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!

 

 

 

 

 

This Labour Day weekend we decided to finally do some fishing. After taking a fly-fishing lesson in the village a while ago we'd been slowly acquiring a fly-fishing and spinning rod and reel and some other gear on E-bay and we were ready to give it a try!

 

The weather was absolutely gorgeous, actually, as it turned out, almost too warm for fishing.

 

By chance I'd discovered that a licence in Idaho ($12.50 for a day and $5 for each consecutive one)was much cheaper than in Montana ($25/day and $15/each cons.).

Am I the only one that thinks this is ridiculously expensive either way? Nice business for someone!

Anyhow, we drove the 5 miles to Island Park, just over the pass in Idaho.

 

 

 

That's to say, to the beginning of Island Park as this 'City' claims to have the longest main street in America, which happens to be the I-20 by the way, a whopping 36.8 miles!

We chose to fish at Henrys Lake State Park (another $5 day use fee, we better catch some fish!) since that was the best place to fish from the shore.

 

 

 

 

It took us a while to get everything 'geared up', not so easy all these hooks and leads and floats and flies and. You have to know some interesting knots!

Also those darned hooks 'hook' onto anything you don't want them too, clothes, hair, grass, fingers (ouch)!

 

I'm glad there weren't too many people around (very surprising on this holiday weekend),  we must have been a sight!

 

 

Me and my shadow

It is estimated that there are 1.2 million catchable trout in Henrys Lake. The Idaho State Record brook trout was caught there several years ago. On opening day 2013 several fish exceeding 13 pounds (Cutthroat Hybreds) and 9 pound brook trout were caught.

 

What did we catch? Nothing! Nada! Niks!

 

We tried several different flies, worms and garlic mini marshmellows (serious). I had a nibble once, I could see the bugger (and he probably saw me) but he refused to bite. He was a big one. He would have tasted so good. :-(

 

 

 

Despite of that we had a great day. Next time we'll do better!

We heard that a lot of fish like deeper waters.

So now we need a boat. Anybody has an old kayak for two?

 

 

 

And now all of a sudden the weather has changed.

The days are still gorgeous, lots of sunshine but the mornings are getting 'nippy' and as soon as the sun sets it's quickly cooling down.

Yesterday morning it was even rather foggy for a while. Loved it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My neighbour thinks I'm a cross between Rapunzel and Rumpelstiltskin . What does that make me? A Rapunstiltskin? A Rumpelpunzel :-)
Still spinning the cotton I harvested in Mohave Valley, AZ. Beautiful day again on this 3d of September, so I sat outside.

 

 

 

      

 

 

 I love the close up look of this Wavyleaf Thistle. The butterfly is a Milbert's Tortoiseshell.

 

 

James still works on the bathrooms. He has 2 more showers to finish and 5 toilet-stall deviders to paint, plus some drawings to create for the other shower buildings that they want to tackle next year.

Steve, the owner would love for him to come back and do that but I hope we're going to be a state or 2 over to the East by than.

 

 

 

After a days of hard work (for some) it's nice to watch NCIS together, although sometimes it's hard to keep your eyes open.....
 

And last but certainly not least, my dearest of all friends, whom I've neclected for far too long, reached out on Google+ to reconnect with me this week. It's so good to hear from her again!

A lot has happened since we talked to each other some 10 years ago and we're furiously e-mailing and talking on Facebook.

 

I dug up an old picture that James took of us in 2001 in Old Town San Diego when she was over for a visit.

 

 

 

That 3d glass was James's. Honestly!