The Answers to the Questions

Did you look up the answers?  Well, maybe you decided to really test yourself.  Without further ado, here are the answers.

Question #1 – Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.  The answer:  Boxing.

Question #2 – What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?  The answer:  Niagara Falls .   The rim is worn down about two and a half feet each year because of the millions of gallons of water that rush over it every minute.

Question #3 – Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year.  What are the only two perennial vegetables?  The answers:  Asparagus and rhubarb.

Question #4 – What fruit has its seeds on the outside?  The answer:  Strawberry.

Question #5 – How did the pear get inside the brandy bottle?   The answer: It grew inside the bottle.   The bottles are placed over pear buds when they are small, and are wired in place on the tree. The bottle is left in place for the entire growing season. When the pears are ripe, they are snipped off at the stems.

Question #6 – Only three words in standard English begin with the letters ‘ dw’ and they are all common words. Name two of them.  The answers:  Dwarf, dwell and dwindle…

Question #7 – There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?  The answers:  Period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation mark, brackets, parenthesis, braces, and ellipses.

Question #8 – Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.  The answer:  Lettuce.

Question #9 – Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter ‘S.’   The answers:  Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes, stockings, stilts.

Did you have fun with this?  I know that I did…How is this for a bit of whimsy Joe E.?

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Memories of Yellowstone – Part VI

At the southern end of Yellowstone are the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. Who could pass up the opportunity to see these mountains when so close? We got in the car and headed out.

We entered Yellowstone through the west entrance and got down the road a piece when all of a sudden the traffic was bumper to bumper. Now its a two lane road, one lane each direction, and we could see at the bend about two miles away that traffic was at a full stop. We were stuck. The cause? About 300 buffalo got out of the park, and the rangers rounded them up to bring them back in. We were behind them. When traffic finally started to move, the rangers had them off the road in this field. They were spread out everywhere. We had just gotten out of the car to take photos when the ranger came around and said we should get a move on otherwise we would be behind them again!

The herd returns - see the ranger?

I was able to catch a cute photo before we continued on.

Baby bison

The drive took quite a while, but once the Tetons were in sight, you understand why they are called “grand.”

Can you say Grand?

Tetons

Breathtaking is one word that comes to mind as you gaze at these majestic mountains.

An awesome sight

But to get the true flavor, click on this panoramic photo!

Panoramic of the Grand Tetons

We easily spent hours there, and then had to head back. We were to return home the following day. We took one last look…

Leaving the Grand Tetons

If you have not been to Yellowstone, or to the Grand Tetons, it is well worth a trip. We went in May and there was a lot of snow on the ground. Later in the season you might see the moose and bear. If you go, tell them Barb sent you!

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Memories of Yellowstone – Part V

Every day we discovered amazing new things while we traveled on the inside of the super volcano. We were heading towards Fort Yellowstone and I was able to catch some incredible photos. Should you find yourself with the opportunity to visit this park of geological significance: Go!

Here are some of the sites we saw in Part V of our trip. Each day that we headed into the park we were greeted by views of the bison.

Bison with two calves

The geologic formations all around the park are incredible, as is the smell.

A geologic area before entering Fort Yellowstone

There are holes in the ground everywhere, and we just happened to be looking out on an area when all of a sudden…

Unexpectedly a geyser goes off

This was one hot area!

A Yellowstone hot spot

The colors were what was so spectacular!

The beauty found in the park

The colored areas are loaded with microorganisms, and the lighter white parts do not. In the area of Fort Yellowstone, we saw shelves, as it were, everywhere.

Shelves like these are all over the area

A close up of the shelves

What an array of colors

The Fort is the home not only to people, but to a number of Elk.

Elk at Fort Yellowstone

When we left the Fort we pulled off the road and headed to a campground. We came upon an unexpected delight of a basalt formation. It reminded me of “Devil’s Post Pile” in Mammoth, CA.

An amazing formation

The sun was starting to lower in the west and we headed back to the gates of the west entrance. We saw a number of cars pulled to the side of the road, and of course had to find out why. Here is the answer to why they had:

A bald eagle on her nest

Stay tuned for my favorite moments in Yellowstone!

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Yellowstone Memories – Part IV

I just wanted to share with you some of the many panoramic views of Yellowstone. There is more to come, but these photos range over a number of days there! Please feel free to click on the photos so that you can see the detail of what we saw! One photo, if you look close enough, you will see bear paw prints!

Grand Prismatic Spring

Yellowstone Lake

Inside the caldera of Yellowstone

Another view from inside the caldera

Sulphur Caldron

I hope that you enjoyed these panoramic views!

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My New Buddies in Hawaii

Now my husband and I are sociable people, me more so than he, but we made some friends on our trip that we hope will be with us for a long time. They made our trip! We met every day with our coffee in the morning and with our cocktails in the evening which is when we recounted our day, B.S’d, told jokes, lied and shared other bits of our lives in the early evening hours!

Before we left from our vacation I was able to talk all but one, who shall remain nameless, Paul, into my taking photos of the group that we met…So this post, before I finish up my tripology, is devoted to those that we met and who made our trip!

Pat is the good morning diva!

Pat, the Good Morning diva!

Gregg and Ron, we met the second night that we were there. Gregg and I have a cooking connection! I think that I said something that surprised them both as Chuck, one of our other new bud’s, looked on!

Are you serious?

Then they realized that I was joking with them!

Thank God you were kidding!

Chuck is the resident artist. I loved it when he said to me after showing me a number of his artistic creations, “I love show and tell!”

Chuck, the resident artist

Bob was rather shy about having his photo taken, but he finally relented!

Chuck, what are you talking about now?

Good looking, don’t ya think?

My husband had to take a photo for me at my urging, and our new friends agreed to this photo!

The folks we met on our trip

And then, the fellow on the extreme left in this next photo, suggested that we take this shot. 🙂  Something to do with all the great butts we all have!

The fellow on the left insisted on a butt shot!

To all of you that we met at the Kona Reef, thank you all for making our trip so special, and for welcoming us into your lives! We will miss you and hope to come back and visit with you all!  To our new Hawaii friends, when you share this in the morning, please give hugs all the way around!  And my husband and I would like to thank you, Pat, Gregg, Ron, Chuck, Bob, and Paul for making us feel at home!

Next we finally get to Pololu Valley, then Hawi!  Stay tuned!

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Sunset in Hawaii

Night was fast approaching as I picked up the camera and headed towards the beach.  It was a balmy 80 degrees.  Thunder rumbled over the volcano.  The breeze wafted by carrying the sweet salt smell of the ocean.  I settled down on a lawn chair with my camera at the ready.  There was a low fog clinging to the horizon, and I raised my camera.

The lowering sun

The sun kisses the Pacific

Still life on the ocean

Until tomorrow!

I hope that you enjoyed this sunset as much as I did!

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Life in the Hawaiian Foothills…

This week, the Sierra Foothills is moving to the Foothills on the Island of Hawaii for a much needed vacation! Would you like to see what a lava tube looks like? Or, what it would be like to be on the deck of a fishing boat fishing in the deep sea off the Island of Hawaii? Have you ever wondered what the coral reefs look like close up? How about the fluorescent blue, hot pink, fluorescent green gecko right in your face? What about coffee plantations and where King Kamehameha lived?

How about taking a trip with me and my husband to the Island of Hawaii? Interested?

771px-Hawaje-NoRedLine

Tune in as I will be doing a daily blog and hopefully the internet connection will work with me!

Our base camp will be in Kailua-Kona.

Hawaii National Parks Map

Kailua-Kona is on the eastern shore midway on the island.

I hope that you will join us on this journey, and that you will enjoy the trip as much as we do! So let us start the count down! The first blog on this Hawaiian adventure will be posted on Sunday, March 25th! See you then! Aloha!

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