Remembering a Yellowstone trip and dreaming of enchanted New Mexico explorations...
Photos, Yellowstone and Roosevelt National Parks
Last fall we went to the Dakota's and on our meandering back to Seattle, we had to stop in Yellowstone. We have been there several times and it never fails to impress me. So here are some of my favorite photo's. I've entered these in the Defenders of Wildlife photo contest this year, why not. I may make them available as prints on my Fine Art America page.
I lucked into two shots of a bison that was only steps away from our car. He looked like he was coming out of the mist - like a long ago spirit creature from the past. Just breathtaking to experience the wonders in the Yellowstone, especially when I remember I'm walking atop the caldera of a huge underground volcano. Since our trip was in late October there were a lot less tourists, and it was a lot chillier. We had the first snow the day we left, and were hurrying to get out of the mountains and back home.
A photo from Roosevelt National Park is in the lower right. Stunning desert like, barren and colorful country. This park is vast open lands where if you are lucky you can see bison and wild mustangs.
Family History
One of my passions I haven't spoken of yet in this blog is researching family history, genealogy. I'm thinking about this, because I recently joined a genealogy writing group, and am spending a little time today reading group member's stories. We will be giving each other feedback as we write our stories.
In the "old days" research was all done by microfiche machine in archives or library. Now with the advent of the internet, you can stumble upon all kinds of information in a matter of moments. My journey has connected me with a half sister and several cousins, and since I'm researching my spouse's tree, lots of new relatives for him. Surprisingly, we found a couple of cousin's for him only 30 minutes from where we live, amazing!
So, if you are interested, here are a couple of free links to get you started:
LDS (Mormons), largest collections -
https://familysearch.org/
Find a Grave - largest collection of gravestones/memorials -
http://www.findagrave.com/
Cyndi's List - a gi-normous list of sources -
http://www.cyndislist.com/us/
Ellis Island Passenger Lists of Immigrants -
http://www.ellisisland.org/