On Saturday June 26th we decided to go to Yellowstone. I handed out the radios, and off we went. First we stopped in Rexburg to round up the rest of the available Clarks (Tess, Ashley & Family). Then we stopped in West Yellowstone where Shanna and I did a little shopping (jewelry at one store (hand painted raven feather earrings on bison bone, amber and turquoise earrings ... and I was out of spending money), everyone else did a lot of shopping. We snuck off quietly and got milkshakes from McDonalds, then gathered the crew and headed into the park. I paid for the park fee for the other two cars and paid for a year long pass for our car. It's a new thing I'm trying, generosity. I need to remind myself that I have plenty of money for the things that are important. Anyway the park was awesome (as always). We saw lots of ...
1. Rockdoves
2. Red winged blackbirds
3. Brewers blackbirds
4. Brown headed cowbirds
5. Crows
6. Ravens
7. Juvenile Golden eagle
8. Bald eagles
9. Osprey
10. White crowned sparrows
11. House sparrows
12. Tree swallows
13. Kestrel
14. Trumpeter swans
15. Sandhill cranes with babies
16. Cinnamon teal
17. Great blue heron
18. Chipping sparrows
19. Mountain bluebirds
20. Rough winged swallows
Elk
Bison
Vole
Ground squirrels
Chipmunks
Coyote - There really is a coyote in the picture below. It is near the tall & smallish trees on the left side. He caused quite the 'bear jam' in traffic.
Thermal features
Water features
Mountains
Trees
Gorgeous scenery
It was a lot of fun. They are a nifty family to travel with. We stopped at the Fountain Paint Pots and the Midway Geyser Basin. At Old Faithful Shanna and I let the others go off and we rested. I was tired (I didn't figure out till months later that I'd been taking my thyroid med wrong all these years). Anyway we sat under the trees at the back of the parking lot and watched the ravens. I started making notes for my crow oracle deck and talked with Shanna about it. On our way out of the park we stopped at the regular Firehole Lake drive spots.
Afterwards we stopped for dinner at our regular diner in West Yellowstone. Gary was tricksy and paid for our dinner which pretty much evened us out, but I didn't care. It was needful for me to act in a generous manner. I have a lot more money available to me when I behave that way. We got home late, but not too late and crawled into bed. I'm sure that Nanette has many more details of this trip in her head than I do. Shanna probably does also. All I know was that it was fun, and lovely and I really enjoyed it. (Most if not all got sunburned as we all forgot sunscreen-Shanna)
For more photos from this trip see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157625368277499/
(Written Dec 2010)
