Water nymph, Kauai style

Giving the wedding dress a good workout in a beautiful location.
Photo credit: Noah Kauffman

A beautiful tropical island... and some chickens!

We are vacationing in Kauai right now and absolutely loving it!

Coconut!

North Shore: Ke'e Beach

There are wild chickens all over the island.
We think they are awesome!

More Yellowstone!

Here are some more shots from my trip to Yellowstone. I wish I had a more inspiring post for you today, but my thoughts are a little muddled. One of my dear ones is hospitalized right now, and I'm worrying for her, even though I know worrying won't help... but it's all I can do... and on top of that we're going to Kauai on Sunday for 10 days... and all the details that go into making that trip a success (and making sure all my creatures are happy and well-fed) are driving me a little to distraction. Sheesh! I need to go read a book... maybe a zombie book... to try to calm down. ;)

Enjoy the photos!

Yellowstone Public Transportation: some of these
babies still have crank engines!

Bison!

Hee hee hee!

Columnar basalt! Created by lava flows... ya know,
 from the SUPER VOLCANO!

A great book about the Sheepeater Indians:
"Mountain Spirit" by Lawrence Loendorf and Nancy Stone

Friend! At Osprey Falls

ELK! Blocking the bathrooms, no less...

Least Chipmunk.

Natural Bridge

Bison jam...

Raven!

A sweet moment brought to you by Regina Spektor...

Today is World Vegetarian Day!

Hey everyone! Just a little reminder that today is World Vegetarian Day! Go out and hug a vegetarian if you can! Ha! In honor of the day, I thought I'd link back to a post I wrote last year about my decision to become vegetarian. I would like to point out that, though I think the spirit of the day is presented a little differently on the World Vegetarian Day website, I am in NO WAY trying to make everyone stop eating meat... I'm not on a crusade... there's no judgement of character going on here, just honesty and authenticity.

That said, I would love to hear your thoughts on why you choose (or choose not to) eat meat! So tell me... are you a carnivore?

Geysers are cool

I mean, geysers are SOOO cool!

I spent the last week in/on a super volcano! It's kinda creepy thinking about what made Yellowstone the amazing natural wonder that it is... but millions of years ago, this gigantic volcano exploded, leaving the caldera that forms the valleys, canyons, and peaks of Yellowstone park.

The Yellowstone River as viewed from the brink of Lower Falls

It was... beautiful there. I went to see my friend Lori during her last week as an Interp ranger at Old Faithful... I knew I would enjoy hanging out with her and hiking, but I never anticipated that I would dig geysers so much! Each one has its own personality... from the predictability in timing of to the nature of each eruption... I was duly impressed. Some geysers blow off steam and super heated water for hours... while others barely trickle. Here are some of my favorites:

Sponge: This is an eruption for Sponge geyser...
 Yay Sponge! You erupted! It seems like a lot of effort!

White Dome (in the background):
This geyser erupts every 20 or 30 minutes! The geyser in the foreground
(Great Fountain) is less frequent in its displays

Daisy: This geyser makes a chugging sound like a train during its
steam phase (at the end of the eruption cycle).

Grotto: This geyser has a strange shape, probably due to a tree falling into it
and becoming covered with minerals. It will also erupt for extended periods of time,
sometimes up to 24 hours or longer!!

Old Faithful: Not the biggest or the most dramatic
 geyser in the park, but surely the most predictable.

Beehive: This geyser's eruption is higher than Old Faithful's
and if you stand in just the right spot, you can get soaked by
the water as it falls on the boardwalk!

Castle: This geyser can have a dramatic and lengthy steam phase.

And my favorite, Great Fountain: This geyser has a 4 hour window in which
it may erupt. It begins with a trickle, then starts to roil, and then shoots water sky high!

I was lucky enough to catch a "blue bubble" in Great Fountain. According to the Geyser Observation and Study Association website's page on Great Fountain,

"a Blue Bubble occurs when a calm and still pool of water is domed up by a large expanding steam bubble. As the steam bubble rises and expands, the entire 16 foot wide pool of water is lifted and domed outward creating a beautiful blue bubble. Once the steam reaches the surface the water explodes outward and upward."

Have I geeked out enough for you yet? It was completely amazing!

I also learned that there are people who spend weeks, sometimes the whole summer, watching geysers and reporting via walkie talkie to the Old Faithful visitor center with the time of eruptions. They're called "Geyser Gazers," and they get REALLY excited about geysers... I mean... really. Who knew? (Confession: now that I know that GG's exist... I kinda wanna be one.)

More on Yellowstone later... I still have waterfalls and wildlife to cover! So much packed into one week! For now, it's off to bed with me... although I'll have to snuggle with the dog tonight since Noah has to work the overnight shift in the office. Bah. At least Tag doesn't snore!

NaNoWriMo is 6 weeks away!

First, a BIG thanks for all the positive feedback on my little short from last week. I am so thrilled that you all liked it so much! No, I'm not telling who is in the casket... that's a story that will have to wait for another time... like... after NaNoWriMo...

Eek! I only have 6 weeks to get my act together on my new WIP for National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo). I have a lot going on before then.

I need to get an outline together this time. I want to KNOW where this story is going... at least hypothetically at first... so that I can make an effort to get there. It's a good idea, it just needs some *Ooomph*.

And I'm going to Yellowstone this week! I'm so excited! I've never been to Yellowstone... and since Lori is working there until the end of the month, I thought I'd take the opportunity to see one of the nation's most amazing parks. Oh man. Here we go! There will be tons of pictures that come out of that venture, I hope.

Speaking of this week... On Wednesday (the day I leave for Yellowstone) Emily Suess will announce who the top 10 finalists are for her writing contest from Writers' Week last week. We are all waiting with bated breath... well, at least all of us who entered are. The rest of you could probably care less. But! You should care! There will be on-line voting to determine the winners starting on September 26th. YOU can help decide which entry gets the grand prize.

Dad and Mary in Brooklyn with us for a morning.

I'm not even saying you should vote for me. How could I? We don't even know who the finalists are. But there is some great talent out there, and it deserves your attention. So take some time... visit the writing contest page and check out these entries. Then, if you have time, on September 26th vote for your favorite piece to win.

Ahhh... I'm off now to work on a couple things I need to get done before I leave on Wednesday morning... but first to take the pup for a hike.