Old Faithful Geyser Basin

Bill kindly took this photo of Debby, Brent and I entering the Old Faithful Geyser basin. When we were here three years ago, it was a rainy, overcast day where you could barely differentiate the geyser water from the cloudy sky. Not only that, we only saw one geyser go off, the predictable Old Faithful. This time, we saw five different geysers blow. It was incredible. Blue, blue skies, plenty of geysers, and good friends. What a day.

We waited patiently for 20 minuts or so before Old Faithful finally blew its top. There were plenty of tourists but they didn't detract from this beautiful sight.

Anemone was one of my favorites the last time because it's just so different looking from the others. While Anemone doesn't blow off in a big tower of water, it was interesting to watch it fill with water and then spout off several feet high.

While the above picture of the Grand Geyser doesn't look so impressive while it's passive, take a look below as the Grand blows off steam.

Apparently Beehive (below) is tied to Grand. As the Grand Geyser spout was ending, the ranger said that Beehive would be going off between 5-20 minutes after. We opted not to walk back to Beehive, but to walk across the geyser field and watch it from afar. Beehive is supposed to be one of the most spectacular, spouting 150-200 feet in the air.

After leaving the Old Faithful Geyser Basin, we took a ride on the Firehole River Drive Loop. Luck was with us as we saw this huge geyser go off.

I am always fascinated by the incredible colors of the bacteria mats.

Depression Geyser

Crested Geyser.

Brent at Castle Geyser

Trail Ride in Harriman State Park Idaho

A long time ago my friend Renee talked us into a trail ride when we went to Vail skiing. It was so much fun that we occasionally try to do them in different areas of the country. Since he guys were fishing (yes, again), Debby and I drove ov er to Harriman State Park to do our trail ride.

There were only the two of us, and the wrangler still agreed to take us on a 2-hour trail ride up the ridge. I took a few photos while I was bouncing along on my horse, Simon. I was shocked that the photos came out as good as they did.

Deb looks like she's definitely done this before a time or two.

This was the incredible view from the top of the ridge. I am disappointed that my camera isn't good enough to really show off the Grand Tetons in the horizon. Doesn't matter, the view was absoluely spectacular.

Yes, this proves that I did, in fact, get up on a large animal with a mind of its own!

Our wrangler, Chet, took this great pic of Deb and I.

I am pleased to report that my knees, and my butt, survived this 2-hour ride very admirably!

Yellowstone - Midway Geyser Basin

There is considerable runoff from the geyser field into the Firehole River. What a surreal sight.

We crossed the bridge and hiked along the boardwalk trail into the main part of the geyser field.

This is Excelsion Geyser Crater. This large crater is beautiful but difficult to photograph with all the steam rising.

There are just amazing vistas as you look out across the geyser field. You can see the smoke of the fumeroles in the distance.

I love looking at the different colors and textures of the bacteria mats. Here you can see some bison hoofprints in the mat.

Opal Pool. I love the color of this pool and the beautiful colors of the bacteria mat.

You can see how windy it was from Debby's hair blowing in her face! Check out the Turqoise Pool behind her.

This is the turquoise pool. With the wonderful blue sky, the pool really took on the blue color

The guys decided to do some fishing in the Firehole River. While they did this, Debby and I decided to hike up above the Grand Prismatic Spring and also to hike to Angel Falls. Another kind hiker took this picture of Debby and I overlooking the Grand Prismatic Spring.

Unbelievable picture of the Grand Prismatic Spring. It is so large I didn't even try to take a picture from ground level. I am tickled pink with this picture.

After hiking up for the Prismatic Spring pics, Debby and I continued on the trail to go to Angel Falls. We walked for a little while and saw the sign 1.6 miles to Angel Falls. Well, we walked and we walked and came upon Goose Lake. While the lake was beautiful, it was becoming rapidly apparent that we had hiked too far and were not in "falls" territory.

When we returned to the sign, we realized that we were supposed to turn off the main trail to head to Angel Falls. We were out of time to meet the guys, so we were out of luck this trip. Guess I'll need to come back again!

Kylie Tri's It!

Wildwood Park hosted this very family oriented triathlon the day before Father's Day. It was just a fantastic event for a parent and child. Each heat began at the pavillion up by the wildlife center where participants set off on a 1.5 mile ride. If you're familiar with the park, you know that the back side has some pretty good hills. I was wondering if Kylie would be able to ride the hills without walking the bike. She certainly did, and you can see by he big smile on her face as she rides into the transition at the middle parking area that she's pretty darn proud of herself!

Transition meant shedding the bike helmet and donning the life preserver and grabbing a canoe paddle.

Then it's into the canoe and paddling 1/2 mile to pick up a marker, then paddle back, for a total of 1 mile. Hang onto that paddle Ky!

After the canoe, came the run. Allison knew that Kylie wouldn't make the 1.5 mile run, so she came prepared with the jogging stroller. I thought for a minute that Kylie was going to start out running, but after a long drink of water, she opted for the ride. Here they come, running to the finish.

Kylie and Allison pose at the finish.

Kylie really had a great time doing this event. Apparently Wildwood has been hosting this for several years and it was super. If you chose to do this, expect some delays. Kylie's heat was an hour late leaving because they only had 8 canoes. So, they had to split the heats up even further to make sure that there wee canoes available without people waiting around for one. What a great family event! Congratulations Kylie!

Home-a-Rama

We haven't been to one of these for several years, so on Father's Day Brent and I decided to brave the great divide and take in the 7 homes on display. Besides, it's nice to see how the other half lives!

For some reason, I loved these garage doors. There were some that were even a little more barn like and I thought they looked pretty snazzy. Ours is just one big door which wouldn't suit this style at all, but I still liked it.
I really wanted to check out the bathrooms. For the most part, I was really disappointed. There were 3 that I liked, but most of them had those awful plastic molded tubs. WTH?!! These places are supposed to be spectacular. Well, I liked the different tiles and textures in this one. Of course, it had all sorts of shower heads in it too. Very cool. We have very small bathrooms, but we could incorporate some of these combo-tile ideas.

Oh man, I just love outdoor fireplaces. How freaking cool is this? I wonder what something like this would cost. I want one!

Of course, the kitchen is a big deal for me. There was really only one kitchen that totally wowed me. I liked the idea of having one area that was primarily a clean up area with the double sink and dishwasher. Then on the other side of the island with the prep sink, was the triangle with the fridge, cook top, ovens. On each side of the the cabinetry under the cook top were the pullout spice racks. I NEED these! I have one entire double cabinet that is filled with spices, bottles of vinegars, oils, sauces, etc. Oh yeah, this is a must (along with so many other things).

I'm wondering if there's room for built in book shelves on each side of my fireplace in the living room? Hmmmm. Inquiring minds want to know.

Inappropriate

We had Gwen overnight a few weekends ago. Kera was going riding so she brought Gwen over around 10 on Saturday morning. Gwen and I decided to go to the movies, so we hopped over to Regal just in time for the 11:00 Mr. Popper's Penguins flick. It was cute and Gwen really enjoyed it.

We met Grandpa for lunch at her favorite restaurant, Isaacs. She and Grandpa played a rousing game of boxes where she led Grandpa to believe there was still a free move but, as she whispered in my ear, "shhhh, I just want him to think there's still a free move left!" Teaser.

We came home and worked on her scrapbook. See previous post for those details. We had plans with a bunch of friends for dinner at the What If Cafe in Harrisburg, and it was no problem to bring Gwen along. At one point we made a trip to the ladies room. This bathroom is decorated with ceramic heads, old-time pictures, and even one nude (from the rear) of women.

Gwen: I don't like those heads Grandma, they're kind of scary.
Grandma: Yes the are a little frightening.
Gwen: And that (pointing to the nude)...that is just inappropriate!

Out of the mouths of babes!

Scrapper in the Making

I swear I'm not the one who bought Gwen the scrapbook kit. But, I will admit to being thrilled when Gwen decided that she wanted Grandma's help to work on her book.
I dug out all the pictures I had from 2010 and we started to go through them. I let her pick out any of the photos I had to work with. She decided for the most part that she didn't want 2-page layouts. She selected her photos, decided how to lay them out, then went through the embellishments that came with her kit and the embellishments I have. She layed everything out on the page making sure she liked it before she affixed anything permanently to the page.

I'm cool with her doing whatever she wants. She's only 7 after all. But, I do draw the line at hacking weird shapes out of photos so she can cut out something she doesn't like. Cutting straight lines is one thing, but hacking at them is something else entirely. Her Mom's butt shows in a picture of Gwen, posing as she sits before her piano recital:

Gwen: Grandma, can we just cut Mama's butt out of the picture.

Grandma: No, Gwen, you just can't hack chunks out of the picture.

Gwen: Can we layer (yes, she said layer) the second picture over the first one like you do in your books?

Grandma: Yes, Gwen, we can use one picture to cover up your Mom's butt.

Gwen: I come up with the best ideas don't I Grandma?

Why yes, Gwen you most certainly do. And the idea of us scrapping together was the best idea of all. I truly treasure these moments.