I had almost given up on it since the weathermen predicted this for 2 days ago, but this morning we finally 'got it'. SNOW!

Wow. Snow in September! I guess that's Montana for you!

 

 

It's so beautiful out here!

 

 

 

It started out a little cloudy ....

 

 ..... but I liked what it did for this picture ....

 

 

 

I climbed up the hill behind the campground and was greeted by these frolicking horses:

 

 

They were very curious and seemed to love the snow!

Look, we're almost blending in with the landscape now.
Fortunately we have great heaters so we're warm and cosy. Last night it was 25F !

 

The view towards Yellowstone:

 

 

 

And this is almost a Dutch 'scene'!

 

 

No wonder that the campground has begun to board everything up. They started just before all this came down and not a day to early! The pool is closed and drained, a lot of cabins are boarded and the water pipes filled with anti-freeze.

We're still open but you have to search for the entrance to the office and the restrooms! 

 

 

Probably not a bad idea to have winter tires and a well insulated RV!

 

 

Funny, the tent-sites are all empty ..... ?
 

Merlin is not much of a snow lover, he rather looks at it from behind the glass, in some sunny spot.

 

 

What is it with cats that they always have to sit ON something?

 

Last but not least, today is a very special day! My 'baby' sister is turning 50 today!

It barely seems possible. I mean, look at this picture:

 

 

When did we grow up? When I wasn't looking, that's for sure!

  

In Holland you see 'Sahra' (or Abraham, depending) when you turn 50:

A tradition that hails from the Netherlands, the 'Sarah birthday' is celebrated when a woman turns 50 and becomes a 'Sarah' -- old enough and wise enough to have 'seen Sarah,' the biblical figure and wife of Abraham.  

Other traditions associated with the Sarah birthday include placing a Sarah doll or figure in the front yard of the 'birthday girl' that is dressed/decorated by family to represent her life and interests and baking a Sarah cake, bread or cookie in the shape of a female figure and sharing it with others.

Unlike other cultures (America) in which those who celebrate their 50th birthday are seen as "over the hill," the Sarah tradition in the Netherlands honors a woman gaining wisdom through experience and is a major birthday that many look forward to.

 

 

 

Again: "Happy Birthday Sis!" 

 

 

 

 

 

After 2 days of thunderstorms and rain and two very cold nights (28F-32F) the clouds have lifted to reveal a beautiful crisp and frosty landscape this morning.

 

 

 

Fortunately the weatherman got it right and warned us ahead of time so we turned off the water for the night!

 

 

 

 

Today is supposed to be gorgeous, no wind and the temperatures in the mid sixties but only for a short time since there's another storm brewing.

 

 

 

 

It's probably going to bring more thunderstorms and gusty winds, like we had earlier this week when it looked like this:

 

 

 

 

 

There even was a tornado watch for our county for a couple of hours after reports of several funnel clouds around Island Park.

I don't know if I captured one here, it sort of looked like one but I think it's just a little 'dip' in that cloud. Looks cool though!

 

 

 

 

The first morning after this storm went through we woke up to a light dusting of snow on the mountains across from 'our' meadow:

 

 

 

And on 'Lion's Head', the mountain behind us.

 

All this 'weather' meant I had lots of time to work some more on our route down to Texas. I thought I had most of it figured out until the stories about the flooding around Boulder, Colorado, started to come in.

What-do-ya-know-it, I'd planned on going right through that area and drive the famous, and reportedly very beautiful, 'Peak to Peak Byway'!

Looking at the road closure maps I've found on the web, this is probably not going to happen!

 

 

 

 

 

James is working on preparing the RV and Truck for the trip too. The RV got 6 new 'shoes'! You don't want to know how much that costs :-(

But fortunately there's such a thing as the Internet and specifically E-bay. Isn't it amazing? I bought them for about half the price (brand new!) and than they shipped them for free!

Not so easy to get them off the truck since these buggers weigh a ton, best is to just throw them off and let them bounce!

 

 

                  I'll call this: " Dances with tires" !

 

Great job, honey!

 

James ..... the RV up on one side, took the wheels into town where the tires were changed and balanced and the next day he did the same for the other side.

 

 

And on another note, yesterday we got company! Former classmate of James, Meg Jette, and her husband Chuck are spending two nights with us here at the KOA to see Yellowstone. They're so lucky, the weather is going to be gorgeous today and tomorrow! 

 

 

And they're such troopers! They sleep in a tent and it was 28F last night!

I offered them the living room floor in the RV and told them I'd leave the door unlocked but they didn't show up!

 

James loves having company for more than one reason:

 

 

 

 

My version of a Black Forest Cake, with chocolate mousse, real cream and (pie) cherry filling.

OMG, it's to die for!

 

 

Oh, what the heck, .... let's have another sunset!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great Fountain Geyser

 

 

Now the kids are back in school and the crowds have thinned out in the Park, we are going back in to see some of the sights we skipped or that were still closed in the spring.
Like the Firehole Canyon Drive with the Firehole Falls.  

 

 

The Firehole Falls

 

This is one of my favorite vistas in the park, the view towards the Midway Geyser Basin.

  

There are always a few bison present to spice up your photo shot!

These 'Bison in the mist', seem to enjoy the hot steam now the mornings are getting cooler.

                         

 

 

A little farther down the road we took the Firehole Lake Drive. 

 

 

This one was really hot!

The Great Geyser Fountain erupts every 9 to 15 hours. It's maximum height ranges from about 75 feet (23 m) to over 220 feet (67 m). Its duration is usually about one hour but durations of over two hours have been seen.
We were lucky enough to catch an eruption.

First there is a lot more steam:

 

 

And than the geysers 'blows' in intervals of  about 6 or 7 short burst after which it pauses for a few minutes before doing it again.
This can go on for 1 or 2 hours.

 

The waves of water spread out and then tumble over the concentric terraces that have formed around the geyser's crater.

 

 

 

While this was happening, behind our backs, the nearby White Dome Geyser erupted too!

It's easily seen from where we were watching the Great Fountain but we drove over a little later to see it up close.

 

Its 12-foot-high geyserite cone is one of the largest in the park. Its eruptions are unpredictable, but generally occur with intervals ranging from 15 to 30 minutes.

 

 

                                         


Among the cars parked in the parking lot we spotted this one from Florida with very appropriate custom plates:

Funny! 

 

We also made another trip to the Norris Geyser Basin to walk the Back Basin this time, instead of the Porcelain Basin, that we walked earlier this Spring.

It is in a forest setting (at least it was before the 1988 fires, now its more of a regenerating forest setting).

 

 

 

Norris Geyser Basin is home to the largest active geyser in the world, Steamboat Geyser. Steamboat can reach 380 feet and its steam phase can be heard miles away. Unfortunately, Steamboat is rare.

Had we been a little earlier though we could have been lucky since there was an eruption only 3 weeks ago after a dry spell of almost 10 years! It's still moderately active at the moment and there might be another one soon!

 

The algae of a lot of the springs are really beautiful:

 

   
 

On the way home we spotted this beautiful Elk pair in the meadows along the Madison River:

 

 

Although there was a thunderstorm threatening we did some more golfing at Island Park:





Fortunately, it missed us!

                   

                                                                     







I did lousy except for this fabulous shot. Nothing too skillful I have to say, I just gave it a whack with a fairwood rescue club and there it went. What are the odds? I can never repeat that one!





We had some well deserved fish tacos at the 'Munching Moose' in the parking lot.

James is still working in the bathrooms. Another building this time, where he had to install some shower pans, before the tiler comes in to do the floor.


 


Merlin added something new to his 'crazy' repertoire. I mean, I know it's not easy to be a white cat but does he have to use the fireplace as a litter box ?


   

 

 

We had some good thunderstorms coming through this week, especially in the evenings. The sunlight peaking from behind the dark clouds creates some great photo opportunities .....

 

 

 

 

.... and rainbows, even double ones!

 

 

 

.... and spectacular sunsets!