A Month Later in Yellowstone

I've been pretty slack on the blog posting and I apologize for that (especially since this blog's really intended to keep family in the loop...) Life gets busy here as it does anywhere else, I could argue busier, but don't want to get scowls from my hardworking, family raising friends. Anyways, you can thank the crazy end of May blizzard outside for this update.
So, what's happened in a month. I'll just give you some highlights.
We've done a lot of hiking, but we finally claimed one as our favorite. We LOVE climbing Bunsen Peak/ Osprey Falls. It's so gorgeous. It's basically a 3.5 mile climb uphill and then a 1.5 steep switchback trail down to the foot of Osprey (basically right under it!) and then a hefty climb back up the mountain and then a nice easy 3.5 stroll back down to the van. The pivotal point of the hike is the waterfall though, without that it may just be miserable and we probably wouldn't have done it more than once.
Did I mention we've done a lot of hiking?
Oh yeah, we hit a deer in our van. it was a really sad night for all involved. Our first accident, we can check that off the list (that means it doesn't have to ever happen again, right?)
One of Sean's best friends Jesse has been here for the past week, so we've been showing him around. I took him on the Osprey Falls hike the day Sean was working, because who wouldn't want to see it?! So that's how he was formally introduced to the place =). And then we've done various other things, including: saw the Grand Prismatic, Old Faithful, drove through the park looking for bears, soaked in the hot springs north of town,  enjoyed a campfire, ate out probably too much,. Sean and he also went on a backpacking trip and I'm not sure if they have fully recovered yet. Poor boys, but I'm still jealous that I had to work while they were out. I hope he had a fun trip, he's leaving tomorrow morning back to home sweet home.
That sort of brings us to today. Snowy, snowy today. We're expecting 2 feet this weekend. Can somebody please remind me, is it the end of May or did I skip all the way to December?

I hope all has been well with you this month!
Peace and Love and enjoy the pictures =)

Hiking near Osprey Falls

This is the Grand Prismatic, you can see it's colors in the steam above it.
(Not as good as an aerial view, but still pretty awesome)

My favorite part of a hot spring, how the grass grows
right next to/out of it. Inspiring, huh?

Sean and Jesse. They didn't want me to take it, but oh well.

Hot Springs, Hiking, Geysers and Even More Hot Springs

This weekend was awesome because we finally had time to get in and explore the park!

Friday after work we went down to Mammoth (which is about 5 miles south of us and the park entrance) and roamed around the hot springs there and just mellowed out after a long day. I love the hot springs. My favorite parts are the blood red-orange streams and the way grass and trees just sprout up right along the edges of these extremely hot volcanic things. 

Part of Mammoth Hot Spring

 Thermophiles are the organisms that line the hot spring and make it such a beautiful color

Saturday started with a drive to Canyon that was disappointingly cut short due to road closings and our forgetfulness of the huge amount of snow around that area. But we turned the day around with a nice long hike on the Lava Creek trail out of Mammoth. About 5 miles in, the hike took us near the top of Undine Falls, so we naturally  hiked off trail for awhile to sit at the very top. It was awesome. The hike itself was a mostly uphill challenge, but I love the chance to go up against a good challenge, especially when it involves beautiful waterfalls. 

Sunday was a pretty mellow day too, we did a lot of driving. The drive took us about an hour and a half south into the park to Old Faithful and the geyser basin there. Of course we HAD to watch Old Faithful go off a couple of times (which we didn't think to get pictures of....) but that was not my favorite geyser anyways. My favorite is called the Pipe Geyser. It goes off almost constantly, pulsing out splatters of steamy water. I love it. And I also really liked the Solitary Geyser, which is (as the name states) secluded about a half mile up a hill from the others. It erupts every 5 to 7 minutes in a slow, lazy, burpy kind of way... if that makes sense. 

Pipe Geyser

Solitary Geyser used to be a Hot Spring, now it erupts 

And that was our weekend! Yesterday we took a dip in the Boiling River to unwind after work, which was a pretty neat experience. It's like mother nature's jacuzzi. And tonight we just did normal stuff.. grocery shopping... hanging around the apartment... nothing too productive. 

This guy is the best.

I hope all is well with you, have a good week!

Peace and Love.

First few days in our home til October

WE LOVE GARDINER!!!!!!!! Around every corner of this town (and park, though we have had little time to explore it yet) is something that makes you want to stand in one place for awhile and just take it all in. I like my job in the retail distribution center, my coworkers are really nice. Everything is going great. I may cry when October comes.  And that's about it, I just want to show you some pictures of our new home =)

The Employee Bunkhouse, our apartment is in here.

The Kitchen

Bedroom/Living room

The Bunkhouse in relation to the Yellowstone River (to the right there, you may need to magnify)

The view just beyond the front steps

Downtown Gardiner, MT

Oh, and the hikes are ok too ;)

Peace and love.