Geysers of Yellowstone National Park

Our summer in Yellowstone was very enjoyable and interesting, especially when viewing the geysers. There are many in the Park, and Old Faithful is the most famous geyser. It erupts once approximately every 55 to107 minutes. Everyone enjoys watching the eruption and claps when it is over. The height of the water reaches between 110-185 feet, and may last up five minutes.

This is the Grand Geyser, also is the Upper Geyser Basin, which has many geysers in an area of about two square miles. Grand Geyser does not erupt very frequently, but a sign is posted to let visitors know how long the wait may be. We came to Upper Geyser three times during our stay and waited patiently to see Grand each visit. It blows for 9-16 minutes at a height of 140-200 feet. It is well worth the wait to see it. There are benches to sit on while waiting, and time to chat with other visitors.

Emerald Pool is in the Black Sand Geyser Basin. The Pool has a deep emerald green, and the edges are yellow and orange colors. It is quite beautiful, and about 25 feet deep.

The Beehive Geyser is one that Eric told us would be very interesting to see, but it does not always erupt every day. We saw a large crowd waiting, and joined them hoping it would be our lucky day. It is considered unpredictable, unlike Old Faithful. The name is appropriate because it looks just like a large beehive on the ground. It erupted sending the water at least 150-200 feet. What a sight--it was amazing.

Here are Eric and Marion after Beehive "showing off". It had just begun erupting, when a strong wind started blowing straight at all of us standing on the boardwalk in front of Beehive. We got drenched so quickly, and began running down the boardwalk, but kept hesitating because we wanted to see the whole show from Beehive. All of us standing on the boardwalk were drenched, feeling cold for a few minutes, and laughing, but it was worth the experience. The sun was hot and eventually, the jeans and shirts dried--enough so we had supper in Snow Lodge before we went "home" to our FEMA trailer. No one seemed to notice that we were a bit disheveled.

A Texas Vacation

Marion had mileage on United that would expire in August, so we decided to visit Texas. As luck would have it, the week of March 15 was Noel's school vacation, which coincided with Barre's vacation from teaching a course this semester at MCLA. We looked forward to warmer days since Paul had told us the days in early March had been in the 70's. We took no heavy coats with us, and looked forward to wonderful sunny days for the week.

Our first excursion was to the Dallas Arboretum. The weather was wonderful, and the gardens and flowers were spectacular and so colorful. Spring had arrived! Noel really enjoyed the gardens, and taking pictures with her own camera. The cowboy hat and bandana were part of a costume from her dance class, and she really looked like a native Texan, but speaks without the accent.

There were massive plots of many various flowers like tulips , daffodils, hyacinths, etc. with a variety of colors, all so beautiful. The weather was perfect. Because it was school holiday the parking lots were full, so we were shuttled by bus from a parking lot in a nearby mall.

The trees and shrubs were also beautiful, and Barre could identify them when we had a question.

The Arboretum is very large, and the walking is easy. It borders a large pond, and the plantings near there also include water features, and koi fish, which Noel enjoyed watching. By the end of the day, we realized we had done a lot of walking, enjoyed all of the beauty around us, and were a bit tired!

On Friday night Barre and I attended Paul's hockey game. He is the fellow in the yellow shirt, playing goalie. It was our fourth day in McKinney, and the temperatures had gone done enough to make us wish we had brought a heavy coat. The game time is shorter than a college game, and we survived. His team won.

Sunday morning found us looking out the windows at six inches of snow! Noel was excited, and after breakfast she went out to play in the backyard. She loves snow, and spent quite a while playing. The snow was quite wet-- good for snow balls, and snow men. In the afternoon, Noel returned to the yard, and already, the grass was visible, and much snow had melted, but there was enough to make small snowmen.

This is the view from the front porch on Evergreen Drive. We didn't expect to have snow on our visit, but it had completely melted by Monday morning. Noel had to go back to school and we flew home, so Barre could teach on Tuesday.

It was too cold on Sunday to visit the Dallas zoo, so we went bowling, and had lots of fun. This picture was taken when we returned home. Paul, Michelle, and Noel had better scores that Barre and I. Our week also included a tour of Paul's work place at Gearbox, which was very interesting.

Visit to Mt. Washington, NH

Sasha and Elena at the top of Mt. Washington, with a view of 70 miles of scenery. This is the first day of sunshine in a week, and a wonderful finish to their three weeks with us. We enjoyed a leisurely visit on the summit and a stop at the alpine gardens on the way up. Barre drove us up the Auto Road. Mt. Washington is 6288 feet, the tallest mountain in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains.

The picture of Sasha, Elena and Marion was taken at the entrance to the Auto Road to the top of Mt. Washington. The weather was wonderful, one of the best summer days we've had. There was no wind at the top of the mountain, so we were quite comfortable walking around, going to the two small museums and the store for a look at postcards and sourvenirs.

Pardon the photo layout. I have a lot to learn!

Sunburnt Country

The pattern for this quilt is called Sunburnt Country. It is nine crazy quilt blocks 17 and 1/2 inchs made with nine fabrics (fat quarters). The fat quarters are cut all at once in one pile, so that each block then has the different shapes of each fabric. I got this idea from a shop in Cairns that I visited on our last day before we left for home on our last trip with students from Mass. College of Liberal Arts, a few years ago. All of the fabric in this quilt was purchased on various trips to AU, and I waited to find a pattern that would show details in the variety of fabrics. The fabrics include flowers, trees, birds, kangaroos, koalas, and snakes. The backing is fabric of aboriginal design (no picture available)
My quilt label is called: Sunburnt Country, Memories of Australia

Washington D. C. trip

We spent April 8-12 on a brief trip to Washington, D.C. The trip was planned long in advance because the occasion was the NCAA College Hockey National tournament. We drove down on a beautiful sunny day, and were fortunate to stay in Alexandria, VA, with Barre's high school friend, Bruce, and his wife, Theresa.

The hockey games were on Thursday and Saturday evening, so it enabled us to enjoy D.C. touring during the day. Bruce was able to join us, having taken personal days from work. He is an avid historian, so it was interesting to learn some local history from him, too. We visited the National History Museum, and the American Indian Museums on Thursday. Walking the mall in warm weather, and seeing all the flowers in bloom, and trees with their buds, made us a bit envious for warmer weather at home. Crowds of people were enjoying the city, too. Many, many tour buses were in the area.

On Friday we spent the morning touring the Alexandria area near Bruce's home (which is very near Mount Vernon). We learned about George Mason and his part in history (having written the Bill of Rights for Virginia), and toured Gunston, his home. At one time his plantation on the Potamac covered 5500 acres. Now it is 550 acres preserved for posterity. The historic fact regarding George Mason, is that our Bill of Rights bears a strong resemblance to the statements written and approved for Virginia.

In the afternoon, we drove into the city and visited the Washington National Cathedral. We spent quite a bit of time in the building, starting in the gallery on the 6th floor. What a view of the city! There is so much beauty to admire in the cathedral, so many enscriptions to read, it requires more than one visit to absorb all of the beauty and years it took to build the cathedral.
We walked the grounds and admired the exterior as well.

We enjoyed our hockey games, and had a bird's eye view of the goalie and lots of action in front of us, since we were just three rows behind the rink. The teams who made it to the finals (not UNH) had very avid fans (like all college hockey teams do) and we enjoyed the music, their signs, and cheers.

I persuaded Barre to take a different route home and we stopped in Gettysburg on Sunday, for a tour of the battleground, the new visitors center, and lunch. We spent about three hours there, not nearly enough time, but better than none. We made sure we found the monument for the 20th Maine, led by Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, which was so instrumental in the north winning the battle. We have just watched the movie Gettysburg again!