Thursday June 23rd, 2011

Took half days off from work and had a great afternoon visit with friends Mike and Lisa Almert from Indianapolis/Roche and their kids Jack and Emma. After an early dinner in the Old Faithful Inn we walked OF geyser basin where we were visited by a few fat yellow bellied marmots and a raven that had just nabbed a bird for its dinner.....it's truly survival of the fittest and quickest out here! After our walk the Almert's departed for their lodging in the Canyon area about 90 minutes away. We really enjoyed visiting with them! (My apologies to Emma for asking our friend the head chef come to our table to give you a hard time about the TWO twice baked potatoes you wolfed down! :) ) Jack, Ann and I both commented that we foresee you working here in a few short years!



Saturday June 25th, 2011

Took a day trip outside the Park to Hebgen Lake about two hours NW in Montana. Hebgen Lake is the epicenter
of a major 7.5 earthquake that occured back in August, 1959. The quake happend near midnight and when the mountainside collapsed and fell into the the Madison River it buried a campground under tons of rubble and boulders killing 29 campers. The resulting displaced air in the mountain's collapse that night also caused a hurricane-force wind that ripped the clothing off many survivors and toppled trees both up and down the canyon for miles. The debris field blocked the Madison River and created Quake Lake just below Hebgen Lake.

On our way home we came across a couple at a roadside pullout with their spotting scope trained on a pure white mountain goat
about 3,000 feet up on a craiggy rock outcropping. It was nearly impossible to see with the naked eye so we're not sure how
they saw it in the first place but with their scope or binoculars you could clearly see it was a goat...almost looked like a
tiny patch of snow nestled in the rocks. Sorry, it was way too far away to contemplate a picture...









Passed several individuals fly fishing along the Firehole and Madison Rivers in Yellowstone. Fishing is fly fishing only and all hooks must be "barbless". Too, whatever you catch must be immediately released back to the water.
This waterfall is on the Firehole River just downstream from one of the two places in the Park where they allow swimming/wading once the weather turns warmer. There are warning signs not to swim/wade past a certain point lest you experience this waterfall first hand and go down in Yellowstone lore!

All for now...our best to everyone.

Jim & Ann

PS: Work still going well and numbers of tourists rising every day. The crowds at Old Faithful Geyser are huge for eruptins every 90 minutes plus or minus 10 minutes...not sure where they all come from but lots of international tourists here helping our economy.