Dreamscape and geyser gazers

Ceridwen got my number when she wrote, "As always, it's the people that interest you isn't it? What draws them, what they do, what they see, why... Not the sights." But Yellowstone has some stunning sights. The magma-heated springs and geysers pool and swirl in different colors--according to the temperature of the water. Steam rises from the earth. Heat-seeking microbes form colonies of different colors.

On the boardwalk (see the top edge of this picture) some people bring chairs and snacks and wait for geysers to erupt in a spray of silica, steam, and hot water. They're unpaid volunteers who carry little computers with them and record the time of the geyser, the approximate height of the eruption, and the duration. We met a couple who found each other geyser gazing and are now married. One said, "It becomes an addiction. When we retired, we moved to a little town just outside the park so we could spend all our spare time watching geyser activity." Yellowstone has more than half the world's active geysers.