Upper Geyser Basin

The colors, steam, interesting features...it's incredible to see, Ron! Such a lovely presentation, I love every image.

I am particularly smitten lately, of your Yellowstone pictures because they are often mentioned in the geology texts that I've been reading. I yearn to see this place from my new perspective and look forward to looking at Yellowstone from a more learned geological view. What a place.

Yay, I'm so happy you enjoyed my latest presentation! I have some other truly lovely pictures of sporophytes with droplets on them, it's just so hard to stop taking pictures but I don't want to dilute the experience by putting them all up--so I had to choose just one to put up and it can be very hard, can't it, to decide on the one to display! How nice that folks have enjoyed that picture so much--what fun it is to share such an exquisite little thing with the world. :)

The bird's nest fungus was all about you when I chose that as my main inset--I know how much you adore them. Just the other day I was creeping around appreciating the tiny things, and there on the ground next to some moss I saw some little yellow-creamy dots. Peering closer I saw that they were bird's nest fungus which were just developing...they grow like a bulb before the top pops off to reveal the "nest" inside. (you know this, why am I telling you! :D) Anyway, I didn't have my camera with me but I do want to take pictures of this developing show...I was thinking about you the whole time and wished you could be there to see these little marvels. So many incredible things at macro scale. (And by the way, your kudos for my macro photography SO makes my day! Thank you!! *big hugs*)

Oh you finished a book, isn't that SATISFYING?! :) I love that. I've currently got a host of titles in various stages of beginning actually...heh...most are rock and mineral books. I also have the Ingalls "Farmer Boy" and your "Pushcart Wars" that are gathering dust...I'll get back to them! I've been really enjoying my geology-rock-mineral-rockhounding books and online studies. It's a lot to learn and to aid in my understanding and to try to keep my distraction down, I started writing down questions I have. I'm such a curious little monkey that when I read something, I often have questions and am not at all satisfied by a mere "huh, I wonder what that means" and moving on. Anyway, it does slow down my progress through material but in the end I get a much better understanding which means more in the long run! :)

LOL, you don't want to wake the zoo by making coffee...lol, it's too funny and also, I am known to tiptoe quietly around in the morning so Steve can keep sleeping if he hasn't arisen yet. Sometimes it's very nice to just be quietly by oneself, isn't it?

Pardon me but dear god the first one was up at...5:30am? OMG...lolol, so much for a nice, quiet morning! But then again, how dear they are, the wee munchkins, and they do love grandpapa ever so, and isn't that a wonderful thing to be so loved?! :) My dad always had dreams of being that guy...as a narcissist of grand proportions, he apparently had his kid's lives all planned out so that we'd all have our own passel of children who would bury him with their attention and love. As it turned out, only my oldest brother had kids and they grew through their little stage in Germany so they didn't even know my dad til later. Father was great about trying for force issues so I expect he tried to make them fit his ideas when they'd visit the couple of times over the years. I got the impression they were never very keen on my dad, which is all a sad affair in the end. I wished that my dad could have had the dream grandparenthood that he'd planned for so many years but oh well. It was the source of depression for him, unfortunately but on the other hand, it was folly to design the lives of your children in the first place. *sigh* However, in your case, you are getting the exact experience my dad wanted and it's such fun to read your experience! :) My dad would have been so jealous--not envious but jealous!--of your great experiences...aw dad. :(

LOL, more of our grumblings about crowds...heh...awful mooing herds of idiots...HATE THEM with a passion. Your "passing by" areas reminds me of when Steve and I went on a motorcycle ride to see the various waterfalls up around the Rogue Gorge area...what were we THINKING? Seriously...the date: July 3. HELLO? Brainpower? Apparently not. We simply could NOT believe the number of people...after a couple of falls we were DONE. Never again will we be so foolish. Esp with such a popular thing to do...ugh.

Steve and I have totally embraced your travel and itinerary ideas and it's paid off so nicely with much more fun, no stress, and a level of contentment we never had when trying to stick rigidly to a plan. Our next RV trip will be very much more this way. Ideas but nothing in stone.

Ok, I'm off! I hope you have a lovely day playing the part of Grandpapakins Jungle Gym! :D