God's Word for Today

Friday, July 30, 2010

Flashback Friday

Did your family attend church when you were growing up?

That would be a BIG NO!

I have said before that one of my deepest regrets is that my mom did not lay that foundation for my sister and me when we were growing up. I look back now on those day and I am sad for those little girls and sad for all three of us. I think of the turmoil and the anxiety of those times and I wonder how it might have been different if I had know who Jesus was.

Let me just say that there is a big “BUT” in this situation. When I think of how difficult it was for us growing up and the decisions and the choices I made as a result of how things were I can’t help but wonder would I be the same person if had I been removed from those difficult situations.

The reality of the matter is that we learn our most valuable lessons from our difficult times.

What are your earliest memories of church?

I do remember going to church on occasion. We went on Christmas and Easter once and a while but that was it.

I do have one very clear memory of going through confirmation class or one class at least. I am not sure why I was there or what church it was. Maybe we were members of this church, but a lot of my childhood memories have been pushed out of my head. I think it is a defense mechanism to avoid unpleasant feelings. Anyway in thinking about this since I was in the confirmation class implies that we would have been members, at least that's how it’s done at our church.

Anyway I digress again. This memory has more to do with Kentucky Fried Chicken rather than any profound spiritual truth.

I don’t remember how old I was, elementary school probably. This class I was in took a field trip out to a rural monastery. Again I am not sure why we went or what we learned but for whatever reason we found our little selves out in the country at this monastery and we all had sack lunches.

The sack lunch is the key to this Flashback!

Now I have to preface this by saying that my sack lunch was a real treat for me. It was one of these boxed dinners from Kentucky Fried Chicken.

We NEVER EVER or VERY RARELY ate out. I am not even sure how I lucked out and received this KFC treat for lunch. All I remember was the anticipation of knowing that I had my fried drumstick and little Styrofoam container of mashed potatoes to look forward to.

At lunch time we found ourselves ushered into a large very fancy room with a big dinning room table. We all sat around the table and were given instructions to place our lunch bags in front of us. Then to my horror we were told to pass our lunch bags to the right of us like musical chairs.

Say it isn't so! I was so disappointed! I wasn’t going to get to eat my KFC.

Being the selfless youngster that I was at the time I was at least obedient when told to shift my lunch to the right as instructed. However when it came time to open the unknown lunch in front of me I hastily reached out and snatched my box back and enjoyed my fried chicken.

Let’s just say that the concept of share and share alike was not in my character  back in those days.

Did you attend VBS (Vacation Bible School) when you were young?

NOPE!

Sunday School? Other church activities?

NOPE, again!

Was faith a Sunday-only thing or did it impact your life and the things you did?

Faith was non existent. It was not talked about or practiced.

If faith and church were not a part of your growing-up years, when and how did you begin and what drew you to God?

WOW! I will condense if that is possible!

Before my son was born my husbands and I began attending church.

In looking back upon my motives they were less that altruistic. In my twisted sense of things if I wanted to be the very definition of a “Good Mother” then the first requirement was taking my child to church. In my wonderfully warped maternal-ness I was winning extra brownie points for actually taking my child to church while still in utero. Patting myself on the back all the while telling myself that all the church-ness was just something folks did.

It was the proverbial “Do As I Say Not As I Do” theory.

I was there so my child could reap the rewards of a church upbringing. It did, not nor was it going to, have anything to do with me!

I am laughing at myself even as I typed those words.

God is so patient, so forgiving and so very compassionate.

My son was almost three years old, I had experience some of the worst years of my marriage, received a cancer diagnosis, sorting thought years of family dysfunction, as well as nearly having to file for bankruptcy before I came to realize that I could not lay the foundation for my child unless I was standing firmly upon it myself!

Twenty one years later and I am still here with my feet firmly planted upon the solid rock!

Y’all it was a hard journey! Lot’s of days it still is!

A lot of pain, suffering and turmoil have crossed my path, but when I allowed Jesus to come in something shifted within my heart and…well any believer can tell you that in that moment words fail.

Let me just give a BIG thank you to Mocha with Linda for today's Flashback Friday!

Talking about or I should say blogging about Jesus is my favorite thing in all the world!

Y’all head over to Mocha with Linda and link up to the Flashback Fun!

Blessings

R

 

 

Thursday, July 29, 2010

God is in the details… Thankful Thursday

 

Sometimes ya just have to give God the credit…

Another example of how God has even the very tiniest detail of our lives covered.

On Thursday afternoon during Campmeeting I went in search of some toilet paper for our cabin.

The Campground care take handed me over two rolls of this!

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This Heavenly Bathroom Tissue was yet another shinning example of how God covers every detail of my life with His provision.

Coincidence…maybe!

God-incidence absolutely!

On this Thursday I am very thankful for God Provision and His attention to detail!

Y’all head over to Greg’s General Store for more Thankful Thursday

Blessings

R

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Yellowstone National Park – Part Two: A Little Geyser Action

Cloudscapes, Geysers and Rebirth.

Yellowstone was the epitome of so many different examples of how great and creative God really is!

The color of the sky was out standing. I don’t know what the difference is but I can tell you that the sky is not this blue in my part of the country.

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The cloudscapes were just amazing!

The Continental Divide snakes around in Yellowstone and in the days that we were there we crossed over it several dozen times.  Every time we passed over a section of the continental divide I could not help but think of the pioneers of centuries ago who braved the wilderness to explore parts unknown.

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Being the true blue southerners that we are, in typical southern fashion, we lost out heads at the sight of snow.

Snow y’all!

Still on the ground and in late June.

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I am not sure what I found more fascinating.

The wildlife or the geysers.

I was not sure what I was expecting but I found all the geysers to be just amazing.

At nearly every turn I found myself in front of some geological formation or spouting geyser. Again my mind went to wandering. I thought about the very first people to happen upon Old Faithful and I wondered what they must have thought.

There were small geysers, large gurgling boiling steaming geysers, dormant geysers, paint pots, mineral springs and any other kind of natural wonder you could imagine.

My favorite were the paint pot geysers. They were the bubbling pots of slick slimy mud that popped and spurted like a thick pot of stew on to simmer.

The smells were…well if you like standing over a boiling pot of hard boiled eggs X 1000 then Yellowstone is the place to be.  The aromatic smell of sulfur was thick in the air. There were times when the steam would drift over me and I could feel the warm spray and I felt like I was in a warm misty cloud of sulfur. It was defiantly an experience for all of the senses.

Our first stop at Yellowstone was Old Faithful.

It is one of the larges and most predictable geysers in the park. It has a cycle that runs anywhere from every 90 to 120 minutes give, take a few minutes tossed in for good measure. The have installed long benches in a wide semi circle around the perimeter of Old Faithful. As the time for it’s next eruption draws near hundreds of people gather to wait. As we sat and waited we found ourselves being entertained by a group of young people who decide to start a wave like you do at a baseball game.

So… “What did you do on your summer vacation?”

“I did the “wave” while waiting for Old Faithful” will be a standard answer for now on.

Well here it is in all it’s glory…Old Faithful!

Before you give these two videos a view I will preface them by saying that try as I might I simply could not control the conversation of those around me. As I was trying to capture the wonders of the geysers for posterity folks simply seemed oblivious to the importance of the situation and were intent on continuing there conversations. The general public did not seem to understand the value of proper cinematography so please disregard the meaningful narration in some of the videos.

Well, in my humble opinion, still pictures just don't do geysers justice. I was literally blown away by all the various kinds of geyser action. The hissing, the steaming, the gurgling, the boiling, the churning and so on and on and on…it was just fascinating.

The steam rising from the ground was mesmerizing. Even though there were signs all around warning you of the dangers of stepping off the path it was hard not to envision just taking a small stroll over to get a closer look.

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The mineral deposits were colorful and beautiful.

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I think one of the most impactful things I observed was the slow recovery from the forest fire in 1988.

Even after 20 plus years the evidence of the fire is still visible.

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I found a very interesting article that gives a clear overview of how the fire started and the conditions that made it one of the largest forest fires to date in this country. If you want to know all about the fire click on the link above. It really is an interesting read.

After reading the article and then seeing for myself the evidence of the slow recovery and re birthing process it was even more clear to me just how phenomenal God really is. I came away from the experience was a deeper sense of just how God really has all things covered in His unfathomable and perfect way.

Even with the fire devastating millions of acres of the park there was still purpose in the devastation.

You could see the slow recovery.

You could see the new birth rising out of the ashes of the past.

It gives new meaning to the concept of God’s timing verses our perception of time.

The scripture always sums it up best with:

ISA 61:3 …to bestow on them a crown of beauty
   instead of ashes…

At the Grand Canyon I experienced a real sense of the “Great I Am” and the righteous fearful respect that is due His Majesty and Glory.

As we drove away from Yellowstone National Park I came away with a glimpse into God’s true creative genius and His masterpiece of knitting all the unique aspect of such a wondrous place in a powerful and breathtaking way.

God did some awesome work in Yellowstone Park y’all!

My next vacay post will a brief stop in Bozeman Montana and then on to Mount Rushmore.

If you missed any of the our marathon national park vacation posts so far then here are the links if you are so inclined!

Grand Canyon

Hoover Dam

Las Vegas

Zion National Park

Grand Tetons

Yellowstone Part One

Blessings

R

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Project 365 ~ Week 29 and 30

Project 365 button designed by http://richgift.blogspot.com

At least I think it’s week 29 and 30. My mind is a fuzzy blur with all the activity over the last few days. Since I was not able to post this past Sunday my 365 for this week will be a “two-fer” so hang on for an extended edition of 365.

Sunday, July 11,

We have been in the process of dong some organizing at least where the garage and back yard are concerned. A few project 365’s ago I shared with you about the installation of a garden shed in our back yard. Well with the addition of the new storage space in the back yard we have been able to do some purging in the garage as well. We spent the day clearing out the garage and now it actually looks like a garage. I share all this with you not to show you a picture of how great our garage looks now but to give you a look into my latest new project which came as a result of all our cleanliness.

When I was in high school and in my younger days of my marriage before the children came. I use to paint quite a bit.

I had a very large stack of old canvases that were sitting out in the garage literally gathering dust. It really is amazing at the things you look back on and the things you remember. As I was sorting through this rather large and dusty collection of canvases I managed to set aside several that I felt were worth keeping. However I had several canvasses that just needed to be put out of their misery. I brought them all in the house and gave them all a nice wash down and I made the comet to the hubs that I had a good mind to run out to the store and get some supplies and just start painting again.

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To my shock he said “you out to just throw down some carpet or something on the floor in the sun room and set up a small studio.”

Well given my husbands proclivity for neatness and I was a bit shocked that he had even suggested this. I did however seize that day and launched ahead with my plan. I cleared out a small space in our never used dinning room and rolled out some old vinyl flooring (which was also discovered in our garage purge) and set up my make shift studio.

I quickly dashed out the the hobby lobby for some supplies. After I recovered from the sticker shock of just how much a small tube of acrylic paint is I forged ahead with getting some of the canvases primed and ready.

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Monday, July 12,

Monday morning I had a date with the veggies at the co-op garden. Me, myself and I and another gentlemen picked almost 90 pounds of fresh veggies for the local co-op.

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The produce filled dup the entire back of my car.

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I drove it over the our co-op. Y’all I had never been to the co-op before and it was kinda neat to have the full circle kinds of experience.

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Tuesday, July 13

I am about half way through with the priming.

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It has been over 15 years since I even picked up a pencil to sketch anything. I decide to begin with a few preliminary sketch before diving into a canvas full stream ahead. I wend through some of my vacation pictures for our past trips and pulled out some of the more memorable photo's and just kinda doodled getting my fingers used to the idea again.

I also worked on a few pencil sketches of my DD which did not turn out to bad, but you gota start somewhere!

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Wednesday, July 14

The tomatoes are just beginning to ripen.

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Thursday, July 15

We were down by half!

My small group meets on Thursday evening and it was just me a skoots1mom so we went to our favorite coffee shop which just happens to be right around the corner from my house. The man that owns the Coffee Shoppe is very sweet and he makes a mean low fat decaff mocha frappe that is to die for!

Skoots indulged and we shared a banana cupcake which was pretty awesome as well!

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Friday, July 16

It was a domestic day on the home front. I had made a trip to the H Mart and every time I go there I keep passing by the ox tails in the meat section. Well I did not pass them by this trip. I snatch out a hefty package and called the dd and had her read me the recipe over the phone to make sure I had all the ingredient in my basket before I left he store.

Y’all they were so good. It is defiantly a keeper.

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I have learned my lesson.

At the H Mart they sell these small containers of peeled garlic. I love it.

However most times I usually end up tossing a good bit of it out. This time I thought I would try something different. I emptied half of the container out onto a sheet pan and tossed it with olive oil and set it to roast in the oven.

45 minutes later and a small mason jar full of olive oil and now I have a nice stash of roasted garlic at my disposal in the refrigerator anytime I should decide to use it!

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Saturday, July 17

After pricing artist easels at the hobby lobby and deciding that I did not want to spend $150.00 for one I began to to a bit of research on the internet.

Don't y'all just love it. After a few minute I had some free building plans for a very simple easel in my hot little hand. Over the oxtail stew I handed the plans to the husband and he looked over the plans and announced “I  think I can do that!”

Y’all I have the best husband. The very next day he came home from his small men's groups with the supplies sticking out of the back of his car.

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It will be so nice to get off the floor. I can’t wait to get started.  When all was said and done I think we got this puppy done for under $40.00! I like that a whole lot better than $150.00!!!!

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After all our hard work assembling the easel (it really was a very simple project y’all) I rewarded us all with a nice peach cobbler.

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Sunday, July 18

My favorite time of the summer.

Campmeeting, Saturday after we finished the easel project I packed up all my campmeeting stuff and went out to set  up house at the campgrounds.

I have to share with y’all, I had been listening to all the plans that have been happening over that last few months of some of the improvement out at the campground. I was a bit skeptical and a bit fearful in a ‘Let’s not mess with tradition” kind of way, however I will say that I have never seen the campground look more beautiful.

It was beautiful, but it was one of the hottest campmeeting weeks that I can remember.

Hot, Hot Hot! I don't thing we had a day under 90 and with the heat index we were topping 105!

My sweet little muffin head had this wonderful grass to run around on, and y’ll she bout ran my bohunkis off. That’s all she did. When her little feet hit the ground she took off like a shot.

Run was the word for the week!

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Monday, July 19

Monday night we actual had a traditional “Call to Worship” just like the Israelites of long ago. Sitting under the tabernacle and listening to the shofar blow was a deep and meaningful experience.

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Tuesday, July 20

Tuesday Morning Service 07-20-2010

Each day we have a morning bible study at 9:30 and then an 11:00 a.m. worship service. Before the little once head off the the children program they spend time with us under the arbor. It is so fun to watch them all yelling there little heads off shouting out hymn request to our choir director.

The young and the old all under one tabernacle all worshiping together. It just is my favorite thing in all the world.

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The Tuesday evening meal is the culinary highlight of the week. No that the food is not wonderful all week long but Tuesday night is JOY Class night. The Joy class is the older adult class that had been around forever and is close to 90 member strong. Well there is always an abundance of wonderful food but on Joy Class night the tables seem to be filled to over flowing.

It was wonderful y’all I just wish all y’all could have shared in it with me!

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Wednesday, July 21

Are we special or what?

Moses came to help out with the children's sermon on Wednesday evening!

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Thursday, July 22

My DD enlisted the help of her girl pack to corral the grandchild, she was still in running mode.

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I love so much about campmeeting.

My cabin is just directly behind the arbor and in the evenings after all have made there way back home those of us that say the night will gather out in front of the cabins in our chairs and just talk and listen the the crickets.

The middle schooler's arrive on Tuesday afternoon and each evening they gather for there special worship time. They sing and worship together. The sound of their youthful worship just drifts down to us as we are sitting under the oak trees in front of my cabin.

It just doesn't get much better than that in my opinion.

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Friday, July 23

Is there anything sweeter that watching a groups of young ones at the alter?

At the close of our morning worship these young ladies all made there way up to the alter together and all knelt together to pray. I was so moved by watching these young ladies who will no doubt one day teach there children to do the very same thing.

It just about broke my heart with tenderness.

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This in the cabin that I stay in.  Myself and the smiling face in the yellow shirt have been sharing this cabin since 2004 when they had to tear our old cabin down. I was sad to see it go but I think the only thing that was holding that old cabin together was the Holy Spirit. IMG_3924  Just some silly-ness!

Oh to be young and carefree. Don't ya just remember those day of hanging with your gal pal’s and having that silly summer fun?IMG_3926  

Saturday, July 24

The youth end campmeeting (let me just say that I do not attend this all nighters, I am safely and snugly sleeping during al this merriment) with an all night lock in at a local arcade. So after an evening of putt putt golf, arcade games and bumper cars we drag ourselves home early on Saturday morning and hastily unpack the car and then fall into bed for a short nap.

I did reward myself with a spur of the moment decision to go and get a pedicure. Y’all my feet were so tired after pounding around in al that sawdust. It was good y’all!

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After my pedicure I just shut my eyes and handed over the credit card to the cashier at the Hobby Lobby and bought some acrylic paints and a few paint brushed. It wasn't really that horribly expensive but I just have a clear memory of how much I used to pay for a small tube of paint.

I have to tell ya it just ain't that way any more.

So with my supplies at the ready I hope to be able to have some time this next week to get started. Y’all just pray that the end result will not be to tragic!

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Well that’s it for my marathon two week edition of project 365.

Now that Campmeeting is behind me the summer will pretty much begin to wind down seeing as school starts in just a few weeks. My hope is that things will begin to return to something that resembles normal.

 

For more 365 fun y’all head over to Sara’s and link up!

Blessings

R

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

It’s that time again!

I think everyone in the blogoshpere has taken a collective vacation, as for me it’s time for Campmeeting

Tuesday Morning Service 07-20-2010

I’ll be back next week with all my campmeeting insights and some additional vacay post as well!

I hope y’all find a cool spot to sit a spell!

I’m hanging out nightly under the arbor with my fan and enjoying being in the presence of the body of Christ.

Blessings

R

Friday, July 16, 2010

Flashback Friday ~ “Because I SAID So…”

I have to tell y’all that I love this weeks prompt from Mocha with Linda!

What sort of sayings, colloquialisms, or proverbs did your family say when you were growing up?

My grandmother, y’all I miss her so much sometimes!!!!!

She had one expression that stands out in my my mind. I may have even shared it with all of y’all before, but it is worthy of repetition.

I can just hear her now “You want what you want when you want it!  When you get what you want, you don’t want what you want, but you want what you want when you want it!”

Now Grandma was by far indulgent, the practice of going out and picking my own switch off the tree on more than a few occasion will attest to her firm hand. She also was wonderfully generous in her own special way. I remember her sliding the random slice my way as she peeled peaches for our desert after supper. I remember there was always a cold green glass bottle of seven-up in the refrigerator, vanilla ice cream in the freezer, a tootsie pop from the corner grocery store and modeling clay in the basement.

My mom, on the other hand used to say “You have to do the have to’s before you can do the want to’s!”  In looking back this my be an abbreviated and modified from the aforementioned Grandma-isim.

When were they used?

The two statements were bandied about during those enviable moments which began with “Mom/Grandma can I…”

What do you find yourself saying that you vowed you would never say?

I can think of many things that I have tried to avoid that fall under the category of  “When I’m a mom I’ll never …”, but in all honest I have heard myself say both of these two statements. I will share it is with a sweet memory when I think of my grandma.

The reality is that truth is truth. I really do think your should accomplish the have to’s before you can move on to the want to’s. Or at least you should strive for that goal! It makes the want to’s so much more enjoyable in my opinion when they are not burdened by the loose ends of things that are waiting for you when you get back!

What do you say that drives your kids nuts?

My parental philosophy: Never say yes when a firm maybe will do! The DD is constantly whining about my inevitable “We’ll see” or “Maybe!” and I get the ever popular “You always say that and then we never do it!”

Is there a regional aspect to your speech?

Hey there Y’all, I’m a southern girl all the way.

It didn’t start out that way but after 4oish years well there is no turning back! I do have one very distinct memory of coming home from school shortly after our move from down from Ohio. I came and told my mother that I was having a hard time understanding my teacher.

I asked my mom, “What’s a DAAAAAAWGA?”

It was all downhill after that. Having a pliable young mind my Yankee ways were quickly replaced by my slow and drawn out southern lilt!

Do you have an accent and were you ever teased about it?

I don’t recall ever being teased about my southern drawl, I do remember my grandpa being very intrigued by the differences in our speech when we would go up for visits over summer vacation.

I don’t actually remember this but when I was a toddler my grandfather taught me to count backwards from 10 in honor of the Mercury Astronauts. “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…BLAST OFF!” and then he would pick me up and lift me into the air like I was taking off into space just like John Glenn! I have a vague memory of sitting on his lap watching a lift off on television and him counting down along with the television announcer. 

When my sister and me would go up for summer vacations I remember my Grandpa saying “Count to ten for me, I’ll give you a dollar!” Obediently we would lay on our thickest southern drawl and give it all we had. “Wooonaa, Tuaa, threaaeee, fowrea, fiiive….” and so on and then pop our little hands out to receive a silver dollar or sometimes four quarters!

Gotta love grandma and grandpa!

Gotta love Mocha with Linda for Flashback Friday! Y’all head over and join in on the fun!

Blessings

R

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Yellowstone National Park – Part One: Wildlife in Abundance and Babbling Brooks to Awesome Waterfalls…

We hit Yellowstone on Friday, June 25, 2010.

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What can I say about Yellowstone National Park?

It was amazing!

One day in the golden years of our retirement I hope to go back and really spend some time there. In the two and a half-ish days that we were there we hit all the high spots but there was just so much to see and do.

I would love to have an RV and just park it in a camping spot and then just stay for a while.

“Yellowstone National Park, encompassing 2.2 million acres, is one of America's premier wilderness areas. Most of the park is backcountry and managed as wilderness. Over 1,100 miles (1770 km) of trails are available for hiking.”

I would also love to spend some time hiking those 1,100 miles of trails or just hanging out in the shade of one of the pines sitting beside one of the amazing vistas or one of the variety of waterways. It was quite possible the most wide and varied collection of natural wonders all in one place that I have ever encountered. IMG_2868

One of the most fascinating aspects of Yellowstone is of course the wildlife.

I will admit to a moment of childlike joy when we came up on our first lumbering herd of buffalo. In our urban society we have lost so very much of how things used to be. Each day as we traveled down the various roads through the park  my thoughts would linger on what it must have been like for those first brave pioneers who came upon this place long ago. I wondered what they must have thought and how they lived side by side with the buffalo and the elk!

From the national park website I read that the bison population fluctuates from 2300 to 4500 animals. We only saw a few hundred but when we were privileged to come up on a small herd it was an amazing thing to behold.

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And for a bit of comic relief, you can’t have buffalo without the you know what!

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The Elk were amazing as well!

“More than 30,000 elk from 7-8 different herds summer in Yellowstone and approximately 15,000 to 22,000 winter in the park.”

That’s a lotta Elk y’all!

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The Mule Deer

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The Bison, I loved watching the little ones chase after their momma’s for an afternoon snack!

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Nap time!

Picture 557

 

A Bald Eagle!

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Eagle Nest Here

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An American White Pelican, and I thought they were only at the ocean!!!!!

The hubs told me that as we were standing beside this stretch of rapids he saw several large trout jump out of the water. We stood for a while hoping to see Mr. Pelican grab a bit of lunch but after a few moments we decided it was time to move one.

Mr. Pelican had way more patience than we did!

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This was the largest collection of animals we saw all in once place. They were spread out along the valley floor just lazing about. There were many more and I was sorely wishing I had a wide angle lens to be able to capture them all.

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These next few shots will give evidence to exactly jut how adept I got at capturing the full essence of the Yellowstone experience. Wildlife being just that “wild” it seems that they lack the ability to understand proper photographic composition. Try as I might to will them with my telepathic powers of persuasion they seemed intent on sharing the view of the grand and glorious hind quarters.

A Grizzly Bear butt, he/she was a smaller one, maybe a youngster by the size. As per usual anytime there was a traffic tie up in Yellowstone you could feel certain that there was some kind of wild life to blame.

On this particular occasion we found ourselves in bumper to bumper traffic for quite some time when finally we glimpsed what all the fuss was about. The DD and I jumped out of the car along with all the other folks who were standing in the brush on the the side of the road.

We were rewarded with these wonderful shot of the hind end of a grizzly bear. We were content to watch it slowly lumber along completely oblivious to all the commotion  he/she was causing. IMG_3187Two black bears or two black bear butts!  We got there just a bit to late. These two beauties were high tailing it for the tree line when we approached the crowd of onlookers. We spotted them way off in the distance just as they were heading for parts unknown. A gentleman standing next to the hubs shared a picture he had just snapped a few moments before of these two bears prancing across the parking lot sending the gathered crowds scattering.

Drat1 We missed it!

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A Uinta Ground Squirrel…who knew! Not me anyway!

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We pulled around a small bend in the road and there was this lovely Mule Deer nibbling on the grass on the side of the road. It was a perfect side shot. As the hubs slowed the car so I could hop out and take a picture this lovely creature, who I am sure is quite familiar with the paparazzi,  turned her best side to me and this is the shot I got. 

IMG_3261 A Coyote, and yes he caused another traffic jam!

I got a picture of his hind end, which after all the previous rear end shots have shared, I will spare you all the joys of that one! However I borrowed this picture from the DD as Mr. Coyote quickly trotted across the road in front of our car. She got a good shot of him from her side of the car!

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Here is a very short video of some of the wildlife, what can I say Marlin Perkins I’m not but it gives you some sense of how they move about! It’s hard to hold the camera steady when you are zooming in from a distance! So apologies for the shakiness in some areas!

 

In addition to the wild life I was equally impressed with the waterways at Yellowstone. At every tune there was either a babbling brook, raging rapids, powerful waterfall or long lazy river.

This is what they call The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and this picture below is the view from the south rim of the canyon.

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Word fail to describe the feeling of looking at such a powerful force of nature. I think the Psalmist had it down thought!

PS 42:7 Deep calls to deep
   in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
   have swept over me.

I really did get the feeling of being swept away as I stood and watched all the water rush over the edge!

It was amazing!

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I share theses next pictures with you with a note of caution. The hotel we stayed at in West Yellowstone, Montana was in fact on of the more inexpensive ones we could find. I will say that the rooms were clean and the bed was comfortable but my praise for this establishment stops there. The lobby was rustic and there was a nice big fireplace, however, I was less than impressed with the professionalism of the staff. The continental breakfast they served up each morning was enough to make you give up breakfast altogether. I would have been much happier with a drive through Egg McMuffin from the McDonalds down the street!

If you are looking for someplace cheap to lay your head, and in my tightfisted grasp of a dollar I thought it was way over priced for the accommodations in my humble opinion, then this establishment may fit the bill. If you want a decent breakfast, well I still can’t find the words sufficient to adequately to describe the horrific coffee experience each morning then run and run fast in the opposite direction of the Stage Coach Inn! 

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Sadly this was the only Moose we encountered during our time at Yellowstone.

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I will say that I was not very impressed with West Yellowstone, Montana either. From what I could gather this small town simple grew out of necessity as it is just a few yards just outside the West entrance to the park. We tried to find accommodations inside the park but with our planning be so sudden all the hotels inside the park were full up. It was a very small town and most of the business and stores are only open from April through October. I was not impressed with the restaurants at all. I thought they were all over priced and the food just a bit ordinary. We did find a few establishments that offered a dinner entree for under $10.00 but the average price for a dinner entrée at most of the restaurant was in the $15.00 to $25.00 dollar range. I thought that was a bit OUTRAGIOUS!

Well I had to concede that this was not a vacation for fine dining. In all honesty we did not come for the food, so we took a deep breath and just made the best of the situation!

I will say that everything was with in walking distance of our hotel and we did enjoy a nightly stop at the local DQ after dinner on the way back to our hotel!

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We did have fun tracking all the painted Buffalo around town. Click here to read about the Painted Roaming Buffalo of West Yellowstone! I am not sure how many there were but he had fun searching for them!

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Here is the 411 on how Yellowstone got it’s name!

Yellowstone's name is historically credited to the Native Americans who lived in and around the park area. The name is basically derived from the Yellowstone River. The Yellowstone River has high yellow rock cliffs along its banks in the northern area of the present day park.

The Native American Minnetaree tribe called the river "Mi tsi a da zi," which means "Rock Yellow River." French fur trappers translated this to "Yellow Rock" or "Yellow Stone." Hence Yellowstone was named.”

Well that’s it for Yellowstone Part One, plus the DD has been patiently waiting for me to vacate the desktop so she can have her turn. Y’all I really miss my laptop!

If you have missed any of my previous vacay post’s here are the links to them!

Grand Canyon

Hoover Dam

Las Vegas

Zion National Park

Grand Tetons

My next post will be on the Geyser Action at Yellowstone, it was defiantly an experience in the senses!

Blessings

R

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