I started my day driving north through Yellowstone National Park to Mammoth Springs. Again a great variety of different scenery along the way. At one point I thought I was seeing snowcapped mountains, but it turned out to be travetine which is a white mineral produced by the hot springs interacting with the rocks. I did a short walk at Mammoth Springs . I didn't see any mammoths or any springs, but there were a lot of bubbling pools and a small waterfall. I also overheard my first Hebrew speakers on this trip. It was a family with a little girl who was crying her heart out about something. Actually, I've heard quite a lot of foreign languages as I've moved from place to place. We have really become a polyglot nation.
My first stop out of Yellowstone was at a laundromat. Here I had a long talk there with a gentleman from Iowa. I started off by asking , "Are the animals I saw in the park buffalo or bison?"
He explained to me that they were actually bison and that buffalo were similar but not identical animals that live in Africa or Asia. As far as I can tell, the two names are used interchangeably here. In fact I've seen both names used in material from the Park Service. I guess the confusion is just as well. Somehow "Bison Bill" just doesn't have the same ring to it as Buffalo Bill.
The man with whom I was speaking was part Indian on his grandmother's side and we talked about how Indian babies were at one time numbered when they were born to make it easier for the government to take them away from their parents and send them to government schools. Whew, what a history we have with the Indians -first physical genocide and then cultural genocide!" Now though," he said, "It's an advantage to be classified as an Indian because it entitles them to a share of all the money casinos on the reservations are making." How the world changes!
I stopped at a gift shop/snack bar . On the way in, I passed a lady with a cone of real hand-dipped ice cream and exchanged a small conversation with her: "That looks very good!"
"It is."
"What kind is it?
"Moose tracks."
I went right inside and ordered a small moose-tracks ice cream (which turned out to be vanilla with small hunks of chocolate. ) It was quite large for a "small" but it was very good and I didn't have any trouble finishing the whole thing. I also saw the Israeli family again. The little girl was still crying. I was glad she wasn't my little girl.
My next brief stop was to talk with a man by the side of the road who was wearing earphones and holding up a small aerial. He explained that he was a ham radio operator and that he was trying to see if he could pick up any other operators there in the middle of Montana. He said he wasn't having much success.
I spent the night at a campground near Livingston. It had WIFI and very nice hot showers that were a series of cabins where you could lock your own cabin while you were taking your shower. The campground had a large section for RV's and a small section for tent campers. The RV section was almost full. I was the only tent camper.
No comments:
Post a Comment