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Yellowstone NP: The Current State of Bear Affairs
While visiting Yellowstone National Park at the end of May, my parents and I spent at least half of our time watching the wildlife. While many of these animals mostly reside in Yellowstone these days, at one point the entire stretch of the Rocky Mountains sported all these animals. Some still do, such as elk, deer, and big horn sheep, but grizzly bears, wolves, and bison were once in danger of disappearing from the lower 48, so Yellowstone is one of the few places to observe them. However, park boundaries are arbitrary to wildlife and these animals' territory has expanded.
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Where the Buffalo Roam–Some Thoughts on Yellowstone NP
National Parks remind me that once the whole west was as starkly beautiful and untouched by exploitation. But no longer. Yellowstone reminds me how, then and now, control is everything. Not harmony. Control. In 1872, the land of Yellowstone NP didn't have to be protected from Native American tribes who had called it home for centuries. It only needed to be protected from us.
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Yellowstone NP: Cruising the Crater of a Super Volcano
Much of Yellowstone National Park is a super volcano worthy of end of the world sci-fi movies, but my favorite part was the previously-not-known-to-me Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the wildlife watching. The snow is two feet deep in places and nonexistent in others. Rivers bulge at the seams, and some valleys flood entirely, calm waters mirroring the trees they swamp. Oh, yeah. And we're doing it all in the camper van.
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Seek and Ye Shall Find (Antlers)
So, I went antler hunting. Yes, that's a thing. Male elk, deer, and moose lose their antlers every spring, and people go looking for them. Like a giant Easter Egg hunt, except a lot more uncertain and a lot heavier load if you find some.
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Awestruck in the Arctic: an Aurora Borealis Gallery
From the first human who tipped their head back to watch the fierce and brilliant otherworldly lights, there have been myths to explain the phenomenon of the aurora borealis. The stories of the aurora are wide and varied, but each suggests something greater than ourselves, greater than humanity. And I felt that, head tipped back, breath misting the air. I felt like I could almost touch them, like I was so close to something more.
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The Last Nine People (and One Dog) on Earth
On Wednesday the 5th of April, I woke up at Yellow Dog Lodge in the Northwest Territories as one of the last people on earth. Only a few miles away from the quaint, off-the-grid lodge and cabin complex where we resided, the world as I knew it cut off, dropped away. Frankly, it just ended, like the edge of a flat-worlder's map. I don't know what happened to the people beyond the end point, but I came to terms with it pretty quickly. There was there, and here was here. And I was here. One of the last people on earth.
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The Wonder of the Aurora at Yellow Dog Lodge
Fifteen minutes after midnight, I am napping in an armchair and Mom and Mason are sprawled on the coach. Then Gordon pokes his head in and says the magic words: "I see the aurora." We leap from our seats (literally) and pull on layer after layer of clothes. It's about 10 degrees outside, so I'm tugging on my gloves and mitten covers and simultaneously trying to put my phone on my cheap tripod. We clatter outside and tip our heads back and there...
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Kicking Off the New Year with Gods and Heroes
A list of eight recent historical fantasy books for those who enjoy gods, heroes, and the high stakes that come when the two clash.
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Kaikeyi: the Evil Step-Mother We All Wish We Could Be
In a tale of myths and gods and heroes, Kaikeyi is merely a woman trying to find power over her own life, but when her destiny clashes with the gods, she must decide if her beliefs and hopes for the world are worth destroying her family.
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High-Up in The Austrian Alps: 48 Hours in Innsbruck
We took a small local train that wove through the mountains like a snake, stopping in small towns with peaked train stations and only a few roads stretching off into the emerald-green hills. We went over bridges that spanned deep ravines and we were even with the clouds that settled low over the valley. A hawk soared beneath the struts of one bridge just as we crossed. Then we emerged high in the mountains over Innsbruck.
