Daily Journal

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Our departure from Raleigh-Durham Airport went smoothly in spite of the fact there was a Winter Weather Advisory for our area. The temperature at RDU was 36°F when we left. We arrived in Minneapolis where it was a chilly 1°F. Our flight out of Minneapolis was delayed (for the fuel boost pump — what is that?) and oversold. The airline offered us incentives to stay behind a few more hours, but we were too excited to get to Yellowstone to take the offer! We finally arrived in Bozeman, Montana about 2 hours late. It was beautiful, snowing, and 24°F.

During the drive from Bozeman to Yellowstone, we were in awe of the geological features we could see through our windows. We learned how sedimentary rocks form in horizontal layers and were intrigued by the sight of a vertical dike, an igneous feature, which filled in a crack in the horizontal sedimentary rocks.

As we neared the park entrance, we were greeted by a large herd of bison in the Gardiner School parking lot. There were so many images to take in: frozen rivers, brilliant snow, and steam rising from nearby thermal features.

Our reflection of the adventure so far: Awesome!

Q & A for January 17