7-21 9 o'clock

One of my wishes since I first saw Old Faithful, was to see her erupt at night. Well, almost 20 years after that time, I saw it. At about 9 o'clock, I dragged my family to the geyser basin after dinner. On the way, we almost hit a deer that decided to cross the road in front of us in our rented truck. Thankfully, God was watching us. I saw the deer out of the corner of my eye in the trees and was off of the accelerator and already slowing down when the animal decided to cross the road. After that we arrived and were with only about 15-20 others that wanted to see the same thing. Only about 20 minutes later, Old Faithful erupted. What a backdrop. The blue sky with the sun already set. The water and steam exploding into the sky with power. God was an artist. I can't imagine what it was like to see that great event early on in the discovery of the western United States. Those explorers will forever have my awe.

7-19 Animal

Yellowstone National Park is known for its bison herds. We happened across a bison. He was separated from his herd. We first encountered him on a trail, we were going down and he was going up. We gave him wide berth and advised others around us and we waited. Others at the bottom of the trail must have crowded this fellow because he turned around and moved quickly towards them. We waited a few minutes and one of the crowd we were with moved down the trail to check out the situation. He waved us forward and this guy was behind the railing of the boardwalk. He posed for a little bit and then laid down. Ashton took this great picture. Never been that close to one of those animals...It is breathtaking.

7-15 Finger

I usually make fun of Melissa for getting her finger into photographs, this time I cannot blame her. That is my finger in the picture of the Upper Falls of Yellowstone. I guess that I was kind of worried that I would drop the camera because I don't have a wrist strap and I was leaning over the rail to take the picture. I messed up the picture.

7-11 Letter

This notice is all over Yellowstone. It is a shame that people need to be warned about this, but since humans cannot control themselves, pools, springs and geysers have been damaged by garbage. I love Yellowstone and all of the state and national parks that I have visited. I have respect for nature, not necessarily a tree hugger, but I respect it. I love that my boys were always looking to protect the park and would report to the rangers any problems they would see and pick up trash to throw away. RESPECT.