Half-mast

Tim Russert 1950-2008
Those of you familiar with the blog know I was a serious Meet the Press follower. Yesterday was a sorrowful day for fair and balanced reporting everywhere.

Yellowstone (pt3): the last bit

In the late afternoon it slowed down from a heavy flurry to a light freezing rain. We had resigned ourselves to a very wet visit to Yellowstone, and it's a good thing. At the time, my laryngitis was only discernible in my terrible scratchy voice, so we trooped onward through the cold and wet to see all the sights we could in an afternoon.


You've already seen my better shots from the hot springs, those vibrant blues and greens. The cold was making everything a lot more steamy than usual, creating this amazing effect of clouds moving through the mountains right above our heads (!) and steam rising and shifting from the springs and geysers. We spent a very long time on the trails in Norris, at which point I put away my camera for a stretch to enjoy the moment-by-moment experience of being in such a remarkable place.


One bad bit about getting so carried away was that we had thrown on jackets, and scarves were in reach, but underneath I only had a summery teeshirt on! We finally had to abandon the trail as I was totally soaked through so that I could rummage in my luggage for anything made of wool or layerable. It was May 21st or something and I was frozen to the bone!

We made our way to the nearest rest area in the park that had a place to eat as quickly as we could under still-stopping-to-stare-wide-eyed conditions. I managed to get at least 3 dinners somehow on my person before the place closed down for the night (I love to eat anyway, but when I'm sick like that I REALLY love to eat). We had been warned about bringing food in instead of buying it there, but I swear just eating something warm was worth a million dollars.

At this point the sun was setting, the snow was picking up again, and P was beginning to realize that we still had to drive into Idaho and find a hotel for the night after all the excitement of the day. Another hint for you future Yellowstone travelers: if you haven't been convinced by now to spend the second night at the same affordable place you found the first night? At least have reservations planned ahead- you WILL want a good night's sleep. My friends got in touch with me just by chance that hour and cheered me up, really it was amazing how tired we became so quickly. Here I am with my soup (dinner no. 3) in the car:


I'm convinced it's because we were leaving at dusk that we ran into (well, not literally) our first up-close buffalo sighting as we exited the park. Driving along in weary, awed, exhausted silence, we saw a family moving along by the side of the road, a herd crossing the street, and further down near the river there were big buffalo coaxing little buffalo to ford a river. I kid you not.

Buffalo are a tricky beast: you really want to have those cool buffalo pictures from your trip to Yellowstone, but upon taking a couple photographs you realize they quite pale in comparison to being in the presence of the real thing. These animals are majestic. I honestly can't think of a more apt description. P and I were shocked and giddy that they came so close to the car, they have such a presence about them!

Thank you for your patience through three posts about an afternoon in wonderful Yellowstone National Park! Just 2 more posts left in what was our cross-country adventure! Woo!

(currently, in Portland... continued)

Hi there. Well, what can I say? The job search continues, the camera is getting much more use than my pencil (sorry 2B!) and I've almost gotten used to the time difference vs cellphone calling rates enough to start making those phone calls. (Almost.) It is looking hopeful that I'll be able to see the Pacific coast before turning 30 next week. So, you know, things are pretty good around here.

I'm lucky to have just arrived before the onslaught of remarkable weather raging its way through America (and the world for that matter). Friends, readers, fellow crafters... I hope all is well where you are and that you and your loved ones are safe. It is over 100 degrees in places on the East Coast and the Midwest has not been fairing too well, either. My heart goes out to you. Here in our temporary living situation in the Pacific Northwest we are wearing woolens to bed and toasting our toes by the space heater over coffee in the morning. Brrr! Having spent a summer in sweltering New York weather, mostly I feel lucky for this cold. (Mostly.)

I admit I've been slow to blog because photo editing started making me a little cross-eyed by the end of last week. I have a new project, taking pictures of blue things around town, to give myself even more time logged in on Flickr!

I've already extolled the virtues of C's hospitable and generous friends here, it has been really reassuring being among such relaxed and sweet people. Pennsylvania was a study in isolation (having the Etsy shop full-time experience only added to that) so it has been pretty wild being around people again. Last week we were treated to a spontaneous jam session with our hosts here in South West by M and S and a couple of their friends:

And here with our other friends in South East, the side of the river I am hoping to move to, my sister C reading Go Dog Go to R:

In my ramblings around town I've also had reason to ride Portland's tram, and in so doing got some great photos of the downtown Portland area. The first picture shows the river, and bridges going over to South East, the second is the city itself... and those clouds? Yeah, I better get used to those:


Awe, who am I kidding- this place is amazing!

Yellowstone (pt 2): simple beauty

Here spending an evening with our friends after a lovely dinner, watching a little LOTR. I didn't bring my sketchbook with me (drat!) so I thought I would upload the middle Yellowstone photographs. I don't have much to say about these, I'll let them speak for themselves as to the wonder we saw all around us that incredible afternoon.


Sulfur hot springs:


...and a geyser:

...fancy me finding the museum & bookstore on the trail:

...just as the snow stopped I found a different setting on my camera, one particularly perfect for landscape shots:



Oh lovely, lovely, lovely Yellowstone!