Bill-on-the-Hill

So what's an "eephus ball"?

Bill-on-the-Hill

First, the Web Site du Jour: http://www.taosortho.com, and if you're wondering what an orthopedic clinic has to do with travel, read on.

Bill-on-the-Hill

Haven't updated this in ages, largely because I've been a stay-at-home lately, so until I resume traveling, a question for the readers assembled: what, to you, is the quintessence of bad driving, and where do you find it?

Bill-on-the-Hill

I'm not doing much traveling right now, but that's okay, because we're in one of those few-times-a-century periods when to see something remarkable, all you have to do is get outside and look up. Well, that and get away from city lights, of which more later.

Bill-on-the-Hill

It should come as no surprise that I'm a baseball fan, and I'm glad to see that a growing number of people around the world are likewise. There is a beauty to a well-played ballgame that simply isn't there in any other team sport I know of, and I've played a lot and watched a lot more. But being forced to play the most important games of the (American) major-league season under conditions better suited for, say, skiing, just to keep the media moguls happy and in clover, well ... Soapbox time here, albeit with a personal travel overlay.

Bill-on-the-Hill

All good things must end, including this trip. After a fairly unsatisfactory night in West Yellowstone, we packed up and went back to the Upper Geyser Basin for one last bit of gazing, of which I must make an admission: that great shot of Grand Geyser from my earlier report was actually taken on this day. Poetic license and all that. Still no action from Giant Geyser, so I won't repeat the description of the joys of "the Cage", even though we did spend more time there before heading south. I will, however, make some remarks on geyser-gazer sociology.

Bill-on-the-Hill

The destination (Yellowstone National Park, specifically the Upper Geyser Basin) and goal (geyser gazing, particularly at the elusive Giant Geyser) today were the same as yesterday, so let me dispense with the travelogue and get to the fun stuff: the sociology of the Geyser Gazer, including some really remarkable people, one of whom became our companion for an eerie and memorable evening. Still no Giant, alas, but a day to remember anyway.

Bill-on-the-Hill

Mainly more of the same today, with the main attraction (Giant Geyser) continuing to be coy. There was some fine wildlife watching to go along with the geyser gazing, however, and some excellent advice from the hard-core gazers led to a surprisingly good dinner in a place that I didn't know offered any edible food at all.

Bill-on-the-Hill

Labor Day, and the start of some serious geyser gazing. We saw a number of things we had never seen before, and had some close-up wildlife encounters. However, the thing that will stick in our minds from this day, entirely consistent with our experience on the Italian volcanoes, was the one we did not see -- just barely.

Bill-on-the-Hill

From here on for a few days, it's geysers, geysers, geysers, so if you're not interested in the subject, I suggest you give this and the next few entries a pass. For that matter, I suggest you seek therapy, because if you can't get into the idea of staring, jaws a-gape, at the spectacle of boiling fountains of incredible scenic beauty bursting from the ground in quantities unparalleled anywhere else on earth, there's probably something wrong with you, IMO.