Dreaming of Cooler Times

Yikes! Up to 107 degrees today and 114 by later in the week! I’m in Phoenix dreaming of the cooler weather of Yellowstone National Park.  Summers we work as tour guides in Yellowstone and, because of COVID19 restrictions this year, we’ve opted to stay put here at home. That’s good . . . and bad.  I love winter and spring in Arizona.  Summers . . . not so much.

Echinopsis in bloom

However, we have truly enjoyed our numerous cactus blooms! They’ve bloomed repeatedly throughout the summer–which, of course, we miss being in Yellowstone.

 

 

 

 

But I get to enjoy a bit of “winter” in Yellowstone (“winter” enough for me that is).  When we first arrive  (every summer for almost five years), it’s still pretty cold (at least to this desert flat lander).

That’s me — the freezing desert flat lander my first year!

Yellowstone Lake is still frozen when we arrive in May. This poor Bald Eagle is trying to figure out how to get to those fish below.

We say that we’re in Yellowstone from brown to brown.  When we first arrive, the grasses are brown and there’s still a bunch of snow. And then, by the time we leave in September, those grasses have browned up again and it is usually snowing (of course there literally can be snow in Yellowstone any month of the year). This last September as we were leaving there was a major snow storm!

The line up of our Historic Yellow Bus fleet
Frozen hub cap of our Historic Yellow Bus

The cooler weather of Yellowstone is incredibly beautiful as well.

Early-morning ice on a car window

As I enjoy the Sonoran Desert heat of my Arizona home, I’ll be dreaming of the cooler times yet to be enjoyed when we’re able to return to our “other” home in Yellowstone National Park.

Snow-covered thermals of the Lower Geyser Basin
Snow-covered Bison

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