Yellowstone Park - I'll Miss You (Sort Of)

The time approaches to say farewell to my dysfunctional home in Yellowstone Park.  But then, aren't all  homes dysfunctional?

What will I miss?

Number One son who works at Grant Village.

Of course, if I wanted to see him, I had to track him down.  All the same, I knew he was just down the road.

Grizzly Son and his girl friend who took me on some great hikes.

I kept up with them, by the way.

My friend, David, at Yellowstone Traders, in West Yellowstone.

He's living the dream, living on the edge, living off the radar...you pick.

My friend, Ken, who took me on some great nature drives, taught me all about ravens and other creatures, and offered a pleasant break from the insanity of the Park.

And of course, there is Yellowstone Park, not to be confused with the companies who run the hotels and stores here.

It stands alone in its beauty.

It belongs to no one.

The Park would be better off without any humans, but I am grateful that I was allowed to spend a couple of months here.

So, good bye Yellowstone. 

I loved walking through your beauty, even though you scared me to death at times.

I may never be back, but I have the memories, the pictures and the stories to last me a lifetime.

For all of my blog friends, I hope you continue to follow my trip home.  There will be some adventures there, I'm sure.  It's never boring with the hubby.

There will be a new blog once Yellowstone Dreaming is packed away.  It's in my blood now.  Gotta keep writing.  Gotta stay in touch with you all. 

Mystic Falls, Moose and Yellowstone Park

It was another one of those perfect Yellowstone Park days.  Cold in the morning.  Comfortable in the afternoon and evening.

I talked Grizzly son into one last hike before hubby gets here tomorrow.

I had been wanting to see Mystic Falls which is only a couple of miles from Old Faithful.

It's a short hike...1.4 miles to the Falls.

Notice the smugness?  It's only a 3 mile round trip.  You would think I was a veteran hiker.

The trail starts out like this.

Not much of a challenge so I know you're not impressed.

Yet.

Hang on.  Here's the Firehole River.

And here's Mystic Falls.

All uphill, by the way.  Not too bad, but I did pant and puff a bit.

Here's a closer look at the top of the Falls.

This was the view behind us.

See....I was really there.

After hiking up to Mystic Falls, we drove farther down the road to the Grand Prismatic Hot Springs.

Our goal was to climb the hill so we could look down on it which is an awesome sight.

This was as high as I was getting.  I've straightened up since the 60's.

At this point, we discovered that mosquito season has started. 

They're big here and numerous and I was afraid our entire blood supply would be drained if we stayed longer. 

On the way back to Old Faithful, we saw a ruckus ahead.  Tourists were pulling off the road, heading into an open field.

We actually saw a MOOSE!  A rare sight around here as most of them are in the Tetons.  Grizzly son went crazy as his goal has been to spot one and photograph it.  He got a picture of it before it disappeared into the woods.  I hate to mention this as he is still in a deep funk, but the picture came out blurry for some reason.

He will recover.  I think.  Hopefully soon.  There will be other moose, son.

He graciously shared a couple of his best pictures.

This picture of a bald eagle was taken on a recent trip to Bozeman. 

I think this is an incredible picture.  Prize worthy even.  Good job son.

This picture of a wolf was taken near West Yellowstone.

According to Grizzly, he was the alpha male protecting the kill.


So tonight I am a happy woman.  I've had a hike.  I saw a moose.  Roommate is off with some people in Cody and I have the room to myself.  I get to go to Bozeman tomorrow to pick up hubby and enjoy civilization for a couple of days.

All is well.

An Author in Yellowstone Park

This is the only big news from Yellowstone Park today.

C.J. Box, who has written a series of mysteries, was at the Old Faithful Inn signing copies of his new book, "Nowhere to Run."

I got a close up personal moment with him.  The other women didn't, so I was quite smug.

I bought his new book which cost me a day's pay, but it's signed which is special.

Check out my cute cowboy at his website, http://cjbox.net.  I firmly, absolutely, totally believe in supporting authors.  Writing is tough work.

I worked the mid shift, 9-6:30 which pretty much guarantees your day is shot.  Tomorrow I work from 7-3 and the day after I work 6:15-2:30.  And then, on Saturday, it's off to Bozeman to pick up hubby at the airport.

I'm so excited that I can barely sit still.  I get to spend a couple of nights in hotels that have hot running water.  I can get a hair cut.  I can go to Walmart. Wait...let me clarify...

Really, truly and sincerely, hubby dearest, I am excited about seeing you, but all that other stuff just pushes me over the edge.  Hot water! 

It will be like Christmas in June or getting out of boot camp or living like a civilized human being again.

I'm all aflutter. 

It was more of this today.

Cold, wet weather.

Nothing happening.








So, how about some more YouTube?

Why doesn't something like that happen when I'm around?

Did the bison just want to get to his favorite scratching, rolling place?

Why are people still standing around after this little spectacle?

It would just make my day if I saw bison gone wild.  From a safe distance of course.

So from Old Faithful, where we are all lost in time and space...good night for now.  Something is bound to happen tomorrow.

Is Yellowstone Park Really the Land of Oz?

I have less than two weeks to work in Yellowstone Park or the Land of Oz.  Why am I making this comparison?


The most striking similarity is...
I am convinced that two of my managers trained under the Wicked Witch of the West.  They have all of her charm and people skills.

Neither one speaks to the front desk staff unless they have something negative to say.  Have I pointed out that we make $7.75 an hour, minus room and board, we stand on our feet 8 hours a day and work shifts that change daily?  Stop rolling your eyes behind my back.  I know I am repeating myself, but I don't have television and there isn't anything else to occupy my time.

Yesterday, I came close to grabbing one of the managers by the ears and slamming her face into the outdated computer monitor.  I believe we can play Pong on it.  With great effort, and I mean dangerously high blood pressure effort, I controlled myself.

You know what relieves stress when the boss pushes buttons you never even knew you had?  Try this game.  http://whackyourboss.com/.  When I played it, there were 17 ways to "whack" or "off" your boss.  Now they are up to 20 ways.  Can't wait to give the other 3 a try.  It isn't pretty, it's dark and gruesome and I love it.  Don't go there unless that last big red button, hidden in the reptilian part of your brain, has been pushed by your Wicked Witch. 

I feel better now.  Thank you.

To balance the universe, let me share some things that I will miss.

My early morning walks around the Old Faithful geyser basin are therapeutic.  Better than an hour on a psychiatrist's couch.

It must work since my managers are still alive and the rangers haven't hauled me off.

The tourists swamp the area later in the day, but in the morning, they're too busy packing or buying over priced lattes to get out on the walkways.  Thank the gods for that favor. 

This morning, every time I turned around, one of these little chipmunk fellows was staring at me.

Don't let the cute fool you.  They have beady eyes.

There were beautiful little yellow flowers next to the brightly colored rocks next to the rushing river...

Uhhhh....there he is again.

What?  I don't have any food!

I sat my Morning Glory Pool and listened to the birds and the geysers.

The geysers sort of sound like waves pounding on the beach. 

A peaceful sound in the morning.

I did not take this path.

If the Wicked Witch works here, her flying monkeys live down there.

But I did take another path that looked perfectly harmless and found this.

Sorry if you are eating breakfast or dinner right now.

I'm all alone on this path, by the way.

I couldn't resist taking a photo before I made a frantic dash down the boardwalk. 

I was singing my bear songs..."Here I am in the woods...no one knows I'm here...I love the friendly bears...they never shed a tear."  I think I was singing this to the tune of "Blue Skies" an old song that anyone younger than me won't know, but the point was to make a lot of noise so that whatever chewed this carcass would decide to run the other way.

Bears are quite sensitive to poor singing.  They run off and stick their head in a geyser if it's too bad.  It's called "suicide by geyser" I believe.  Happens all the time.

He's back.

Stop staring at me with your little beady eyes.

I know you've seen this on YouTube,  but it can't hurt one bit to see it again.



That always makes me feel better.  How about you?

Until tomorrow, I promise to control myself....if I only had some courage or a brain.  Must visit the Great Oz.  He can tell me what to do.

Gossip from Yellowstone Park

I have officially resigned from my minimum wage job.  My last day is the 28th of June which gives hubby and me plenty of time to explore Yellowstone Park together.

I'm trying to squeeze out a tear.  

I think I pulled something, but no tears.

It's time for some gossip.

Yes, I realize this poster is sexist.

Yes, I would pummel someone who said this to me.

I still think it's kind of cute in a retro way.

Here's the big gossip of the day.  Actually, it is a fact.

I have reliable sources but will go to jail before I reveal them.  Unless they threaten me with a Federal offense then I'm singing like a bird.

Remember the girls from my bus tour?

Many Yellowstone Park employees are from Asian countries.  There are agencies that set them up with jobs in the U.S., promising them opportunities to practice their English and a chance to explore our country.  They pay a good chunk of money for the honor of cleaning rooms and working in kitchens.

All of us agree that these young people are an asset to Yellowstone Park.  They are friendly, hard working, and polite.

This season, the company that shall remain nameless, over hired staff.  It seems that last season, they didn't have enough employees, so they went gang busters this year.  We over floweth with help.  A lot of people have only been getting 3 days of work every week.

Employees in housekeeping and the kitchens have been offered an early out if they leave by the end of June.  That means that they can still get their $3 a day bonus for completing their contract.  Obviously, that didn't work.

The solution to this problem?  The Asian employees are being terminated.  They have already paid for their round trip tickets and you know what happens when you try to change them....additional costs.  They also haven't been here long enough to make much money to cover the costs.

There have been tears and disappointments, yet they are too polite to complain.

I debated about posting this, but then...what the hey.  I haven't told any of the managers about my blog.  Didn't seem like a wise move.   I'm not world famous, yet, so there seemed no danger of this showing up on CNN.  I hear the oil spill is taking up most of their time.

I'm just reporting the news from my little town, my hot bed of intrigue, my home away from home.

Working for one of the companies that have contracts in Yellowstone Park is no different than working for any corporation.  The bottom line is profit.

The answer to any concern here is, "But you have the privilege of living in Yellowstone Park for the season.  You should be happy."  I guess it's just the old hippie in me, but that isn't the best answer or even an answer for that matter. 

Well, it is what it is.  The wheels of the corporate world keep spinning just like my head.

But I'm going for every bit of fun I can wring out of this place before I leave.  We are out of the rainy season and nature calls.  Not the bathroom...the nature outside. 

Work at 2:30.  Back to the room by 11:00.  Have I mentioned before that our dorm room smells like a gerbil cage? 

Could be a dead yellow bellied marmot under the bed for all I know. 

Until tomorrow.

Searching for Number One Son in Yellowstone Park

The mission today was to track down the oldest son and see some parts of Yellowstone that I have missed.

Erik son was last seen in the vicinity of Grant Village, which is at the bottom left of Yellowstone Lake.

This son has been known to fall off the radar for months at a time.  But for now, the mama is only 20 miles down the road and she has a car.

I am a mother with a mission.

I stopped at the restaurant where he is assistant dining room manager.  The cute girls at the hostess desk were more than happy to rat him out.  They informed me that he was scheduled to work at 2:00.

With a few hours to kill, I decided to head on down the road to the Lake Hotel.

Now this is a hotel.

It's also the oldest hotel in Yellowstone...built in 1890 I believe.

Can't you see the ladies in their long skirts and the men in their straw hats strolling on the grounds?

And this is the view you get.

At the Old Faithful Inn you get parking lots.

Am I being a traitor?  Heck, yes.

The dining room has windows that look out over Yellowstone Lake.

The Old Faithful Inn dining room looks out over a parking lot. 

Are you starting to see the differences here?

They were having a wedding when I arrived.

Aren't they sweet? 

The Lake Lodge is on the same property.

The lobby is about as lodgey as you can get.

As I drove away, I stopped to take a picture of Yellowstone Lake with the Lake Hotel in the distance.

Another shot of the Lake just because I thought it turned out well.

At last, the mama tracks down her cub.

This is the dining room at Grant Village.

It also has a view of the Lake, not a parking lot.

The hostesses and waiters flocked around me and promised that Erik would be out soon.

It seems he choked on a glass of water at the news I was there.

Here he is looking professional.

It makes a mother proud to see her son working.

I treated myself to a meal at his fine establishment.

It was heaven...a Monte Cristo sandwich followed by ice cream bon bons. 

Yum.

When I got back to Old Faithful, Grizzly son suggested that we go for a hike.  I'm thinking a mile or two.

We hiked to Mallard Lake.

It was 3.5 miles down this trail.  That means 3.5 miles back.  That is 7 miles all together. 

That means my feet hurt, but I feel quite proud of myself.  Until I wake up in the morning.  If I can get up in the morning.

Here I am at Mallard Lake.  I didn't see any mallards, by the way.

And I didn't see any bears, which is an extremely good thing.

Did I mention that it was 3.5 miles uphill?

Ouch, pant, puff, moan and whine. 

I even did some private business in the woods and didn't get my shoes wet.  I would say it was a red letter day. 

Until tomorrow, remember....I forget what I was going to say. 

Yellowstone Poo Winners Announced

And the winner of the bison pooh ornament is ........

Drum roll please...........

Almost everyone.

Yellowstone Park is making me a little more soft in the head than usual.

I couldn't decide, so here's what's going to happen.

Linda, who is a friend of Karen's, who I work with, and none of you care about this, so shut up Judy, actually won first prize.  She had an exhaustive list of why she should win it.

I could sense her desperation over winning the thing, so I couldn't let her down.

Then there was The Vegetable Assassin, check her out at http://vegetableassassin.blogspot.com/.  She scares me a little, so thought I had better send her one just in case she ever leaves Canada and comes to the states with revenge on her mind.  Secretly, I love her blog and her nasty little mind. 

Then there is Jenny, who works with the hubby.  She stood up for me when I was apologizing to him for some bad things I said on my guest blog.  So, she should get one.  But Jenny can wait until I get back to Ohio.  What else is there to do there but wait and drink beer?

And then there is Susan, my high tailing it out of here friend, who left me to return to Georgia and civilization.  Maybe she deserves some poo.  Piles of poo.

I'm never having a contest again, since I can't decide on a winner and I don't want to leave anyone out.  On minimum wage, I can't afford you people.

So, I sent the Assassin an email asking for her address.  Linda and Susan must do the same or the poo ain't going anywhere except back to Ohio for my theme tree this year...Poo Poo on Christmas.

Here's my email address....get typing friends....judy.demick@yahoo.com and the poo will be in the mail.  I love saying things like "the poo will be in the mail."  Sounds like a threat of some kind, doesn't it?

I'm keeping the stinking Old Faithful bookmark for myself.

There may be another post tonight that actually has something to do with Yellowstone... if I leave my room at all.  Don't hold your breath cause you turn a very unattractive color when you do and the eyes bulge out. 

Later.

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.

Yellowstone aka Water World

I'm posting early today for two reasons.  One, I work until 10:45 tonight and just won't feel like talking to any of you, no matter how nice you are, and two, it's RAINING AGAIN! 

Planning a trip to Yellowstone Park?  Don't even think about coming here until July.

Here are the Yellowstone employees making their way to work.

O.K., I didn't take this picture.  I snagged it from the internet.

But it really does look like this.  I'm just not standing out there in the rain waiting for people on bicycles to go by.  Forgive me.

Here's the big news for today. 

I'm about 5 minutes from being famous.  Actually, I'm not going to be famous at all, but I had a brush with it.  Before I left on this adventure, I sent my story to "The Story with Dick Gordon" at NPR.  I love National Public Radio.  I want to write for them, hang out with them, make them all my best friends.

This is Dick Gordon.

Everyone at NPR is handsome/beautiful, intelligent, successful....guess that's why I'm not working there.

I only have 2 out of 3 of the qualifications. 

Anywho....the producer of the show, Christina Smith, called me to see if my story would be of any interest.

I know I won't have a chance if she discovers my fascination with bison poo.

There's no place on NPR for bison poo stories unless it has something to do with saving the environment.

Sorry, got side tracked a little.

But she called and we talked and bonded, at least on my side of the phone, and ......I don't have a chance in Hell of getting on that show.

I checked out their latest stories.  Here's my competition.

A 94 year old woman is running for the U.S. Senate.  When she was 90, she walked across the country to lobby for finance reform.  I walked two hours one day?  Does that count? 

The National Youth Orchestra of Jamaica is for at-risk youth and currently holds rehearsals in the danger zone.  I've walked in the woods where there might be bears and I whistled a little tune.  I could also be considered an at-risk senior citizen.  I could go bonkers anytime.

See what I mean?  I'm a 61 one year old social worker, working the front desk at the Old Faithful Inn who wants to smother her roommate in the night.  Touching, moving, life changing....?  I think not.

I couldn't come up with any epiphany to make the experience more memorable.  I didn't have a vision or hear voices telling me what my true mission in life might be.  I got nada, zilch, crapola. 

I'll let you all know when I get rejected.  At least I have talked to someone from NPR which really doesn't make me feel any better, but let a smile be your umbrella in soggy Yellowstone Park.

Now about that contest I'm having.  Two people.  TWO PEOPLE have responded.  I have no problem dividing the poo and the bookmark between them, but doesn't anyone else want a chance to win these valuable prizes?  Don't even worry about explaining why you want the poo ornament.  Just post a comment saying you want the damn thing. 

Gotta slosh to lunch, so Judy here in Yellowstone Park aka Water World, signing off.

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.