#26--catching up

Tuesday night—again without internet.

Yesterday we started doing the park so to speak. We drove the upper loop and stopped at the boiling mud pots and geysers along the way. It’s really pretty scary when you look at what is coming out of the earth—lots of heat and gasses. Volcano insurance is a must if we decided to live here! Obviously our earth is very much alive and changing and if this area is any indication—it’s pissed at us humans! Just the last 20 years of changes since the 1988 fires are amazing—and you feel it’s just a matter of time before something big happens here, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s in our lifetime. Guess we won’t try to live here—but it has been interesting, since you always think of geological changes taking millions of years but we are talking big changes just this last century. No wonder we see lots of ‘for sale’ signs in the surrounding towns…

Today we were treated to another primo bear sighting--#11. A black bear right next to the road and Stacy was the first to see it, a great way to start the day. I’ll post more pictures as soon as I get connected.

Since we needed gas & propane we then headed to Cody, WY outside the east entrance. It had a Walmart and a good Mexican restaurant with all the necessities so we were happy girls. We’ve been eating most of our food in the trailer but it is nice to go to town every once and awhile.

Tomorrow has to be an early start since we have to move out of our campground, it’s closing our loop, and we decided to go north to Mammoth. It’s pretty congested up there but it’s convenient to the wolf area and everything north. But since a lot of campgrounds are now closing it does fill so we want to go early. We also need to do laundry at Gardiner and will prepare further for the “Yuliya Birthday Celebration” on Thursday. (Although we did use it today at the Mexican restaurant for a free dessert—after all it is her birthday week—almost the same…)

And then the decision to stay through the weekend in Yellowstone, or head to the Tetons has to be made. Thought I should hit some shops in Jackson Hole since that is where they still have money but as Yuliya says—We still have a month so we really aren’t under any pressure.

My hands are looking so much better but I do have one place that decided to get infected rather badly. Fortunately we have antibiotics so that should knock it—it’s just swollen and sore. I’ve been soaking it and trying to avoid any further complications. But if this is the biggest stressor for the next month—it’s cool. My blood sugar continues to get better and even Stacy has started to sleep late. Guess good mountain air with no outside influences can do wonders!

Our friends at home continue to take care of our life there, probably better than we would be doing! They still love to tell us how good my tomatoes are and I guess we missed a bear experience there—one was spotted almost in town! But seeing it doesn’t compare with reading about it in our paper so I’m ok with that. It is nice to know we always will have the chance to see one when we get back home. One of the reasons I love living there and riding in the woods…