the grand canyon of the yellowstone.

we just got "home" after a day of girlie fun in jackson and teton village.  i got my very first massage today.  i got oiled up by a strange russian man in a darkish room, with easy listening jazz on the stereo, and i didn't feel too weird about it at all.  and then there was coffee and sushi and carmel apples.  it's looking a little bit like fall here, but i'm getting excited for autumn in the midwest.  i'm headed to southern illinois and minneapolis and wisconsin in just 22 days!  

mud volcanoes, thermal pools, geyser runoff, fire and brimstone
(at midway geyser basin, artists' paint pots and the west thumb geyser basin)

how to feel better about everything:
put on paul simon "graceland" and drive to the lake.

starting the weekend off right: a hike to faery falls after work, and a scramble up to the grand prismatic overlook, and a stroll around the black sand geyser basin.  the landscape is so strange and beautiful here, we can't help but "oooh" and "ahhh" our way across it.

i'm working at the old faithful inn for the last five weeks of the summer.  old faithful is an entirely different animal.  roosevelt was small and rustic and often quiet.  here there are people everywhere, swarming the old faithful boardwalk, running around with geyser schedules, hoping to see things erupt, photographing everything.  

and there are amenities here that i had all but forgotten about - phone and internet and bike paths and a salad bar full of veggies!  

the hotel dining room is enormous.  i have been working nonstop since i got here and i'm feeling overwhelmed.  no time for adventuring in this new part of yellowstone like i wanted to.  but i will all be worth it come november - i need some mad money for the TRIP TO PUERTO RICO that i just booked!  bring on the beach!  

we served the final roosevelt breakfast, 
deep cleaned the kitchen, and then 
partied our asses off for three days solid.  
go out with a bang.  

Roosevelt Lodge closes tomorrow.  i'm not at all sad about it, but i'm not ready to be unemployed yet,  so i'm extending my contract for six more weeks.  on wednesday i move to the south part of the park, to Old Faithful Lodge, the Death Star.

...

photos
1&2) Bison bison
3) the yellowstone river near calcite springs
4) the holy rollers
5) cascades of the Firehole
6) forest fire summer
7) the Hoodoos
8&9) Uncle Tom's Trail