Sue

Scott did something truly unexpected for my birthday: he threw me a surprise party. I had not a clue. He did it on Monday the 2nd, which was the night before we left for Yellowstone. Mark came up in the evening to hang with us and spend the night, but that seemed normal because he wasn’t going to see us on my birthday and we were leaving for a week. The mom and daughter that I read with took me out for frozen yogurt for my birthday. This also seemed totally normal and the daughter made me a matching bracelet and earring set that’s totally cute! When they dropped me off, the mom wanted the daughter to come in and see my Willow Tree collection so we walked in the front door and there were crepe paper and balloons everywhere. I said, “Oh, looks like Mark did some decorating. Fun.” We walked over to the shelf and then I saw all these people in the family room and they yelled, “Surprise!”. Honestly, I am so dense. So I was really surprised and we had cake and ice cream and it was really fun and nice of people to come.

On my real birthday we were in Yellowstone and went to breakfast here:We chose this place so we could have breakfast served to us by this waiter:Now that all the shows are up and running and daily rehearsals are over, Brian works a breakfast shift three days a week at Buckaroo Bill’s. He rotates between prepping, cooking, and serving. We ate in the back where each table has its own covered wagon and had some yummy food plus hot chocolate, too.

After our late breakfast we checked out some stores while waiting for Brian to finish his shift, then went back to the restaurant’s outdoor seating to open presents! Yay! Scott got me a wooden wheelbarrow planter that we left at home, some books, a subscription to a quilting magazine, and then an offer to take me shopping around West Yellowstone. That was also the present from Brian so off we went. I got scrapbooking supplies, Wildflowers of Yellowstone seeds, and a framed pressed flower art piece with yellow columbines. Awesome!

Brian went off to an emergency rehearsal because of a cast member’s accident, and we drove to Yellowstone Lake and did some sight-seeing via the car. Then it was back for the second show. Because it was July 4th, the theater had early shows so after the 4:00 show, the cast ran to the start of the West Yellowstone parade and walked the parade route to advertise for the shows. The town parade was super fun! Then we saw the 7:00 show of “The Drowsy Chaperone”. During the variety show the cast brings up audience members with birthdays and they announce their names and sing to them.

I got a special announcement that I was a cast member’s Mom AND that I was turning 50. Double applause! I also got a kiss!

The show was great and afterwards we were invited to the cast BBQ. We ate on a blanket on the sidewalk in front of the theater and watched the town fireworks show which was long and wonderful.

It was a fun day and now I’m officially over the hill. The best is yet to come.

We left Yellowstone via the south entrance and headed into Grand Tetons National Park. This is another park we haven’t been to since we were kids, so it was fun to see it again.

We wanted to do some hiking in this park, so after a stop at a Visitor Center for a stamp to our National Parks Passport and a chat with a ranger, we headed off to his recommendation: a scenic trail to Leigh Lake. There were people in canoes and kayaks, but it was quiet, tranquil, secluded, and lovely.

We left the park and headed for dinner in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Even though it was raining, we wanted to do a little walking around the downtown and the park, and I got my picture taken at one of the iconic antler arches at the park.

On the way to Idaho Falls after dinner we had some heavy rain and a lovely rainbow.

The end of our vacation.

Here are some varied shots of cool stuff we saw at the park.

pool in the Lower Geyser Basin

Geyser in the Lower Geyser Basin

Upper Geyser Basin

river in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone between the falls

Bison herd

lower basin geyser — pool in the Lower Geyser Basin

Geyser in the Lower Geyser Basin

Upper Geyser Basin

river in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone between the falls

Bison herd

Scott and I went to the Upper Geyser Basin on our way out of the park and hiked the basin. We walked around the back of Old Faithful and huddled under a tree to keep out of the rain while we waited for it to go off. It did not disappoint and was spectacular.

Scott Old Faithful — Scott and Old Faithful

The basin around Old Faithful has a boardwalk over the fragile thermal crust so you can walk around and get pretty close to fumaroles, pools, and geysers. We were amused at the sign in many languages meant to scare you silly so you don’t walk onto the hot ground.

It was fascinating to see how many people were NOT deterred by the scary sign, even though it was obvious just by looking that the crust is VERY thin in many places and you would be boiled like a frog if you fell in. Whatever.

We were obedient tourists who stayed on the boardwalk. Also Scott, the geologist, has a healthy respect for geothermal features.

There were some fascinating geysers that pumped, bubbled, spouted, and gurgled. Because it was cool and overcast there was a fair amount of steam all over the place and it really looked amazing and otherworldly.

We were halfway to Morning Glory Pool when the rain started up again. Since we were in the middle of the basin, there was nowhere to go but onward, so we pressed on and made it, albeit totally drenched. Because of the cloud cover our picture isn’t too impressive and doesn’t show the great colors. It’s really a pretty blue in the deep part.

On the trail back to the car we were pretty much alone, came around a curve, and found a bison just standing by the trail next to a warm geyser. We approached quietly and I couldn’t resist the photo op. Scott says I was closer than the requisite 25 yards, but I never left the trail, so I felt justified. He kept his eye on it the whole time and was giving instructions for where I was supposed to run if it charged me. (See previous post on how out of shape I am and you’ll laugh yourself silly at the thought of me racing for the trees in front of a charging bison). Anyway, we got a good shot on my phone and I posted immediately to Facebook because the Old Faithful area has cell coverage. The wonders of technology!

We quietly headed off down the trail with the bison not deigning to acknowledge us, and farther on we were herded off the trail by rangers who were cordoning an area where a bison was eating. Scott tried to tell one of them that we had just passed a bison much closer to the trail than this one they were protecting, but he was being harassed by non-cooperative tourists and didn’t really get it, so we moved on. Hope nobody was trampled later.

Since it’s nigh unto impossible to see grizzlies or wolves in the park, (although various Playmill actors have seen both this summer), we took a little trip to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, Montana. It’s actually an impressive facility where injured animals or animals that can’t survive in the wild are able to live out their lives. One of the programs there reads like this:

Keeper Kids – Join us for an exciting activity especially designed for kids ages 5-12. In this unique program, kids first learn about grizzly bear eating habits and then accompany the naturalist and animal keeper into the bear habitat to hide food for some of our resident bears. After the food is hidden, kids get to learn how bears use their sense of smell to search out food.

So the kids go in the enclosure, hide the food, then watch the bears digging all over to find their food. It was fun to watch the bears turning over rocks and logs and fun to watch the kids exclaim when a bear found the food they had hidden. I should mention that at no time were there grizzlies and children in the enclosure at the same time. In case you were wondering.