The bison have just dropped their calves, so many of them still have a part of their umbilical cords still attached to them. After witnessing this calf, a larger bison came lumbering around the corner munching on grasses. 
This entire herd came to say hello just outside my window.
Then around 8:30 pm, I was greeted by a wonderful sunset. 
I was thinking that, being that WY is moderately close to Alaska, it would have really long days too. But, the sun sets at a reasonable hour, and rises around 6:30 am.
On my second day, Kate and I rose at an early 5:30 am to head to the office by 6:30. Along with Todd (fisheries overlord) and Mike, my supervisor, we drove down to Yellowstone Lake to begin orientation and training. Usually, the drive to Lake is around 1 hour and 45 minutes. But, construction on the way caused our drive to extend to a lengthy 2 hours and 30 minutes. Though this diversion created some grumbles, I was glad to take the long route and witness the beauty of Yellowstone. About 1 hour into the drive, we came across a road jam to find that the commotion was centered on a large grizzly just 40 yards from the road. Of course, as fate would have it, my camera was in the bed of the truck, unreachable to my fevered grasp. Never fear, though, another convoy of fisheries folk following behind us stopped and took pictures, so I just have to get some from them. Just a half hour later, we were stuck in another jam, this time caused by a herd of buffalo. About 30 or 40 bison were just taking their sweet old time, trotting down the entire width of the road. A quick scan along some of car passenger faces had some people looking frightened, others snapping away without either hand on the wheel, and one man literally shouting and waving his arms, apparently hoping that such behavior will quicken their pace. About half way, we made a stop in the "town"of Old Faithful to use the facilities. I took a quick photo of Old Faithful in the meantime:
Unfortunately, we couldn't stay 90 minutes to see the eruption, but I'll see it another time.
After work that day, Brian, one of the fish biologists, took us to one river where Harlequin ducks reside. 
I wasn't able to get too close, unfortunately, so the ducks look really tiny. It was pretty amazing how they were able to keep up with all of the ebb and flow of the fast current. It looked like they were having a ton of fun diving down into the water.
Also during our stay out at Lake, we saw two coyotes. The treat was so brief though, so I didn't get a chance to take a picture. I first thought I was seeing a wolf, because I wasn't used to seeing such large, gray coyotes. The ones in Florida are so small in comparison.
This next photo is of my backyard. No, really. 
The landscape is so different than what I'm used to. The vegetation is pretty scrubby, with few trees lying in lower elevations (makes for answering nature's call pretty difficult). Many of the trees and plants here consist of lodgepole pine, blue spruce, juniper, and few wildflowers. The area is also largely brown, and surprisingly (for me, at least), many of the areas are still covered in heavy snow. Around Lake, snow drifts as tall as 10 feet or higher were seen all along roadways and within the woods. Everybody here says the snow is taking longer to melt this year. (I'm most likely going to have to snowshoe this next week as we start hiking in backcountry!) Though that is the case, this entire week I've been basking in the sun (no rain) in temperatures around 66 degrees. At night, it gets in the thirties. 
I thought this mountain was super cool. You can see all of the water lines, reaching as far as the top of the slope.
Opposite this stood Mammoth Hot Springs. To get better views of the area, the NPS installed boardwalks running all alongside of the springs, reaching as far up as 6,600 feet.
So, yesterday and today, I had some time to walk into town and check out these natural wonders. These springs are formed from the upwelling of water from underlying limestone. The water is naturally scalding (I tested it out today) and huge clouds of steam rise as the surrounding air is much cooler. The main chemical compounds that derive from the limestone-hot water mix rise up from the rock, creating calcium carbonate deposits throughout the entire area. The deposits are in the form of travertine, which forms the terraces of the springs. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my all-weather gloves to steal some travertine for the bathroom floor for you, Mom. You'll have to come prepared when you arrive in July. Anyway, what makes the awesome colors of orange, white, green, brown and an amalgam of others that are seen in these creations are these creatures called thermopiles, that live in the rock. They are some of the only creatures that can live in such an environment.
The spring facing the road is Canary Spring. 
This next one (above) is the largest of the terraces, named Minerva terrace. The kinds of formations these springs create is absolutely astounding. 
This here spring is the Cleopatra terrace. While walking throughout the numerous miles of boardwalks, I couldn't help but notice a smell of sulfur. There was a distinct, fart-like smell pervading my nostrils the entire walking adventure. (Take comfort in that thought, Dad, as it was like you were there right with me.) After reading one of the interpretative boards, I learned that the putrid stench was a result of hydrogen sulfide that was being released. 
The picture above is of the town of Mammoth, looking down from one of the many boardwalks. When I was hanging out in front of Minerva Spring, I looked to the right of me and noticed these beauties relaxing on top of a dormant spring. The elk and bison around Mammoth are so acclimated to human activity, that they act fairly comfortable when in close proximity to people.
Most of them look pretty ragged right now, as they are shedding their winter coats. 
Along the hike home, I saw another sight, reminiscent of my days in Alaska: Elk poo! Looks really similar to moose poo, doesn't it?
Remember what I said about dirty, inconsiderate hikers, Mom? See Exhibit A:
Saw some pretty flowers to make up for it, though.
I just had to take this picture.
Another shot of the sunlight hitting the vegetation.
Anyway, that's all for now. I haven't included any photos from my day in Mammoth today, but I will next time. Got to check off a yellow-bellied marmot and ground squirrel from the list!
This is how it looks further away. There was a nice little sitting area out front. I used to sit out here on sunny days and nestle in on a comfortable spot, and bask in the warmth of the sun, often reading the sage words of my buddy John Muir. 
This is the wall to the left from the front door. Those three racks are where we displayed our merchandise. 
This is the wall of the front door. The thing jutting out from the wall is a register, for visitors to sign-in to and write where they were from. On the back wall there is a huge map of the Kenai and Katmai peninsulas. This is one of my favorite maps I used. I wish I had my own. I often would walk over from the table you see there on the left and show visitors the area they were in (and potential areas they wanted to visit). 
This is the main desk area. I sat behind this and looked all official like a park ranger. Or at least I tried to at least... 
Another view of the map. As you see up above, there's a skylight in the ceiling. As I've already mentioned, this building, being in the middle of nature, had no electronic/electric capabilities. So there was no light whatsoever, except natural light.
The Queen's chair. I spent a good amount of time here. Me and chair became fast friends...it was a good thing he didn't mind me sitting on him. Behind the desk there, as you can see, is a lot of books, pamphlets, and other paper. All of this was informational resources I could use to help advise visitors on hiking, fishing, hunting, etc., etc.
This is also something I was very intimate with. The infamous tracker. I drove this beaut back and forth to the VCS whenever I worked there.
View of the kitchen and dining room area. Not sure if you noticed this, but, we had two refridgerators! That was nice. One you can see is on the left, the other you can see from the previous photo. This table experienced many fun times. Lots of eating, cooking, and the occasional BEST GAME EVER was played here. 
This is the living room, and our small, small tv. There's Eve. Sadly, she's no longer in AK. But I'm sure she's enjoying being back with the fam. To the left of this photo and beyond is a hallway that leads to two bedrooms and a bathroom.
Beautiful Eve again! This a view of the living room from the other side. Beyond this photo to the right is a hallway that also leads to two bedrooms and a bathroom. 
My room! To the left is Julia's bunk. Mine is the impeccably clean one straight ahead. Kades, you can see your heart there on the wall. :) 
And that, my friends (do I remind you of anyone? McCain, perhaps?) is the bunkhouse. The front of Eve's truck (that is no longer in her possession, but some other lucky dude's) is to the right. Many times I saw moose right up against the door there or near the windows.
This is the pathway we walked everyday to get to the main visitors' center. If you remember that photo from way back, the black momma bear and her two cubs was just below that first curve. Pretty close to the bunkhouse, huh?
This is the EE building, where Eve mostly worked. It's fairly new...I think only four years old or something like that. This is where we had a lot of our trainings, and also where a lot of fun programs for children were held. We had wild flower and wild berry fun days here.
This is on the Keen Eye Trail. It eventually leads to headquarters lake, and also hooks on to the Forest Loop trail. The Keen Eye Trail is the hike I led on wild berry fun day. :) 
On the boardwalk, looking out at the black spruce trees. This was an absolutely stunning day. Sunny, cool, and shining. Clouds were amazing.
Another photo of the lookout area. 
