see are the freckles.

Jacqueline works at the barista at the Old Faithful Inn.  She is a vital part of the Inn.  If guests can't get their Starbucks wanna be coffee, they can get quite cranky.

Jacqueline kidnapped me yesterday in her pickup truck with the cracked windshield.  Her goal is to meet as many people as possible in Yellowstone.  She claims that once you are her friend, it is for life.  I think I believe her.

If she hangs out with old broads like me, there will be a time limit on the friendship.

I can try to summarize her life to this point, but since we were gabbing a million miles a minute, and I didn't have a tape recorder, some of this may be slightly if not totally wrong.  Forgive me J if I mess this up.

J's parents, as she describes them, are Christian hippies.  I like that image...a Bible and love beads, maybe?  She was home schooled and had completed some college before she graduated from high school. 

She's been to Papua New Guinea, not sure why, but it was part of a school trip, I believe.

I got this picture off the internet of some of the locals having a party.  J claims that the folks she met there had been cannibals at one time, but not any more.  They had stopped 5 or 6 years ago, she told me with her sweet smile.  I was thinking that she was going to say 5 or 6 generations ago.  This country is not on my bucket list.  Stop me from saying my Colonel Sanders list.  Too late.  Forgive me.

J most currently lived in a tent for six months somewhere in Washington state.  She and her friend had to move every week or so as you can only stay in campgrounds for a limited time.  No wonder she doesn't mind the dorms.  Maybe I should have camped out before I came here.

Her dream job is....hang on friends....to travel to a place where the people do not have a written language so that she can translate the Bible for them.  Bless her heart.  I mean how many young people do you meet who would even consider this?  I wouldn't consider anyplace that didn't have internet, air conditioning and washing machines. 

Like I said earlier, we were gabbing and walking down the Lone Star Geyser trail, when we heard this thumping sound that got louder and faster.  I have discovered that I am not a runner when danger seems near.  My feet froze to the ground.

I was thinking that maybe this is the noise a bear makes charging down a hill going after an afternoon snack.

How would I know?  Give me a break!

It turned out to be this bird on a log.

Whew!

My picture wasn't very good, so I copied this from the internet.

It's a sage grouse.  The noise it makes is its mating ritual.

The little guy thinks this impresses the ladies.

The question is, did he think one of us looked cute?

He's definitely not my type.

So that's the end of the big adventure.  J and I finished our walk and talk and our little scared out of our wits episode.  I think we are friends for life.

Just a reminder, the poo ornament contest ends tonight at midnight.  I will choose the grand poo bah winner tomorrow afternoon (I work early.)   I have some good people in the running, but there's still time to impress me. 

Night for now from Yellowstone Park, the place that never sleeps.