Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Today we travelled from Victor, Idaho into Yellowstone by the west entrance.
The drive took us through high farmlands which Peggy described as Kansas on steroids.
Miles upon miles of potato fields. Go figure.
Yellowstone is timeless. We were immediately reminded of the fire which 21 years ago burned a third of the park. There are solitary sentinels with no leaves, no bark, smooth but charred surface, which are constant reminders of the dangers we humans can pose.
Within a few miles after entering the park we encountered some mule deer.
We spent most of the rest of the afternoon visiting all the geyser sites which are almost magical.
Steam rising hot with a concomitant sulphur smell set in a landscape reminiscent of the moon.
This is how the earth must have been when the dinosaurs roamed.
The crystal, clear, blue of the geyser waters I've seen only once before, deep inside the glaciers of Switzerland. Both waters direct from the source, untainted.
Old Faithful was true to her name, erupting within five minutes of her predestined time.
The force with which the water was hurtled upward was terrific.
It reminds me that we are sitting atop a super volcano whose insides occasionally remind us of the forces that churning underneath the earth.
On the way out we got stuck in traffic to the point where we were not able to go more than 3 mph.
We couldn't determine what was the cause and we were beginning to get a little flustered as it took us an hour and forth five minutes to go 6 miles. It was at that point that we came upon a tiny herd of bison including tow babies, wandering down the road. A ranger in a car ahead of them was making sure they would not get hurt. Nothing to be done, can't harm the animals and can't get out of the car to herd them. So, there they were, not a care in the world, going wherever, perhaps to no place in particular, with no timeline. They didn't care if there was a line of cars two hours behind, they didn't care if people liked them or not. They were just there to be.
Excuse me, nature calls.

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