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Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Bear, Buffalo, Elk, Dandilions and Daisies!

On June 28th, day 22 of our trip we left Grey Bull, Wyoming and our first stop was a dinosaur excavation site. Here we actually stood and walked in the footsteps of dinosaurs...it was mind boggling to realize how long my step needed to be to get from one of their feet impressions to the next. These were found under the sea or lake ?, again hard to wrap ones brain around this discovery of so many million years ago. We stopped in Cody, Wy. and I had my first latte (decaf/NF milk) of the year! And it was GOOD! We then started what would be one of the best days of our journey to date in nature. It was like a huge gift from G-d (and I do not say this as a very religious being, as I am not, however, it was awesome what we saw today, one gift unfolding after the other until I wondered if it were to be my last day on earth and I was being given all this beauty as some sort of grand farewell...but I am happy to say it was a gift with no strings attached as I survived it and enjoyed it too! ;-) We entered Yellowstone National Park again, having seen it on our way to MN, and now again on the way back...if you haven't ever been there it's important to know that there is a sort of unspoken camaraderie between travelers there. When ever you see a cluster of cars congregated on the road you can almost be certain (unless it's the gift shop) that there is some spectacular something to see so you slow down, stop get out and join the group gathered. Our first such stop this time revealed a huge reddish brown grizzly bear lazily lolling along in a meadow of green grass below off the side of the road. My first bear siting ever! And my wonderful camera lens bought for seeing burrowing owls close up brought this bear nose-close it seemed! Wow! We drove on a bit further to find buffalo roaming on the road again close enough to capture on camera shedding hides and breath coming from huge nostrils! And there were more buffalo sitting in grass and flowers like Ferdinand the Bull from my childhood story book. And later there would be other herds to view roaming in valleys and nooks. It was a good day for buffalo sitings. And then there were elk!, tall, stately, brown elk, with huge racks atop their majestic heads. Each time we would get out of the car and get as close as we felt was safe to do so and just stand there and stare in awe at the beauty of these animals. It was an honor to be invited into their domains as guests. We drove on a bit further and there was a sign that said "Artist's Point". I said let's go see what that is, not remembering that I had been there before on an earlier visit a few years ago. DH let it be a surprise. We arrived at the beginning of the point and I saw beautiful orange and brown striations in the rock walls and thought that artists must come there to paint this natural beauty. We walked further up a ways and DH was pointing his video camera not at the walls but at me. I thought he must really like the new me I'd been creating of late...(ego/ego)...but no, he was waiting for my reaction when I finally saw what Artist's Point had to reveal. OHMYG_D...the MOST spectacular WATERFALL I have ever seen! Talk about dramatic...huge, wide, crashing down water over rocks that went on and on and on and on...Dramatically beautiful. As I said earlier, just one wonderful gift after another kept unfolding for us on this incredibly special day. And it wasn't about to stop there either. DH drove on and then stopped the car and I looked out to see this wide expanse of yellow at the side of the road. Hopper, are you listening? The yellow flowers that went on and on for miles and miles it seemed were DANDELIONS! They were dense and they were beautiful. We got out of the car and I walked into this field of yellow beauties. I got down on my belly with my camera to take photos of them at eye level. I stood ankle deep in them. It was so very, very beautiful that once again we were breathless with the all encompassing beauty surrounding us. I literally felt I had died and gone to heaven. Now you really would have thought that was enough, thank you G-d/Nature/whatever for this most beautiful and perfect day... but not yet, it wasn't quite over. We drove on and just before leaving the park, once again DH spotted another field, this time a mixture of yellows, whites and purples...pulled over to the side of the road, got out and walked knee deep in light and deep yellow and white daisies and purple flowers that I do not think were lupines but not sure what they were...tall spiky flowers. And these too went on and on for miles and I had could all but contain myself not to cry for the sheer beauty of it all. Now, if that was not a perfect day I do not know what is. There were a few more elk including a mom and baby, fisher people fly fishing in streams, snow capped mountains in the background, abundance of pine trees and the river. Upon leaving the park, DH turned to me and said: "Do I take you to nice places?" YES, YES, YES...OHMYGOD YES! *********************************************************************************** NEXT: MORE PEOPLE VISITS TO REPORT, STAY TUNED.

3 comments:

  1. Oh Lynn, I could cry just reading this. It sounds like heaven on earth to me. What Pictures you must be getting. I see lots of cards out of this if you go that way. or even incorperating it into your quilts. It has to make a lasting impression on you after seeing all that up close and personal. Yep your DH sure does know how to impress his lady.:):):)
    Am looking forward to those people visits. :)

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  2. Lynn this is incredible, this day. Wow. Im so glad you have created these experiences for yourself, your soul, the artist in you, and with your special guy too. Thanks for sharing. Take care, Suki

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  3. i'm breathless, Lynn...
    no pictures... but your powerful words described them all so well i could see them vivid and alive...

    the waterfall.... i could see how water was flowing magestically down onto the stones...
    the yellow field of dandelions... yellow... yellow... how happy and active...
    thanks thanks thanks

    you get what you give...

    these gifts are the gifts you give to the world... by your loving heart and your art...

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Thanks for leaving your comments as I love hearing from you. Your words of encouragement are why I continue to draw!