Serendipity

Emily and I wanted to tell you about some of the little unexpected moments of delight that we had during our trip. Here are just a few:

- As we were driving into the sunset in southern Minnesota, we saw wind turbines silhouetted against the brilliant red sky.

- In Badlands National Park, Emily got out of the car to photograph some cactus flowers, and heard the chirping of prairie dogs warning each other of our presence. We had stumbled upon a prairie dog town.

- Near the highest point on the Bear Tooth Highway, Emily decided to take a drink. She opened her water bottle, and it sprayed water, like a can of soda that had been shaken before opening. The water bottle had been filled in the valley, and the difference in air pressure made the water explode from the bottle when opened at high altitude.

- When we finally got to Yellowstone, we got out of the car and took pictures of each other at the Yellowstone National Park sign. And I burst into tears of joy. Literally. I wasn't expecting that reaction, but I had wanted to go to Yellowstone for all my life, and the drive had been so long, and the buildup so intense, that my emotions spilled over.

- Upon entering the park, we hadn't gone a quarter mile when we saw our first wildlife, and it was a moose! No one else we talked to the entire time we were there saw a moose. The moose population has decreased since the fires of 20 years ago, and we were lucky to see one.

- As we were watching Old Faithful erupt, two other geysers in the same area started erupting at the same time - so we were seeing three geysers erupt in a line.

- We were unprepared for the awesome beauty of the sight of the Lower Falls and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. I was trying to express how gorgeous it was, and Emily just said, "No words. No words." And we just looked at it in silence. She was right. There are no words.

- Somewhere along the road in Montana (I think) we saw real cowboys in real cowboy hats riding horses and herding cattle.

- In eastern Washington, tumbleweed blew across the road, just like in old Western movies.

- We stopped at a Best Western in Ritzville, Washington to see if they had accommodations for us for the night. While I was inside inquiring, Emily was outside photographing the sunset behind a wheatfield and a farm (that became one of our Photos of the Day). It turned out to be the nicest place we stayed, and one of the least expensive.

- While stopped at the scenic overlook by the Columbia River, I saw a little red-bellied lizard among the sagebrush. It ran away before I could photograph it.

- We arrived at the ferry terminal in Vancouver with no idea of the ferry schedule. It turned out we were about five minutes before the cut-off. We couldn't have planned it better if we had known the schedule.