The Avid Reader (and enjoyer of all subjects)

Well, the day when we had to depart Shanghai for Jiangxi finally came–seemingly after such a short time, too!–so my mom, sister, and I packed our bags up.  On that day, it was raining quite hard (signs of Typhoon Morakot approaching!).  My grandpa called a taxi for us, and after my grandparents had hurried into their apartment again, the taxi set off for Shanghai South Railway Station.  Our taxi driver made a lot of twists and turns through the bustling city.  After a few minutes, we arrived at our destination. 

We first passed through the security checks.  Then, we hurried towards our waiting area.  We happened to be extremely early (90 minutes early).  During our wait, I watched a 5-year-old boy jump around the waiting area’s seats while his wai po nagged about his energy.  The boy attracted a lot of attention, both good and bad; a few women stared on admiringly while a few men, exasperated, moved to other seats where no one would climb right behind them.  After the boy had finished exercising, he opened a can of soymilk and gulped its contents down in five swallows.  Then, his wai po and wai gong began to ask him math questions.  I was astounded that the boy could do simple arithmetic.  He could calculate 100 + 800, 19 + 12 (where he had to carry a 1 to the tens place), and solve elapsed time problems (his wai po asked him how much time was left until the train departed).  The boy, who had not even attended preschool, could exceed in second or even third grade math in America; American students were that behind in academics.  To me, the 90 minute wait seemed like 30 minutes with his presence.

Half an hour before our train was to depart, we were called to board the train, which seemed like an everyday object; it wasn’t as fascinating as it had been many years ago, when I was a little child.  I was very nervous, and hoped that the person who would be sharing the compartment with us would not be a criminal.  Fortunately, this person turned out to be a father whose family was in a nearby compartment. 

At 9:00, the train began to move.  My mother and sister fell asleep a few minutes later.  Being my wary and cautious self, I fell asleep at around 10:00 after checking to see that nothing was awry.  At 1:15, I woke up.  Then I fell asleep again, waking up at 6:00.  Our train was to arrive at Nanchang (capital of Jiangxi province) about an hour later.

After my breakfast, I just stared out the window, observing the landscape.  What I saw bore 0% resemblance to Shanghai.  Outside was acre after acre of greenery.  Occasionally, I saw some farmers working in the fields or herding cattle.  I also saw many white birds.  I think they were cranes. 

At around 7:00, we arrived at Nanchang.  Shu shu, or my dad’s younger brother, was to pick us up, along with one of da bo’s, or my dad’s older brother, colleagues.  I was the first one to spot shu shu.  He was craning his neck in hopes of finding him.  When I waved my umbrella in front of him, he saw.  After exchanging greetings, we went on to the police car da bo owned (da bo is a policeman).  We quickly went to a restaurant to have some breakfast (even though I had fit in some bread my grandparents gave us, and gulped down 500 millileters of kiwi juice).  I tried to fit in everything we ordered, which included some rice soup, potatoes, and tons of dim sum, but found it impossible with my stomach refusing food.  After the breakfast, we set off again on a 3-hour drive to a country city called Nanfeng.  I wondered why shu shu took his brother’s car instead of his own car, a Volkswagen Passat.  I soon learned why.

While we were zipping through towards the highway, we passed through our first toll booth.  Da bo’s colleague, who was driving the car, went through a booth with a red “X” marked on a sign, and impatiently honked his horn.  We were given a green card and let through.  A few big trucks nervously changed lanes as our police car went through.  Policemen in China did not have to pay in toll booths.

We soon arrived on the highway.  I glanced out at the landscape.  There were many beautiful mountains (which I could NOT capture on camera, as we forgot it!!!).  I wondered what mountain range that was.  (I’ll have to do some googling on the topics I’m curious about.)

I must have dozed off, because the next thing I remember is seeing my mom, sister, and shu shu sleeping while we continued on our way.  After a few minutes, my mom and sister woke up, too.  We still had 45 minutes left on our trip. 

Soon, our driver veered off the highway.  Here, there was a lot of red dust, reminding me of the beginning scene in “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck.  On the two-way, two-lane  road, our driver steered through the streets recklessly, beeping his horn incessantly and passing slow cars and trucks, and normally staying on the opposite lane when no cars were coming on that lane, risking a head-on collision.  Fortunately, he was very experienced, and we didn’t crash. 

After what seemed like eons, we arrived at the city of Nanfeng.  Shu shu informed me that Nanfeng had grown from a rural town to a bustling city of over 100,000 people, not counting another area called Nongchun.  That’s even bigger than Cary!  To me, Nanfeng remained the same–dirty, smelly, clogged with pedicabs, and without any taxis.  But we had arrived at Nanfeng at last.

Wow, it’s been a long time since the science museum.  I’m already in rural Jiangxi now, writing this, without my notebook with one page of notes (I quit after a while).  I also haven’t updated this recently.  With that being said, time for the post:

On the day that my mom, sister, and I took a bus and two different overly crowded subways to the Science Museum (enduring an hour of travel, all together), the weather forecast predicted thunderstorms and moderate to heavy rain.  We didn’t forget to pack our umbrellas, but we safely reached the Science Museum without getting wet.  Outside, we were greeted by a blue mascot whose name I forgot, but he symbolized the Expo 2010 China.  (To be frank with you, I have no clue what that means, but I know it is highly anticipated, showing up on advertisements whenever we watch TV.)  We didn’t take pictures because our camera didn’t have much energy left.  Then, we went inside. 

Once we got a roof over our heads, we went about seeing the exhibitions.  On the first floor, there was a place where children up to 11 years old could do fun experiments (I am about one and a half months from my 12th birthday).  However, because my sister and I were starving, we chose to skip the upcoming round of experiments and go for the 3:00 – 3:30 round.  At the food court, we had some appetizing dim sum.  I filled my stomach thoroughly.  After eating there, we went off to view the exhibitions. 

First, we visited the zoology section.  Inside the zoology section, there were a lot of artificial animals.  I was interested in a cheetah which had bitten off a gazelle’s leg.  My mom and sister did not like to witness such gore (even though it was fake), so they took interest in the pandas, elephants, and bears.  We continued on admiring everything.  Suddenly, my sister spotted her favorite animals–you guessed it, the mountain goat and bighorn sheep.  She really didn’t feel comfortable at the bobcat which was made to sneak up on the animals.  Then, we took an elevator to a man-made forest, where there were all sorts of fake animals that were powered somehow, and could move.  We saw a gigantic snake hissing at us.  Then, a Komodo Dragon snarled and bristled.  My mom informed me that male Komodo Dragons eat female Komodo dragons after they mate–such a thing occurred at the Washington, D.C. zoo.  I had heard of other mate-eaters, like female praying mantises and spiders, but such a formidable creature as a Komodo Dragon shocked me. 

Then, we went to the section for reptiles, insects, bats, and fish.  At the reptiles section, we saw two terrariums with turtles and lizards inside them.  They were actually real!  (I’m getting quite annoyed of the fact that science museums tend to show real-life reptiles, amphibians, and fish, not other small mammals.)  The insects section didn’t have anything real-life.  I saw a few man-made insects and used a light to identify some of them.  The bats section was just a place where we saw statues of bats with materials imitating bat noises.  At the fish section, we looked down and saw a long, winding shape covered by glass, with flowing water.  At first I didn’t see anything interesting.  Then, suddenly, a figure in the water which had seemed as a fake fish moved!  I went on investigating, and found out that there were many other types of fish below us.  There were also areas for other live fish, including catfish.  In one section, I saw a fish resembling a shark!  However, common sense told me that if sharks were inside the same cage as fish, the fish would be gone in a matter of minutes.

We went on to the next exhibit, which was a robot world.  In this place, we saw robots everywhere performing simple tasks that we humans could perform.  At one place, we saw two robots, each playing two games of Ranju (a game in which players have to use pebbles to make five of their color in a row).  I wanted to play, but two game boards did not work, and the rest of the people were crowded in two almost never-ending lines, so we continued.  There was also a place where you could have a robot draw an outline of you.  My sister wanted to be drawn, but again, the line was too long, as things that work and are of interest are normally crowded.  We also caught a glimpse of a robot playing piano.  Finally, after quite a lot of walking, we settled down at a center full of computers, where people could do many types of activities.  I was doing “Feed the Fish” when my mom told me that we had to go on to see everything else. 

Of course, we couldn’t skip the earthquakes section.  The main attraction here was a model of a real earthquake.  We hurriedly went through a few passageways to the entrance to an elevator.  After a 5-minute wait, 45 people squeezed into the roomy elevator.  A guide in the elevator said that we were moving 4-D style, through time.  We then arrived at the place where I had stood a few years ago, nervously waiting for the model earthquake.  Then, the lights dimmed, and the ground began to shake.  There was a sound of a baby crying (I’m not sure if it was real or fake) and glass shattering, among other sounds to make the earthquake seem real.  I hung on to the sidebar as the walk shook and rattled.  After only one minute, the earthquake was done.  We walked back out an exit to where we had originally been, waiting to board the elevator (surprising!).

I also wanted to visit a section specially for spiders (I wonder why a section probably as big as the whole animals section), but my mom and sister weren’t eager to see some of those “big, disgusting creepy-crawlies”, so we took a break.  After that, it was time for the chemistry lab, so we took a few escalators down to the first floor.  We were just in time.  Among everyone, I’d have to say I was embarrassingly tall, but I didn’t have any notion of chemistry, and I was quite interested in it.  We marched, single-file, to a stand good enough for our group of 8 and two instructors.  In our first experiment, we took 30 millileters of water, and then colored it with ordinary blue food coloring.  Then, we put inside a magical material.  After around 20 seconds, the water turned transparent again!  Then, after we sloshed it around for a while, the water turned into its original blue again!  Our next experiment was with colors.  It was partly about folding.  We took a small circular-shaped piece of paper, folded it into fourths, cut out a smaller circle, colored around that circle (I colored black), and then drew a few dots around that colored area.  After that, we took another circular-shaped piece of paper and wrapped it up, then inserted it into the small circle in our original piece.  Finally, we dipped the whole thing in water.  After a while, water began to spread throughout our original piece of paper, and multiple colors formed.  The result was a piece of artwork unmatched by any hand.  Then, we were done and did a few things meant for younger people than me.  The chemistry experiments were a positive experience for me, and I wish that I could do different experiments again.

Next, we visited the Aliens Section.  This showed how possible alien forms would look like.  There was also a section for animals which had previously been considered as science fiction, but were now science fact.  These included the vampire squid (which shows a long row of spikes when threatened), the gulper eel (which can eat animals much bigger than itself, and whose mouth is unproportionally big), and the octopus (!).  One day, our science fiction today will become science fact tomorrow.

Then, we visited the Cradle of Design, which had glances at the future world.  After that were two rooms whose names I forgot.  They were connected to each other.  These two rooms contained many games we could play right in there, some of which were totally unrelated to science.  I found a faucet, seemingly floating in midair, exciting.   From it poured a lot of water!  I suspected that there was a very thin wire that connected it to the ceiling, but it was disguised with the rest of the rooms.  There was also a place where we could ride on a bike right on a thread of ropes.  My sister tried that activity, which she said was scary, while I played a few basketball games. 

After that, the museum was about to close, so we left on the subway and rode a bus back to our home.  Though I had been gleeful when I went to the museum a few years ago, the museum seemed a bit fake this time, with only statues of animals and the rest of it not really resembling true science.

The last major site we would visit would be the Falls at Idaho Falls.  The Falls account for 50% of the city’s electricity.  We had visited this place the first day we got here (the day I wrote “Crazy Weather!”) but my dad had forgot the camera, so my mom, sister, and I would visit the Falls to take pictures. 

We were greeted by an enormous manmade waterfall and two formidable artificial bald eagles.  (I’ll try to get the pictures on as soon as I can.)  Then, after my mom parked the car, all three of us went to see the falls.  We saw three waterfalls there while walking on a bridge.  Two of them were minor.  I spotted a clump of logs and sticks right on top of one of the small waterfalls.  My sister and I thought that this was the dam and lodge of a beaver, but we couldn’t see any animal by it.  Then, we walked a bit further, and my mom saw the large waterfall we had visited the last time.  This waterfall made a roaring noise.  I wondered if any animal could survive in the rushing whitewater there.  We also got a good view of a Mormon church in the distance, with its white, magnificent peak clearly visible.

We walked on, and there we saw many waterfowl.  There were countless numbers of ducks and Canadian geese.  There were many baby geese and some adolescents, which looked like the mature adults except for their furry necks.  There also were plenty of baby ducks.  My mom had brought a slice of bread, and we eagerly fed it to the ducks and geese.  Last time, we had seen a brown muskrat swimming in the water.  This time, though, we couldn’t see it.  There were also some orange-beaked, gray-colored swans last time, and they didn’t appear this time.  We hung around the coast for a few minutes.  Then, as we walked back, we saw a few children and parents feeding the birds.  One very kind man offered us some bread, and we politely accepted it.  The Canadian geese were hoarding the bread, but some of the ducks were also getting bread crumbs now and then.  I managed to see the orange-beaked, gray-colored family of swans and fed them some bread. 

After we had finished feeding the waterfowl, we prepared to go back home.

*****

That night, my mom took us to the Barnes and Nobles bookstore.  I had been reading “The Lord of the Rings:  The Fellowship of the Ring” (which is a very good fantasy book), and I wanted to see if the second and third books of the series were there.  We saw the third book, but I didn’t want to read it since I didn’t want to give the ending away to myself.  I picked up a Sherlock Holmes book, and read the first mystery there, “A Study in Scarlet”, which involves a murder with only a few clues.  Still, Sherlock Holmes can solve the mystery.  (Refer to “My Books” for more information.)  Then, I picked up a version of “Animal Farm” with pictures and skimmed it.  After that, it was time to leave.  We weren’t going to buy anything because we didn’t want our luggages to be too heavy, and there was a “Barnes and Nobles” in North Carolina.

*****

The next day, after watching the tennis semi-finals match between Federer and Haas and passing our apartment check, we were prepared to go.  I felt quite sad to leave our apartment.  We stopped by a “Village Inn” and had an outstanding lunch.  (My dad didn’t want us to have McDonalds or some other fast food, because we weren’t going to have dinner–we were reluctant to pay on the plane and we would get home at 11:00 PM E.T.).  The plane ride was uneventful, except that we arrived at exactly 10:38 PM E.T., which was precisely on time.  Then, we went inside the building to get our luggages.  We had to wait for close to half an hour for our luggage to appear.  My sister made note of a black sock which had passed around for the umpteenth time.  Our luggage was very close to dead last.  After arriving home on a taxi, I instantly flopped down on my bed and went to sleep.

My sister and I have gained an obsession for all types of animals, wild or domestic, so today my mom decided to take us to the nearby Tautphaus Zoo.  The Tautphaus Zoo wasn’t a gas guzzler like Yellowstone was; it was only a few miles away.  Tautphaus Zoo has over 350 animals and many other species.  It has many education programs, too.

When we first entered the zoo, we saw a cage with two Ringnecked Parakeets.  They were green and red, but they couldn’t imitate our noises.  In another area, I noticed a few herons and ducks with two deer-like animals.  Next, we observed a small alligator-related reptile hiding under a log.  It could have been a cayman or a gharial.

Then, we went to the primates area.  There are four types of primates:  prosimians (the most primitive primates); monkeys (which have long tails); apes; and humans (us).  We went into a small building, where we saw some tamarins (which are the smallest primates in the world) and two behemoth red-tailed boa constrictors!  They were the most gigantic snakes I had ever seen.  I was quite confused why the zookeepers would put the snakes right in the middle of the primates’ section.  We observed two other monkeys (White-Handed Gibbon and White-Cheeked Gibbon) for a long time.  The White-Handed Gibbon makes many whooping calls and is very agile.  The White-Cheeked Gibbon can cover 50 feet in one swing!  We did have a lot of fun seeing the gibbons swing from log to log.  I bet they could easily get gold medals if they participated in Olympics’ gymnastics!

We also saw some flamingos.  Flamingos hatch white, but turn pink because of the pink shrimp included in their diet.  Flamingos are actually related to ducks and geese!  The flamingos were bathing in the water when we came to see them.

We spotted two otters sleeping, too.  Otters eat fish, crustaceans, birds, mammals, and amphibians.  One special characteristic is decayed implantation, when an embryo won’t grow if conditions are poor.  I wished that we could have seen the otters awake and swimming in the water.

I was impressed by the magnificent golden eagle, which dwells in North America.  The golden eagle is three feet tall, and its wingspan is seven feet!  The golden eagle preys on other mammals and smaller birds.

The Aldabra Tortoises and the African Spurred Tortoises were interesting, too.  They were so big that I mistook them for the venerable Galapagos Tortoises!  The tortoises weighed close to 500 pounds.  Because of this, they can’t swim well; they could easily drown.  Aldabra Tortoises don’t bite and eat fruits, candy, and other vegetation.  We did see one of the Aldabra Tortoises eating grass and lettuce.  The other was drinking from a nearby pool of water.  I found it confusing why the zookeepers decided to place peacocks in the same pen.  (They put peacocks in some other pens, too.)

Soon, we reached a body of water similar to Bear World’s Lagoon.  There were four categories of birds there:  dabbling ducks, diving ducks, American White Pelicans, and Trumpeter Swans.  There were countless numbers of ducks.  Instead, I focused on the two elegant trumpeter swans.  A male trumpeter swan is called a cob, a female trumpeter swan is a pen, and a baby trumpeter swan is called a cygnet.  Trumpeter swans have a black beak, while the mute swan I saw yesterday at Bear World’s Lagoon had an orange beak.  I couldn’t see the pelicans until my mom and sister cut to the back of the area.  There were five large American White Pelicans resting there.  When I stuck out my notebook and pencil and lifted them up, the pelicans’ heads also moved up.  When I stuck my pencil at them, one of the pelicans opened its beak.  I withdrew my hand just in time!

We also got to see some black penguins.  Black penguins are awkward on land but agile in water.  They sometimes make a hee-haw braying noise.  Black penguins are the only penguins found in Africa.  I saw the black penguins line up and march awkwardly, little by little.

At the childrens’ center, there were many domestic animals and even a few pets.  We saw some sheep and goats.  We did get to pet them, but my sister said that they weren’t as adorable as the baby mountain goats we saw yesterday.  They were still pleasant, though.  There was also a huge yak with big horns.  Yaks have wooly coats and very strong bodies.  This is the reason why yaks are very tolerant to harsh weather.  Yaks were originally found on mountains taller than 13,000 feet in Nepal.  The llama and alpaca are also accustomed to living on mountains and can carry over 100 pounds of weight.  The alpaca is highly valued for its wool (my mom and sister know the alpaca by that).  Both animals were used in South America.  We saw the Sardinian Donkey, too, which has a right angle at its shoulders.  The Vietnamese Pot-Bellied Pig was quite similar to the fat bull pig we saw at Bear World yesterday.  They weigh over 75 pounds and can eat almost anything.  I thought the Vietnamese Pot-Bellied Pig looked like an old animal, with many wrinkles on its forehead.

We saw some servals and bears after that.  Servals are African, not Asian, and eat small mammals, birds, and fish.  They have a tawny coat with black.  The servals looked like a cross between the wild cheetahs/leopards and the domestic cat.  They were very tall, standing quite erect.

Then came the Asian Adventure.  The Asian Adventure, in my opinion, had some of the most exciting animals in the zoo:  snow leopards, lions, tigers, and bears.  The sloth bears were formidable.  They looked aggressive, like a full-grown grizzly bear.  Their fur, though, was black.  Sloth bears can weigh from 175 to over 300 pounds.  Oddly enough, one of the sloth bears was pacing around the fence just like the black bear cubs at Bear World.  Unfortunately for us, the snow leopards (the only true alpine cats) were nowhere to be seen.  My mom reckoned that they were sleeping somewhere, hiding. However, we did get to see two sleeping Amil Tigers.  Amil Tigers are the world’s largest cats and can be camouflaged easily.  There was also a huge male lion and another female.  Any male lion can be distinguished by its shaggy mane.  The lion is known as the king of the beasts, and sometimes its roars can be heard eight miles away!  Lions live in groups of twenty or so, called prides.  There was supposed to be a red panda (which has a specialized wrist bone and is related to raccoons) and a bactrian camel (a camel with two humps and eyes that keep out snow and dust), but both were hiding.  Red-crowned cranes were also part of the Asian Adventure exhibit.  Red-crowned cranes weigh from 15-20 pounds and live in flocks.

After the Asian Adventure exhibit, we observed some other animals like the emu, the Bennett’s Wallaby, and the black swan.  The emu is a large, flightless bird that can weigh up to 120 pounds.  Emus are omnivores.  The Bennett’s Wallaby is an example of a marsupial and resembles a kangaroo.  I liked seeing them hop around.  Black swans feed on aquatic vegetation and can be found in Australia.

I didn’t want to skip the wild dogs’ part.  There were two dogs:  The New Guinea Singing Dog and the dingo, both from Australia.  They have a non-pack social organization, and the New Guinea Singing dog has a unique vocalization.

After we had seen all the animals, we prepared to go home.  We retraced our steps, and I discovered two zookeepers with a walking penguin–probably Percy the Penguin.  They led us back to the gibbons again.  This time, one of the gibbons urinated on the glass, causing everyone in the crowd to laugh.  The gibbons continued their hilarious antics.  One of them felt the other for fleas to eat.  Both of them swung again.

Then, it was time to leave.  Contrary to our plans to visit Idaho Museum and the Falls in Idaho, we headed for home because my mom and sister were tired.  Overall, the Tautphaus Zoo is a wonderful place to see animals, and I would definitely enjoy visiting this zoo again, next year.

Note:  There are other animals, like zebras, not mentioned in the text.  There are too many to list them out.

Even though I mentioned in the previous post that I would visit Bear World next year, my mom, sister, and I decided to visit Bear World today.  Bear World, located in Rexburg, is known for its numerous bears, but it also houses many more animals like bison, mountain goats, and all sorts of deer.  It is almost like a zoo, because park rangers limit the space an animal can roam and feed the animal, whereas in the wild, an animal roams freely and hunts for food.  Bear World was closer to our rented apartment in Idaho Falls than West Yellowstone.  We started out for Bear World in the morning.

When we got there, the first thing we noticed was a car stopped beside a deer.  We drove inside the park as fast as we could (which was only about 10 miles per hour, anyways).  We came across two bison and deer.  There were plenty of deer lying around.  Then, I spotted a brown object, very close by.  It was a grizzly bear!  This had been our first close encounter with a grizzly bear.  Suddenly, another grizzly’s head popped up from the grass.  Amazed, we drove on.

After seeing a few grizzlies and four turkeys making a din, we went on to the section for black bears and wolves.  There were special artificial caves made for the animals, and most of the black bears were lumbering about their own cave.  We only saw one wolf–a sleeping timber wolf lying a few feet from the road.  We made sure to avoid it, for wolves can be dangerous at times.  I later learned that there was supposed to be a pack of wolves.  I’m not sure if the wolf was the Alpha Male of the pack.

Soon, after spotting a huge moose with some of his duck companions, we came to the gift shop.  We didn’t buy anything there.  Instead, we went through the back doors to a totally different place.  There, I saw a pen with three black bears inside–two brown and one black.  The bears had been brought to the pen so that they would be protected from the violent male bears.  Fortunately for us, the bears were thoroughly awake and not full, so we got to see some of their action.  At first, one brown bear became determined to climb a log in their confined area.  It was stranded on it, then rolled over.  Then, the brown bears tussled with each other–nonstop.  They snapped their mouths and tried to bite one another.  Through all this hubbub, the black bear just walked around, looking at the fight.

While the bears continued their brawl, we went away to see Bear World’s lagoon.  We passed by another area specially for three black bears.  The black bears weren’t as aggressive as the grizzlies had been.  In the lagoon, I discovered a large mute swan, some ducks, some Canadian geese, and countless numbers of rainbow trout.  My sister wanted to buy a pack full of bread, and we fed the animals in the lagoon.  The swan was very slow in getting to the food, so the agile trout got most of the bread.

Soon, at lunchtime, we returned to the bear pen.  The brown bears had decided to stop fighting, and all three bears lined up, ready for food.  When it didn’t come soon, they began to get aggressive again, and made a ruckus of howls.  Some visitors got the opportunity to feed the bears.  By the amount of the milk the bears drank, I could tell that they were starving.  One of the bears was still hungry after five bottles of milk!

After a delectable lunch, we decided to visit the petting zoo, because there were many baby animals there.  At first, I dreaded that we would need to pay, but the man at the petting zoo entrance said the admission was free.  There were many chickens, roosters, hens, turkeys, ducks, and geese running about.  We were more interested in the deer (two adults, one adolescent, and two fawns) and mountain goats (one adult and two kids).  At first, my sister tried petting a baby mountain goat, but it leapt away.  Then, my sister tried to pet the other baby mountain goat.  It just stood there, allowing my sister to feel its smooth back.  That’s the reason why we took so many pictures of it.  (That’s also the reason why her new blog is named “Goat World” and her blog’s site address is http://snowflakethegoat.edublogs.org.)  The fawns were very adorable, but they didn’t want us to pet them.  We also saw the biggest pig I have ever seen, an enormous gray pig.  It was sleeping in the shade by a small penned-up area, snoring loudly, and its skin was very rough.  My sister decided to make some grunts, and the pig, still sleeping, replied in the form of a snore.  After a while, however, it decided to stop imitating my sister.  There were a few peacocks, too.  We saw the elegant male spread out all its wings.  The female was busy protecting a tiny yellow chick.

When we had left the pen, we saw a poster advertising for us to adopt an animal (pay money to give it some more amenities).  My sister saw that the name of one of the mountain goats was Snowflake (which is why her blog address contains the name “Snowflake”.  I noticed a $2,500 amount for Choctaw, a white elk.  White elk are very rare and hard to maintain.  They are NOT albino, but leucistic instead.  Choctaw’s mother was a white elk and his father was normal.

We took another look at the bears.  The bears were sluggish.  They were staying inside their cave, not fighting at all, and staying away from the burning sunshine.  Luckily, we had observed their active behavior.

Finally, it was time to head back home.  Since we couldn’t find the exit, we decided to re-tour Bear World.  This time, almost all of the bears were hiding inside their caves.  We did manage to see Choctaw, indeed a white elk, lying in the shade with his friends.  The timber wolf had vanished.  We soon found the exit, and awed by the behavior of the animals, headed back home.

Even though you might have been a bit filled with the descriptions of events at Yellowstone in the previous two posts, hey, it was just a two-day visit, and our $25 pass was valid for one week, and at Grand Teton (which is characterized by its three mountains).  We did miss a lot of things, and we do need to revisit some places.

• Morning Glory Pool (New Visit).  Morning Glory Pool is a beautiful pool with different types of algae resembling different colors.  The colors are in rainbow progression as you come closer to the center.  Though the shade may look inviting, visitors know better than to jump in the seemingly refreshing pool and relax.
• Middle Geyser Basin (New Visit). Yes, we didn’t stop for Middle Geyser Basin after Lower Geyser Basin, and of course we need to view geysers here.
• West Thumb Geyser Basin (New Visit). Even one of Yellowstone’s minor geyser basins deserves a visit.
• Yellowstone Lake (New Visit). We had no time to visit the lake, so from there I can expand–fishing, boating, viewing wildlife,…
• Petrified Tree (New Visit). I hadn’t heard of Petrified Tree that much, even in the park, until I saw it on a map showing the Idaho-Montana-Wyoming-beyond state cluster, same font as Old Faithful.  It sounds interesting.
• Bear World (New Visit). In Bear World, visitors no longer have to stay and search for bears in the distance.  Sometimes, bears roam the roads–they are right in front of your car!  It would be wonderful to view this world.
• GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK (New Visit). “Are you serious, theavidreader!?!?!?  You wrote too much for me to remember, and you forgot to visit a whole new park!”  Next time we’ll utilize our money wiser, for even more breathtaking views and more wildlife.
• Upper Geyser Basin (Revisit). We scanned this, too, for only a short time before heading on.
• Mount Washburn (Revisit). Had I known that bighorn sheep lived on Mount Washburn, I would have continued despite my enervation.  And it would be a pity to miss the beautiful sunrise visitors talk about.
• Tower Falls (Revisit). This shouldn’t even count as a revisit–we saw Tower Falls for only a couple of seconds!  We really need to peruse this waterfall.
• Sheepeater’s Cliff (Revisit). Next time, I’ll try to climb the cliff, throwing away my acrophobic fears.  And my sister will try to get to the top of the cliff!
• Norris Geyser (Revisit). So Norris Geyser was the last leg of our journey.  And we didn’t even capture it on camera!
• Porcelain Geyser (Revisit). My dad and I were “browsing” Porcelain Geyser Basin for a few minutes before we were called in by my mom and sister.

We woke up at around 7:30.  My parents instantly pointed out that our supplies were diminishing, so we went 3 miles to Cooke City to buy some food (my sister got Pringles, my mom got dried apples, and I got salted peanuts) and get some gas.  Then, we set off immediately for Wyoming–and Yellowstone.

When we entered the park, there was no sign of wildlife–because most animals are shy and afraid of visitors.  However, after some minutes, we caught sight of a bison grazing.  Pretty soon, we arrived at Lamar Valley again.  This time, we saw two pronghorns, one male and one female.  Also, pikas were present in profuse amounts.  We also stopped for a bathroom break and saw some swallows’ bird nests.  They were everywhere, in their nests at one moment and out catching insects the next.  There were a few bison in the background.

Once we had passed Lamar Valley, we went on the mountains, headed for Mammoth Hot Springs.  My dad had planned to climb Mount Washburn again to view the beautiful sunrise, but it was already too late for that, and I didn’t want another ordeal.  In a forest, we suddenly came upon some heavy traffic.  I saw something big with antlers, and thought it was a moose.  However, one visitor told me that it was a bull elk.  After minutes of fawning over the animal (some people were a few feet away snapping picture after picture), one impatient tourist told everyone that it was illegal to be that close to the elk–visitors had to stay at least 25 yards away from all animals besides bison and wolves (visitors needed to stay a football field’s length away from those animals).  Everyone piled into their cars, but still it created a huge traffic jam.

After driving some more, we came upon another group of parked cars and a row of tourists with binoculars.  They were looking in the distance, but we couldn’t see anything.  A passerby told us that there was a grizzly bear hiding in the shadows of the trees.  Suddenly, I caught sight of a brown mass lumbering away.  It was obviously the grizzly!  I showed my parents and sister the location.  Other visitors claimed they had seen a coyote, and my parents saw it too, but I didn’t.

We at last reached Mammoth Hot Springs.  First, we had lunch there.  (Only I had a “real” lunch; my dad had a small apple turnover, my sister had a cranberry juice drink, and my mom had a banana and peach.)  Very near Mammoth Hot Springs, there were some mule deer.  I spotted a cluster of them laying by a building.  Mammoth Hot Springs required quite a lot of walking, especially up mountains, and I imagined a much more beautiful scene.  I guess Mammoth Hot Springs would have to be my “Most Disappointing Attraction”.

Our next–and final–stop would be the Norris Geyser Basin.  During the trip there, my dad found another bull elk eating plants.  Nobody had seen it yet.  Soon, one truck came over.  Another car which had been going the opposite way backed up to see it.  We avoided the crowd just in time!  We also came across a cliff called the Sheepeater’s Cliff.  Named after the Sheepeater Indians who lived in the area, the cliff is a bunch of rocks that rise up, resembling an exponential function (rather, a logarithmic function reflected over the x-axis).  My sister and dad tried to climb the cliff, but my dad would only allow my sister up to the point when the cliff started zooming up almost vertically.  My acrophobic fears made me avoid the cliff altogether.  After that, we arrived at Norris Geyser.  Norris Geyser is the hottest geyser basin in Yellowstone.  It contains Steamboat Geyser, the world’s tallest erupting geyser; and Echinus Geyser, the world’s largest acidic geyser.  We did see occasional eruptions of water from Steamboat Geyser 5-10 feet, but unlike Old Faithful, Steamboat Geyser is not predictable, and it could be from 4 hours to over 10 years between eruptions.  When Steamboat Geyser is about to erupt, neighboring Cistern Pool drains of water.  I was anxious to see if this had happened, but unfortunately we could not locate Cistern Pool.  Still, the walk around the geysers was perfect except for the rotten egg smell (sulfur) and the lack of supposedly abundant wildlife.  My dad and I wanted to view nearby Porcelain Geyser Basin (my mom and sister headed for the museum to avoid the odors), but we didn’t get to see much of it because my mom and sister called my dad and I over to the museum (which was composed of two rooms).

After viewing the museum, we had to say good-bye to Yellowstone.  It had been a VERY lovely stay, exceeding already-high expectations, well worth countless more visits, unlike any other park we had seen, and certainly one place we will visit again next year.

One of the most known national parks in the world and a site for about half of the world’s geysers, Yellowstone National Park was the first national park.  It is home to many species of animals (even though it contains only 7 species of trees) and of course many geysers, hot springs, mudpots, and fumaroles.  However, don’t forget that Yellowstone is a big volcano, and around 2,000 earthquakes occur in it annually!

We set off from Idaho Falls for the West Yellowstone entrance quite early.  The drive was quite uneventful (except for the breathtaking mountain views, Teton mountain views, and occasional glimpses of cows and horses) and took 90 minutes.  A few miles away, we passed through Targhee National Forest.  Then, the landscape was sparse, with almost no houses or buildings at all.  Suddenly, after some miles, we caught sight of many buildings.  Soon, the figure of a toll booth appeared.  This was the West Entrance.  We got a few maps and brochures from the park ranger, and then went cruising around, anxious to see some of Yellowstone’s sights.

Only a minute after passing through the West Entrance, I caught sight of a gray dog-like animal in the distance.  It was a wolf or a coyote.  The wolf/coyote looked at us for a few seconds, then walked off.  When we had driven for a few more minutes, we saw a crowd of visitors.  We looked out to the plains and found that there were three mule deer leaping about a river.  We saw a few more mule deer, then went on.

Our first stop was the Lower, Middle, and Upper Geyser Basins.  We were incredulous at the steam billowing from the geysers in the Lower Geyser Basin.  The only negative thing was that the geysers smelled like rotten eggs!  We also caught sight of a large herd of bison grazing nearby.  Bison are very unpredictable.  They can sprint up to 30 miles an hour when angry (and they especially do so when mating, protecting food, or protecting young), so we had to stay at least 100 yards away from the nearest bison.

Our next stop was Old Faithful Geyser.  There are many myths about Old Faithful.  One of the most commonly mistaken beliefs is that Old Faithful is the tallest geyser in Yellowstone.  That is NOT true–Steamboat Geyser in Norris Geyser Basin holds that position.  Another myth–what my dad thought–was that park rangers could control the eruptions.  No way!  Here are the facts:  Old Faithful’s eruptions range from 100 feet to over 180 feet, with an average of 130 feet.  It erupts (on average) every 92 minutes.  During this time, around 4,000 gallons of water are expelled every eruption!

We had to drive a long time to get there.  In fact, it was already lunch time!  We had a quick meal there, then went loafing around the general store for some souvenirs.  I got a Yellowstone cup, my sister got a sweater, and we all bought some postcards.  We also got a piggy bank for our neighbors.  Unfortunately, we had some difficulty locating Old Faithful and its parking lot, so we missed its eruption at 12:25 PM and had to wait for 92 minutes!  Old Faithful was scheduled to erupt again at 2:01 PM.  However, at 2:02 PM it still hadn’t erupted–there were just short bursts of hot water.  Everyone was beginning to question the “faithfulness” of the famous geyser.  However, soon enough the water skyrocketed up to 100+ feet and astounded everyone in the crowd.  I thought Old Faithful was the best part of Yellowstone!  Of course, we didn’t forget to capture photos of nearby Craig Pass.

Then, we set our destination as West Thumb and neighboring Yellowstone Lake.  West Thumb is one of the smallest geyser basins in the national park–so small that after we passed it, I was still inquiring, “Where is West Thumb?”  (We didn’t actually visit West Thumb.)  We caught views of Yellowstone Lake and made sure to capture both snowcapped mountains and the lake while driving by.  My dad spotted a black-and-white duck swimming by.  However, we didn’t go boating or fishing.

We also made sure to stop at the Yellowstone Canyon/Waterfall.  Before Yellowstone Canyon, we needed to pass through Hayden Valley.  Hayden Valley is supposed to be one of the areas with the most wildlife (behind Lamar Valley), but all we saw were herds of bison.  At Yellowstone Canyon/Waterfall, the views were absolutely breathtaking (my mother said this had been her favorite part of the whole trip), but we had to walk close to a mile to get to there.  It was very hard not to look down, and my acrophobia kept me from thoroughly enjoying the canyon and river.

We stopped at a mud volcano, too.  The mud volcano was very smelly.  My dad wanted to see the Black Dragon Cauldron, but my sister objected, saying that the smell was too strong and that we couldn’t bear a 1-mile walk.

The next stop was Tower Falls, but that was quite far away.  We made plenty of short stops on the way–wherever there were animals, we stopped.  We came upon a whitewater river at first.  Even though I thought no fish would want to endure the perils of this habitat, my dad and I spotted some leaping trout.  There was also a pelican passing by the more peaceful waters some yards away, with a fish.  Then, we came across Mount Washburn, and my dad encouraged us to climb it.  However, I was already bone-weary from all the walking we had to do, so we didn’t reach the summit.  My parents spotted a yellow-bellied marmot and its mate, though, and a nearby chipmunk.  My sister was peeved off by my exhaustion, because she wanted to see the bighorn sheep near the apex.  (I guess we’ll save that for another visit.)  Strangely enough, my dad said that climbing Mount Washburn had been his favorite part!  Later, in the dark, we also found a big group of cars blocking traffic.  It turned out that there was a black bear!  It vanished, but visitors caught a glimpse of a black bear cub.  We got a very good view of it from our car, and my dad took a picture of it on his cell phone.

We arrived at Tower Falls, but I was starving, the stores there were all closed, and we hadn’t reserved any hotel/motel rooms!  (My dad suggested sleeping in the car.)  We could only get a peek of Tower Falls before my parents tried to locate food and lodging.  We tried nearby Roosevelt Lodge’s food, but to our dismay the wait would be 45 minutes!  Our final solution was a 30-mile trip to Silver Gate and Cooke City in Montana.  Fortunately, this path would take us through the wildlife-abundant Lamar Valley.  Indeed, evening was one of the best times to spot animals.  A gray wolf with shining eyes came within our sight, and we also saw more bison and a couple of deer.  My dad claimed to have seen a mountain goat.  One bison was only a few feet away from our stopped car.  At one point, a mule deer stood inn front of a group of cars, not moving at all!  At Silver Gate, we ate at a log cabin cafe and had delicious crab with steak.  We stayed at a comfortable, cozy log cabin for the night and prepared for the rest of Yellowstone the next day.

Greetings from Idaho Falls!  Today, I had to wake up at 4:45 AM ( ) to catch my flight.  The flight itself was uneventful.  It took four hours!  When my mom, sister, and I were prepared to land in Utah, we caught a glimpse of the beautiful snow-capped Rocky Mountains.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have a camera I could use.

After the flight, my dad came to the airport to pick us up, and we drove for 3 hours to Idaho Falls, catching breath-taking views of the mountains.  Currently, I am in our rented apartment, and it is hailing outside!  The hailstones’ diameters are about 1 centimeter, but I have never experienced such crazy weather.

Tomorrow is Yellowstone!  I will stay there for two days, then visit other sites in Idaho Falls.