Thar She Blows

We are not alone, we live in God's world.
We believe in God who has created and is creating...

Thank you, good readers, for your patience during the past month. While I left some blogs in my absence (like frozen dinners?) and tried to write a couple on the road I haven't submitted as frequently. For the first time in my nine years at St. Paul's, other than my restorative leave, I took four weeks away in succession, including a week of study. It was the right thing to do.

My continuing education week was in the state of Wyoming at a place called Ring Lake Ranch. The plan was to go three days early to snoop around Yellowstone, the first national park in the world. I say plan because United Airlines managed to turn a one and a half hour flight from Denver to Jackson Hole into a 24 hour ordeal -- but that's another tale.

I loved Yellowstone even though in July it is a gloried theme park, ala Disney World, with a crush of visitors in gigantic RVs and SUVs. Old Faithful draws thousands of spectators at a time. Despite this the geothermal features of the park are extraordinary. There are thousands of them bubbling, gurgling, hissing, spouting away all over the landscape. There are more geysers in Yellowstone than in the rest of the planet combined, but I discovered that there are many other forms of geothermal activity.  The orange colour in the steaming lake above is created by micro-organisms which have adapted to the heat. It's the same with the green below.

If one is willing to walk away from the easy access of the parking lot these wondrous features can be enjoyed without the madding crowds. For me it was a reminder that our planet is dynamic and that creation was not a one-time event but a constantly changing reality. I loved the sights of Yellowstone but also the sounds of a living planet. It is quite cool to see a geyser erupt before your eyes. You can see the size of the people in comparison to this geyser which shoots up even higher than Old Faithful.

Have you been to Yellowstone? Does it intrigue you?  Did you know much about it?