A Sudden Change of Seasons

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WY: Yesterday, lounging on the benches, waiting for Grand to go off, feeling the hot sun, wanting to take my shirt off, soaking up some rays. Today? A blustery morning, capped off by an ever so brief snow flurry about 1. So it does seem as if yesterday was the last day of summer here, and today is the first day of fall. There will be a warming trend over the next few days and maybe even a few more toasty days in early September, but chilly bursts are the triggers for the bison to get on with their mating season. Such a little blue-ish norther must tell the age-old internal clocks in the elk that the serious season of the rut is coming up and soon. From sun to snow in an hour, in America's most famous wonderland.

Today, with a 30 degree drop in temperature, the steam billowing around the geysers is so much more billowy, so much more prominent. The rockets of water get lost in the clouds of steam.

And we find ourselves in the change of seasons.