As I said, Yellowstone is a crazy unique place.
Acres of trees, rolling hills, meadows full of buffalo...then, a sulfur scent would tint the air. We'd see wisps of steam and a sign telling us of an area of interest.
The classic...Old Faithful was indeed impressive
. But it wasn't the most amazing sight at all.
We found two other geysers that were infrequent shooters and watched them erupt, too.
Morning Glory was beautiful, but they now call it Fading Glory because people have tossed junk into the "pond" affecting the intensity of the colors. Emerald (Lake or pond) was multiple shades of green 
blue depending on the sunshine. At first we were disappointed because we took a decent sized trek to get back to it. But the sun came out from behind a cloud and it was breathtaking green...perty close to emerald I'd say.
The colors and spewage is all scientific and chemical and heat and kind of spooky. There were warning signs everywhere about unstable ground. And they had horrific cartoonish pictures of a disobedient, off-path child in a cloud of steam. His horrified mom stood pointing from the safe pathway. And a man walking away, talking on his cell phone was not the father, we hoped. I tried to find the picture but couldn't. So I had to post the next favorite... of goring buffalo.
Needless to say, I was freaked a bit about stepping off the path. I actually saw o
ne little boy get distracted and step off. He jumped back on and his mom freaked a little. The boy said in a shaky voice, "I thought it wasn't too dangerous because a plant was growing there."
Whew! I couldn't help it, I kept trying to glimpse the bottom of his shoes to see if they were melted. I think he was one of the lucky ones.
Yesterday dawned beastly hot. I'm not sure of the exact temperature but I believe it was in the high 80's when I headed out of the house at 7:30 a.m.
We headed toward the farm a little early thinking we'd have a long day.
Turns out it was so hot that the farmer couldn't bear the thought of the body cooking heat during two or three hours of picking at full on suntime. So she did all the picking in the cooler hours.
We got to wash and pack and were done within a mere few hours. Promised to be a humdinger of a day ended up being very pleasant.
Two pounds of heirloom tomatoes came home with us. I believe these are green and yellow zebras. Turnips, cucumbers, dill (the spiky things in the picture are the skeleton of the dill flower that were covered with seeds that were harvested), basil, zucchini and radishes rounded out the box. The Swiss Chard and the lettuces are almost done, the bugs and the heat are making sure of that, but she managed to take some ground and we packed some into each box. And we each got a bag of garlic bulbs. Fun and yum. A nice haul.
And I shared the goat milking pictures from the Living Loess Third Saturday. Here's more pictures. Tucker, the Great Pyrenees puppy was the sweetest little guy. He lives with the goats and will be a great watch dog one day...once he figures out the proper pecking order. I'm sure he answers to the Queen goat. Apparently dogs are domestic goats worst predators hence the need for watch dogs. And wisely, Tucker will know this herd very well before he's big enough to try anything anti-goat. He gets the goat milk that Rosie patiently produces for visiting amateur milkers.
And finally. More goat details. The long eared goat girls are apparently whiny little prissy goats and not great producers...however, they make the best creamy dense fat milk so they get to hang out and participate with the other goats.
And the milking process is pretty much goat organized. Or Queen Goat run. The farmers open a little door in one side of the milking room, the first two goats head in, climb up the little chute, pop their heads into the head chute and chow down while being milked. The Queen sets the order and makes sure it's followed. The goat lady said that the Queen, when not amused, will knock a usurper off her feet with a healthy butt. No one in our group annoyed the queen so I have no pictures of any slapstick goat incidents. Maybe next time!
While in Montana (Chico Springs which is in Pray, Montana which is about 30 miles from the mouth of Yellowstone) we stayed in a sweet lodge two nights and rustic cabins for two nights.
The lodge had enough room for the group of us and a refrigerator and stove. That was really nice since the rest of our five nights' meals came from the cooler and camp stove.
Pictured is the outdoor view of the lodge, the cabin and "the incident."
While we were all unloading and "moving" into the lodge Rob mad
e a comment about a crooked elk head on the wall. Mere minutes later, there was a crash...a mighty crash. A couple of people came running expecting to find a family member with a broken bone.
But. That's not what they found. Rob had "straightened" the elk head only to have it jump off the wall and "l
and" in his arms.
Toad-boy rushed to help his father while I snapped pictures and laughed.
Rob had lots of people stare at the "war" wound that the antler made on his forehead as the Elk jumped into his arms.
Only one woman asked though. A shopkeeper, with a sense of humor, and a fabulous picture of a bison waiting patiently outside her door for the after Christmas sale. Paradise Gallery (I made up the post-Christmas sale...it might have been Black Friday.)
So we told her that Rob had an "encounter" with an elk. (This is not as far fetched as you'd think....there are LOTS of warnings about animal encounters in Yellowstone and lots of people who think rules apply only to others.) We went on to share the actual encounter and had a good laugh. She then mentioned that a family member worked at the resort and that she'd need to pass that story along. Ha. Ha. Good times. (Rob has fully recovered, except for a little pride, but, hey, he hardly ever reads the blog, he'll be fine. : )....
. But it wasn't the most amazing sight at all.
blue depending on the sunshine. At first we were disappointed because we took a decent sized trek to get back to it. But the sun came out from behind a cloud and it was breathtaking green...perty close to emerald I'd say.
ne little boy get distracted and step off. He jumped back on and his mom freaked a little. The boy said in a shaky voice, "I thought it wasn't too dangerous because a plant was growing there."
