One Life, For His Glory, By His Grace.: Grand Teton

Good morning!

The corner room on the second level is where I stayed last night!

Hey, Dude Motel, that's where I stayed last night.

Want to know how cold it is? Let me show it with my breath. (Today is 32F (that is 0C))

A peach for breakfast.

Despite the fog, we were greeted by countless roaming bisons grazing on the meadows.

First stop today is the mid-way Geyser which erupts every 100 years. The last eruption was in 1985. I will have to wait till I’m 95 years old to catch the next eruption!

Apparently the mountains in the surrounding trapped the snow and when it becomes water and flows down, it fills the mouth of the volcano with water.

The huge lake thus created the atmosphere of clouds and rain. Little wonder why one can catch 4 seasons in Yellowstone in a day.

Excelsior (mid way) geyser is when cold water meets hot water.

West Thumb Lake. Hmmm… I was told that bubbles do not necessary mean that the water is at boiling point. It is possible that the hot water is deeper inside from underground, while the top layer on the outside is actually cool water from the mountains. No wonder I see steam arising from icy lake – what a phenomenon!

More colours!

Water, "riverbed", steam, mountain, snow. It's a rare sight that I really don't know what to make of it.

Is this heaven or hell? No wonder Colter nor his listeners couldn't make it out.

Bubbles forming at the water edge..

Hot Spring = hot atmosphere? Noo... it is cold...

Clear blue waters.. wow..

Aggressively bubbling water..

This is named the Chinese Spring.

So here we are visiting Old Faithful. At least it erupts every 90 mins (+-10mins). Overtime it seems to be erupting more steam than water now. At its peak, the water eruptions ever reached 180 feet high – that is approximately 18 storey high!

At Old Faithful, I was interviewed by an author wannabe. "How do you feel? When was your most awe inspiring visit?" I thought for a while. I was awed when I looked at the desert where Moses and his people treaded for 40 years -- it was a good old Bible story turning alive. I was awed when I stood at the edge of Grand Canyon immersing myself in the extensive nature -- no camera can capture the moment. I was awed when I first saw the Himalayans snow-capped mountains -- I never thought I would see one in reality.

The interview was a good time of reflection for me. I realised that everything was awe-inspiring for me because God made them.

True enough good Old Faithful started erupting at just around the time which the guide told us.

While waiting for Old Faithful to erupt, we had the opportunity to simply walk around and see hot springs.

I shan't have more words.

Let the pictures do the talking!

Somewhere along the journey as we leave Yellowstone for Grand Teton, we passed the continent line where the flow of water turns North and South. The Yellowstone lake is not frozen. There are just layers and layers of snow on it. Peple ski here in winter and fish (for cut throat trout) during spring.

11.20am Leaving for Grand Teton, we passed by Lewis Lake where we saw snow on the lake.

Grand Teton is the first peak (about 13,000 feet high) from the left (which is approximately the 5th peak you can see from the left). What’s so special about it? Well, it is actually the good old ice capped mountain which appears at the beginning of each Paramount Picture film.

Grand Teton's name is pretty embarrassing actually. Teton is a French word, referring to the tip of a woman’s breast. So basically Teton means ‘nipple’. Now that you know the meaning of name of the mountain, would you like to lick on a Grand Teton ice cream while enjoying the sight? I'll have my apple.

By the way, we were at 6000 feet above sea level. Do you know that anything after 9000 feet will not melt, thus the formation of glaciers.

That's a trash can. Er.. Why did I take a picture of the trash can? First, you need to spot the difference between the first picture and the second picture.

Apart from my hand, do you notice the metal ledge at the top left corner? These trash cans are made specially to prevent bears from rummaging the bins at night for food! The bears need paws as slim as our hands to slip into the opening to open the bins. =D

Thereafter we took a 25 mins journey down to Jackson Hole.

When I read the itinerary initially, I had thought that Jackson Hole was another scenic place. Afterall, it was a valley which the cowboys used as a meeting place.