Yellowstone in Fall

In September, Steph and I took a trip to Yellowstone National Park. While I had visited the park a number of times, it was Steph's first time to the park and she had a really good time. Part of our motivation for going was my free pass to the park that was about to expire on National Public Lands Day. As we pulled up to the gate and pulled out the free admission (I was of course stoked - free entry), we were surprised to learn that we didn't need the voucher because everyone was admitted into the park free on National Public Lands Day. So much for my thrifty moment. At least we got in free.


Since we only had one day to spend in the park, we rushed around all over trying to give Steph a great experience. In truth, the park is huge and you could spend at least a week enjoying the scenery and the wonderful peculiarities of a dormant volcanic basin. We managed to get around the park and saw Mammoth Hot Springs, Old Faithful, the Yellowstone Grand Canyon, the mud pots, the Norris Geyser Basin, and some flatulent deer (who knew?)! We were a little disappointed with Mammoth Hot Springs since they were mostly dried up, but really enjoyed the mud pots and the Norris Geyser Basin.


For me, the neatest experience was the Yellowstone Grand Canyon. I had my first experience on the south side of the canyon as we climbed down 328 stairs to stand at the bottom of the canyon right in front of the lower falls. It was magnificent, even though the climb back up was a hike. Steph said that I had way too much energy as I tried to get some good exercise and jog up the stairs. Some lady sitting at the halfway point even accused me of showing off.


Our night ended rushing to see Old Faithful, which we managed to see just before dark. We then took some time to visit the old Yellowstone Lodge, a multi-story hotel/restaurant made entirely of logs. It was a neat experience and a wonderful day.


On the way home, we stopped in West Yellowstone and had a late dinner. We ate at a little hole in the wall, but they had the best barbeque. Even Steph loved it. Anyway, below are some pictures we took of our excursion.

The riverbed under me is green and red due to the mineral deposits and the bacteria that grows in the hot water leaving the geyser.

A flatulant deer.

Steph at a lookout over the majestic view of the Yellowstone Grand Canyon.



Steph: answering the call of nature.

Steph at a boiling pot of mud. The sulfur was something to smell.

Steph at stair 252 or so.

A Flea Circus (Jon's idea)

As my family knows, I'm terrified of bugs, especially spiders. In Dallas, we discovered that I'm also afraid of cockroaches. I want everyone to know (especially my dad) that I ate a meal worm and held a cockroach on my own little hand. I know what you're thinking...surprising. Hard to believe? I knew you'd think that, so I stole a lab camera and got some photographic proof. Voila! Me eating a meal worm (fried). It still had its little legs attached. I'm also holding a 3 inch Madagascar Hissing Cockroach (no, not at the same time).

Oops, I'm crooked, but still holding a fried meal worm. It tasted like a French Fry.






Frying the live meal worms



The nastiest cockroach anyone has ever seen

The hissing freaked me out

Is this supposed to be fun?

I found out today that I havea love/strong dislike relationship with blogging, heavy on the strong dislike. This was my first time blogging, and whoever said beginners have luck obviously never blogged before. I got online to do my homework and of course wound up on the blog. That's when things got ugly. I couldn't figure out how to change the silly background. I couldn't figure out how to change anything for that matter. After 20 mintues of searching through help articles (not to mention pulling hair), the thought occured to me that perhaps the reason I couldn't find the layout tab was that I didn't have admin privileges. Sure enough, when I logged on under Jon's name that layout tab was sitting there as innocent as could be. I never thought it possible for a tab to smirk, but I swear it did.

"Terrible," you're thinking. "How awful! That poor girl being picked on by her insidious blog." Now imagine poor little me trying to post this story when the insidious blog decides it's time for an error. What could I do against the powers of error bX-ihe8cp? Nothing. I crumpled in submission, logged back in, and rewrote my story. Needless to say, I won't be posting on this blog until at least next week. Or until I don't want to do my homework, so probably tomorrow!

Welcome

Steph and I have finally given in and decided to create a blog. I guess we are late implementers. This blog is by membership only and primarily intended to keep our families apprised of our activities as we start out life together. Perhaps in time we might allow a few very close friends to join as well. If anyone has been wondering, we selected the name Numbers and Letters due to my love of accounting and her love of English. Welcome to our blog. We hope you enjoy it.

Note: No animals or endangered species of plants were harmed in the creation of this blog.