Yellowstone Revisited

8/7/16

Dear I-,

I'm not in Yellowstone anymore, but I still wanted to send you this postcard showing one of the neat sights in the park. These travertine terraces are constantly changing ad growing, possibly several inches a day!

I'm in Colorado now. I've been through South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Colorado since I was in Yellowstone.

I'd love to hear what you're doing. I hope to hear from you very soon.

Your teacher,

Elaina

A Couple of Pictures

8/7/16

Dear NS,

I will respond with a proper letter later when I have a bit more time, but for now I will send a couple pictures showing what I'm doing.

This was taken in Yellowstone, and yes, those are bison!

This was also taken in Yellowstone. This was an area with a lot of geothermal activity
(like hot springs and geysers).

This picture is from 2 days ago. I was in South Dakota and went to Mount Rushmore.

By the way, how is your book reading going? I hope you have been staying on schedule with your calendar.

Your teacher,

Elaina

Jackson to Casper, Wyoming

8/4/16

Dear B-,

How are you? I hope preparations for going back to school are going well.

I have so much to tell you about my trip.Yesterday, I left a city called Jackson, Wyoming. This city is famous for skiing. Of course now is the wrong time for skiing, but there were still many people there because it is so close to Grand Tetons National Park and Yellowstone National Park. The most interesting things about Jackson are that you can see the Grand Tetons from the city, and you can walk on wooden sidewalks since the city has them everywhere.

Those are elk antlers!

View of the Tetons from Jackson

Downtown Jackson with ski runs visible in background

A cowboy on a bucking bronco, Wyoming's symbol!

I decided that my next big destination is South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore. After leaving Jackson yesterday morning, I traveled north back through Grand Tetons National Park. I stopped at a place known for seeing lots of animals. In fact I had already been to this spot and saw elk, moose, and beavers. This time, I was there at the wrong time of day and only saw a beaver den and a couple of beaver dams.

beaver dam

beaver den

I left the park and went east through the state of Wyoming. I ended for the day in a city called Casper, Wyoming. One of the stops I made on the way was to a place called Hell's Half Acre. Hundreds of years ago, Native Americans hunted buffalo by herding them off a cliff and into a canyon full of spiky towers of rock. The buffalo couldn't escape, and the Native Americans got their food.

Hell's Half Acre

I look forward to reading about what you've been doing.

Your teacher,

Ms. Elaina

Grand Tetons National Park

8/3/16

Dear NS,

How is your week off going? Have you done anything interesting? I hope that things are going well for you.

I've been in National Park area the last couple of days. First, I visited Yellowstone National Park. Yesterday, I finished up seeing the sights in Yellowstone. I saw more bison, pronghorn antelope, and even a bald eagle.

After finishing up with Yellowstone, I traveled through Grand Tetons National Park. The park is famous for three large mountains that you can see from pretty much anywhere in the park. In Grand Tetons, the main activities are looking at lakes, looking at mountains, and looking at wildlife.

One of the sights to see is a Mormon village from the 1800s. These Mormons lived together in this farming community on land that now belongs to Grand Tetons.

 The amount of wildlife I saw yesterday in this park was incredible! I saw a herd of bison in the afternoon. I had already seen bison in Yellowstone, so I didn't spend much time watching these. What I really wanted to see was a moose. I had asked a park ranger where to go, and he told about two different spots. He also advised that I go near sunset since that is when the animals will be more active.

Last night, I tried the first spot. There were animals there, but these animals were elk. Elk are one of my favorite animals; however, I really wanted to see a moose.

After driving around for awhile in the are of the first spot, I tried the second spot. A park visitor pointed me in the direction of a moose eating near a river just a short distance from the forest. Following in the direction the visitor pointed, I was easily able to find the moose. I took a bunch of photos and watched him until it was almost too dark to see.

At that point, I decided to take a walk around the area. As I walked further upstream the river, I made out two beavers on the opposite river bank. If I looked carefully in the fading light, I could see two beaver dams, a beaver den, and at least two beavers swimming. I even heard a beaver chomping on sticks.

I look forward to hearing about your week.

Your teacher,

Elaina

P.S. I also saw a grizzly bear eating a bison carcass in Yellowstone!

Animals in Yellowstone

8/1/16

Dear I-

How are you? I hope you are having a good week.

I am so excited to tell you about all of the animals I saw today! First, I saw two baby mule deer drinking milk from their mother. I was surprised to see deer in the middle of the day. I should also mention that the deer weren't in a forest. Instead, they were next to travertine hot springs (hot springs where the minerals in the water made cool formations).

Next, I saw buffalo! When driving in the park, you can just look out your window and see herds of them. A park ranger told me that there are about 3,000 of them in the park. Many people pull off of the road and park in order to see these animals better. That's what I did. I watched a herd of buffalo migrate from one side of the road to the other. It is so funny to watch what happens when a buffalo walks into the middle of the road. The cars have to stop, and the buffalo kind of just hang out, annoying the drivers. A car can sit there waiting for a long time before the buffalo decides to move.

At night on the way out of the park to the only available campground, I saw a pronghorn antelope and a fox! I went to a spot that often has wolves, but I didn't see any. I wonder what kind of animals I will see tomorrow.

I hope your week is going well, and I look forward to hearing about what you are doing.

Your teacher

Elaina

Mammoth Hot Springs

8/1/16

Dear A-,

How are you? I hope that camp has been fun this week.

Right now, I am in Yellowstone National Park. The park is beautiful! Have you been to Yellowstone before? Today, I saw so many beautiful sights. One of the main sights I visited was called Mammoth Hot Springs. In this area, water from hot springs that is full of minerals trickles down over terraces. If you can, look for "Mammoth Hot Springs terraces" on the computer to find pictures to get a better idea of what this spot looks like.

Basically, when the water trickles down, the minerals inside the water attach themselves to the terraces. More minerals are being attached all the time which means that the terraces look a little bit different every day. If you go back to see the terraces in one year, they will look totally different! I'm really excited to be in this park, and I'm having a great time.

I look forward to hearing about all the things you have been doing.

Your teacher

Ms Elaina

Geysers in Yellowstone

8/1/16

Dear B-,

How have you been doing? I hope it hasn't been too hot this week!

Yesterday, I arrived in Yellowstone. It's my first visit here. I entered the park through the entrance at West Yellowstone, Montana. Many years ago, a train used to take some visitors to the park. The train went through West Yellowstone. Can you imagine what it would be like to ride a train for many hours to get to the park?

After entering the park, I went south toward Old Faithful, the famous geyser. There is actually a lot of geothermal (heat inside the earth) activity in the park. There are many geysers, fumeroles (holes near a volcano where steam comes from), mud pots (hot springs filled with boiling mud) and hot springs. The best geothermal sight was definitely Old Faithful. It was impressive, even though it didn't erupt when it was predicted to. Old Faithful was nine minutes late!

hot springs

This is actually a mud pot, you just can't see the boiling mud

hot springs

Old Faithful

I look forward to seeing you in about a week and a half. I hope you will get a chance to do a couple more fun things before school starts.

Your teacher,

Elaina

P.S. I just read an interesting fact. Two-thirds of the world's geysers are in Yellowstone!

First Letter

Before leaving, I wrote a letter to each of my students. Here is one of them:

7/27/16

Dear H-,

I hope your journey to Africa goes well. How has everything been going?

While you are on your trip, I will be going on my summer vacation too. On Thursday, I will be going on a road trip. I am not exactly sure where I will be going yet, but my main destination will be Yellowstone National Park. That is the park where the Old Faithful geyser is. Have you heard of Old Faithful before?

Maybe you can look for pictures of it on the computer. I am really excited about my trip!

I will see you in 2 weeks when we both get back. Remember that while you are gone, we will be writing letters. As always, I will respond to your letters. Your calendar shows my expectations for your letters and extra practice. I hope you have a great two weeks, and I will see you when you get back.

I look forward to getting your letters!

Your teacher,

Elaina