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Posts Tagged ‘Travel’

There are so many things I picked up from the class I took at the Yellowstone Association. I’m still working to organize all of my thoughts on it, but I’ve started on a few quick layouts (in random order for now) to include in the Yellowstone 2010 album I’m working on. They’ll be ordered as 4×6 prints and added in somehow.

This first one was a bit blurry, so I altered it until it made me smile.

The mix of people in this class was perfect. Lots of backgrounds, lots chatting and sharing and lots of giggles and laughter.

Used to getting up early, I was out wandering around with the camera. Sorry about the watermark covering the lone bison – it’s the dot in the top of the n.

By the third day…

More to come…

Ah, July is quickly slipping away and I *still* don’t have the mini-album done yet of our last trip to Yellowstone. But let me share where it stands now with no promise of when I’ll get it finished.

THE IDEA:

• The whole idea came to me last year on our trip when I found many panoramic postcards – the same size as those rack cards – 9″x4″ – that you see in lobbies of most any hotel telling you of all the wonderful activities there are to enjoy in that area. This size would also accommodate 4×6 prints and 4″ high by any length up to 9″. AND as a bonus, this is conveniently about the size of a regular envelope.

THE PLAN:

• I scoured the internet looking for a chipboard book this size with little luck – and as I was about to give up, I finally found one on Etsy.  It’s perfect! I also pulled together some other papers and envelopes I had around. I was set – and planned to purchase all the panoramic postcards I could find, journal on them and send them home to myself (the larger postcards take regular $0.44 stamps).

THE FIRST GLITCH:

• Heading to Cody, I had no idea of what to do to get the album looking better. But, I found that The Cody Scrapbooking Company is once again open for business. I got great advice (this is really my first attempt at a paper album) and papers and got the book ready to hold things. (Papers used are: Tan paper – Fleur De Cowboy by Rusty Pickle; Red paper – Red Bandit, part of the Horsin’ Around Collection by Flair Designs).

THE REALITY:

• The reality I found had very few panoramic postcards. Was last year a fluke? Perhaps. But I DID find a wealth of stickers this year. It seems that’s the latest trend over in West Yellowstone – to have a custom sticker for your shop for sale (especially the fishing stores). Once I noticed a few, I found them almost everywhere – even in Yellowstone. OK, so I can shift the idea around. And, since I’m actually going to make numerous trips up to the Greater Yellowstone Area this summer, I can continue to add and shift things.

THE NEXT GLITCH:

• I didn’t do a very good job of tracking what we did each day – we didn’t spend the vacation quite in the same manner as we had others. Normally I think of scrapping vacations chronologically. But two similar articles by Debbie Hodge have stuck with me – I wasn’t quite sure why, but the AHA! came recently that she DID have the answer for me. This was more of a “being there” type trip. I was trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Here’s the first article I found on her site. And the second one I saw as a guest post on Ali Edwards’ site.

So – here I am, ready to carve out a bit of time to get some 4×9 layouts done for this mini-album. I have at least a few photos to share my first steps into the scary paper world (yeah, I know it’s not all THAT scary, but it really pushes me out of my comfort zone – there is no UNDO button!).

Happy Friday!

Today’s photo is one from our vacation – at a little spot that serves berry pancakes and has tables that look out over the Madison River. The morning I took this photo there were two fly fishermen having quite a good bit of success in a calm pool on the other side of the muddy and swollen river. Fun to watch while waiting for our breakfast. Talking with Mike over a cup of coffee while on vacation became a moment I wanted to capture for my scrapbook of this vacation. I love the generic aspect of this shot. A common American moment that could be just about anywhere. While I can ‘see’ the rest of the scene, this shot focuses on the heart of what I love about our vacations – which isn’t the rest of the scene – it’s just being with my best friend, the man I love.

Have a great day!

Happy Friday!

Now that I’m settled back at home and working regularly on processing the photos from the trip, it’s time for another Story Behind the Click.

If you follow this blog regularly, you know I generally hang around the thermal features when I’m in Yellowstone. And I always keep an eye out for interesting scenes of people enjoying the geysers and hot springs. I happened to catch Beehive Geyser in eruption most of the days I was in that area – sometimes from near it, other times, like this, from across the river. Actually, on this day, my husband and I were on our way back to the car because a thunderstorm was moving in.  However, Beehive’s indicator started just as we had reached the Chinese Spring area, so we walked a bit farther and found a seat on the benches and waited. As always, Beehive is a delight.  I have oodles of photos of it in eruption, but I always look for something more.

This time, that something more showed up and had me grinning from ear to ear. A grandfather made an amazing memory for his grandkids. A few minutes of their life I’m sure they’ll never forget. Beehive Geyser’s eruptions can reach heights taller than Old Faithful unless a strong wind chops off the top of the eruption. That water often gets blown across the boardwalk. By the time it reaches the ground, the air has cooled it to the point where you literally can stand in it – and get completely drenched. A poncho or umbrella is a handy thing to have with you.

That grandfather may have known about this – or maybe he just had the umbrella with him since rain was predicted, but what a thrill for those kids to have one of those moments that will get seared into their memories. An everlasting Gift for all of them. Capturing it is a Gift for me – and, if you’re smiling, for you, too.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COMING SOON!

(I’m so excited about this!!! Click on the skipping stone to learn more!)

We slept in this morning – which is always a great way to kick off a vacation. We took the dogs for a walk, made the bed, got coffee going and swept out the motorhome. After feeding the dogs, we took our time savoring the coffee, visiting and watching the birds. A huge splash surprised me right in front of our motorhome. I hadn’t been looking up. An osprey caught a fish, but it was too large. It sat for a good amount of time with its wings stretched out to float and rearrange its grasp a couple of times, but in the end, the fish was too heavy to lift out of the water and he gave up.  This is one of the great things about Yellowstone Holiday – a motorhome makes a mighty comfortable blind.

This is a great birding location and over the winter I pulled together a list of birds I had photographed and entered them into my observations over at eBird.  I brought along my bird and plant reference books this year.  I hadn’t brought all of them along last year and I regretted it.

Bird list for this morning:

• A pair of American Wigeons (the same couple from last year?)
• American Pelicans patrolling the waters back and forth
• Osprey
• Grebes (probably Western Grebes, but they were too far out to tell for certain)
• 3 female Yellow-headed blackbirds who walked through the grass in front of us, searching for breakfast
• Cliff Swallows busily flying back and forth between a patch of mud that must be just the right consistency and the nests they’re building across the road under the eves of some houses.  They also swooped constantly over the water, I assume dining on the mayflies which have hatched.

Time for a second cup of coffee.

At about 8:00 the clouds began to lift and by 8:15, blue sky began to show, inviting us to end our leisurely morning and get ready to head outside for what promises to be a glorious day. Even if it rains later on, any day on vacation is a good day.  Lakeside at Hebgen Lake – even better.

We plan to take it easy today, finishing getting the motorhome in order, visiting with friends we’ve made here, sitting by the lake and just soaking in the fact that we’re on vacation.  The time here will fly by, but were already sliding into the mode where clocks fade away to let the sun and the sky dictate the rhythm of the day. 

Happy Friday, dear readers!  Time for the story behind a few clicks. And since I mentioned I would do a West Thumb Report, here it is:

On May 30, 2010, I visited West Thumb Geyser Basin with my collection of comparison photos taken over the last five years.  I’ve tried notes and working on memory, but I’m a photographer, so photos work.  This type of documentation could work for any place you visit repeatedly.  Documenting changes over the years is a delight.

For the past few weeks I’ve sifted through photo files in my collection and pulled ones to print as photo references. I remember a few more, so there are some hiding in some folder somewhere. Getting them together simply got me itching to get into the Park and see what had changed over the winter at West Thumb Geyser Basin.

I drove through numerous snow showers and pulled in with another not far off. Bundling up and adding the final decoration of camera and lenses, I headed toward the building with the Yellowstone Association Store that sits at the edge of the parking lot (and has a toasty warm wood stove inside). One guy looking like he lost his way to the beach he intended to find (that left turn in Albuquerque, I guess)  stood there in shorts, t-shirt and flip flops with a puzzled look on his face as he studied – not looked at or noticed, but s.t.u.d.i.e.d. the sign posted:

As I passed by, bundled in four layers (turtleneck, fleece vest, sweatshirt and coat) and wearing boots (with wool socks, of course), he stared – unabashedly. Maybe he was just in shock from seeing snow when it was almost June. I didn’t see him on the boardwalks – at least not dressed as he was, so maybe it finally sunk in for him – spring in Yellowstone or in the mountains has a much different meaning than spring in other areas of the country. Showers = snow showers, or maybe sleet or freezing rain. It’s normal. Summer just sort of arrives one day…pretending to have been there all along and hoping nobody noticed her late arrival to the party.  And, of course, due to the sudden and welcome warmth, we always forgive the tardiness. Summer’s not here yet, but I imagine she’s just delayed for another week (or two).

I pulled up the hood of my coat and tucked in my camera to get ready for the brief snow shower that hit when I reached Paint Pots. I smiled, though, as I saw things had indeed changed here. While the main pool remained milky white, a few mud cones were forming this year close to the center (overlook areas). The photos in my last post shows the changes – the one now orange boiled continuously – never shooting up water, but stayed at a steady, rolling boil.

Near it, though, a new feature seems to have broken out. Another boiling pool also appeared closer to the lower overlook. Both boil water up at least a few inches if not a full foot on occasion. Two boys with their parents excitedly noticed these and the colors. I had to agree with them, this was “so cool!”

Next was Surging Spring – The water level had risen enough to now overflow and the color had changed from a brilliant opaque green to a clear blue. Heavy boiling from the center did seem to increase intermittently. And that pool there to the left in the photo, near the boardwalk. Was THAT there last fall? None of the photos I have with me here show the answer to that conclusively.

The water level in Collapsing Pool is back down again, but still clear and blue.

A few steps down the boardwalk later, I had to hold my camera up above my head and aim it at the vent in Percolating Spring to verify we could still even see any water (the photo didn’t come out well, so I’m including the photo below that did). Still a bit there but a far cry from how it looked a few years ago. Change is the only constant here.

Approaching Blue Funnel I realized I’d finally have a different photo of it.  The water is opaque this spring.

Turning to look the other way, I noticed the pool across the boardwalk from Blue Funnel has started to slough off sections of the microbial mat that lined it for years. Related to the change in Blue Funnel? Possibly – or possibly not. Just something to continue to watch. Just because thermal features are neighbors doesn’t automatically mean they interact with each other, but then again they might.

Twin Geyser – Last fall the water level sat high enough to let the water from both vents join. Only the ‘left’ vent boiled. This spring, however, the water level is quite low in both vents – and both are now boiling quite vigorously. Does it indicate anything more might occur? Probably not. But I wouldn’t mind being wrong in saying that!

Abyss was next to show a change and bring a smile to my face – large areas where the microbes lining the sides have sloughed off. In 2005, my photos showed it an amazing deep teal blue color with a touch of satin elegance to it. Then it cooled off  enough for microbes to thrive, turning it an amazing deep green.  Only time will tell if Abyss is tired of wearing that shade of deep green.

There were other changes as well, but these were some of the most interesting ones to me.  I hope you’ve enjoyed joining me on my stroll around West Thumb.

I’m not sure how much time I’ll have to post trip reports like this, but I  know I have journaling and photos all prepped now for this scrapbook page as well as an entry in my ongoing photo nature journal record of Yellowstone.  Grab a photo – one from a trip or from childhood or one you took today and jot down a few words about the story behind that click.  Take others into that world.  Give yourself the gift of heading back to visit a place in time when someone clicked the camera.

Short answer: maybe, but then again – maybe not. Right now, they don’t look much like mud.

Over the years the Paint Pots have shifted from tossing up delicate shades of mud to becoming a milky white pond ringed with grass.  It really has become beautiful in a different way.

After my post last Friday about West Thumb, I started to pull together some comparison photos. Even in one summer season, changes occur. The top photo was taken from the lower overlook, so you’ll have to reverse that one in your mind (obviously I walked a different route through the boardwalks that time). I still need to search through my photos to verify, but I don’t recall ever seeing that one pool green.  But this just shows – while not active with lots of geysers, West Thumb invites you to enjoy a quieter beauty and subtle changes.  It’s only about 30 minutes from Old Faithful – and well worth it especially at sunrise and sunset.

Time to visit a photo of one of my favorite spots in Yellowstone: West Thumb Geyser Basin. On a beautiful day – warm sunshine wrapping itself around you, a slight breeze coming in off of the lake, visitors to the Park walking through and moving on, the sound of water bubbling and boiling along with waves from the lake lapping the shore – it’s just a delight. And the colors – I just can’t soak in enough of the colors. Here you see bright blue Black Pool – seemingly a misnomer, but the temperature rose enough to kill off the dark microbes. And the deep green of Abyss and Milky White Mud Pots (who aren’t really mud pots lately) to an intense green of Surging Spring – and then there’s Twin Geyser.

This is a photo of Twin taken last August – just a few years ago it was nothing but a couple of steaming holes in the ground. Not much to look at. That was when many were saying that West Thumb is dying. But it’s not – it just changes like any other thermal area with energy shifting from one area to another to another and then back again. Twin came back and brought with it a gorgeous mix of colors.

I still would love to watch it erupt – I may have seen it as a kid, but I don’t really recall. I just have one of those vague memories of Grandmother talking about it when we were there – or maybe I made that one up. It’s not solid enough of a memory for me to know for sure. It came out of a 19-20 year dormancy in 1971 and was incredibly active in 1973 before falling basically silent again (a couple of minor erutpions happened in 1999).

When active, you watch the vent that’s not boiling in this photo. If you see it start to boil, find a spot to wait. First one side shoots up as far as 50 feet, when the other ‘twin’ joins in and takes over – some eruptions reach up to 200 feet. But for now, it pretty much does what you see it doing here in this photo – looking lovely. I can hardly wait to be back there again, standing on the boardwalk in this spot to see what changes might have occurred over the winter.

Happy Friday!

I may not get to this every Friday, but today I want to start telling a bit more of the story behind the photos.  My inspiration comes from watching videos at LensFlare35.  I listened to Brenda Tharp’s a couple of times – having taken a class from her at Better Photo a couple of years ago, I watched the video immediately, and then had to watch it again.  It’s really another way to document life with words and photos – which, of course, I love.  Hearing her tell the story behind the photo helps me to better see her vision behind the click.

As I’ve worked on the organization of my files rather heavily this week, the videos sat in the back of my mind prompting me to better define what captured me enough to make or simply take the image.  And in helping me to better define my vision, writing out the stories like this should help.

Last August I headed to Yellowstone for three days.  West Thumb holds a special place in my heart and I stopped there a few times on this trip.  Between Fishing Cone (just the rim is sticking out of the water over there on the right) and Big Cone (far out of view to the left) I noticed these boards.  Maybe a dozen or more of them.  I honestly don’t recall seeing them before and checking other photos taken, I’m still not sure if I just missed them.  If I hadn’t had the time on this trip to make it to West Thumb for sunrise and sunset shots, I wouldn’t have worried about trying to get something more stunning.   However, I did have time, so arriving back at West Thumb a little before sunset  and using a polarizing filter to cut through the glare on the surface of the water, I took a few shots.  I have one where Fishing Cone is the focus, but this one intrigues me more simply because of the unanswered question: What are they from?  The old dock?  Were they dislodged from a resting place by the underwater thermal activity?  I’m not sure if anyone has an answer, but I’ll start digging and see if anyone knows.

While processing the image, I worked to bring it to what I remembered the scene to be.  While the sunset wasn’t one to stun you, there were a few moments where the spectrum of soft colors nearly took my breath away.  I was pleased to take the ordinary shot in extraordinary light and having just the rim of Fishing Cone exposed was icing on the cake for me.    I hope you enjoy it, too.

Continuing the trip report: We first spotted a couple of fires burning in Grand Teton National Park – smaller, but we arrived at about the time of day when fires, if they’re going to explode, do so.  We started noticing smoke farther away and kept speculating on just where it was located.  Being a cartographer, my husband has a fabulous sense of location – much better than I ever have had.  He guessed Yellowstone Lake and was correct.  We drove in the smoke for awhile and both of us tensed – our shoulders rising a bit as the scent reached memories in our  minds from the Hayman Fire near here in 2002.  Amazing how scent attaches to memories.

At West Thumb we turned toward Old Faithful and climbing up by Duck Pond we could see the flames torching in the tops of the trees.  Maybe our plans to return via Cody and a quick visit with my folks wouldn’t work – we’d have to watch to see if we would be able to get through or if it would close the road.

By the time we got to Hebgen Lake and settled into our cabin at Yellowstone Holiday, the smoke plume had grown even more and the wind pushed it to the south.  The sunset light bathed it in Pink.