Wonderland

It's late tonight; so late that it's almost tomorrow. As I sort through pictures from Yellowstone, I feel once more the wonder that overwhelmed me during that long day. How can so much beauty, so many kinds of beauty, be contained in one place, in one small speck of the glorious universe that we live in? As we traveled to the different natural wonders in Yellowstone, I often found myself speechless with awe, groping for the words to describe the indescribable. At last, words came -- insufficient, unsatisfying, as any words that take so much upon themselves are doomed to be, but words nonetheless: A wild, untamed, untameable land. And so it is. The only hand that has the power to tame it is the Hand that created it. I think I prefer to let pictures speak for themselves, rather than give a detailed (and very boring) account of our journey. So, without further ado: 

And now it is morning (if that is not too ambitious a word for this particular hour of the night) and high time for me to "retire." I'll end with a quotation from John Muir, the famed naturalist. While we did not spend the night in Yellowstone, night had fallen by the time we made our way out of the park. We caught a glimpse of the forest fire that had redirected (and lengthened our journey) as we drove into the night, and the smell of charred wood lingered fragrantly in the car. But Muir's words are more descriptive and appropriate than mine: 

  "Now comes the gloaming. The alpenglow is fading into earthy, murky gloom, but do not let your town habits draw you away to the hotel. Stay on this good fire-mountain and spend the night among the stars. Watch their glorious bloom until the dawn, and get one more baptism of light. Then, with fresh heart, go down to your work, and whatever your fate, under whatever ignorance or knowledge you may afterward chance to suffer, you will remember these fine, wild views, and look back with joy to your wanderings in the blessed old Yellowstone Wonderland." ~ John Muir.