otters!!

Yesterday was our Sunday, our second day off. We slept in (accidentally--I forgot to set the alarm), went to an early lunch, stopped in to see the rangers and our YA colleagues at the visitor's center...and eventually strapped on our skis and headed to the Lone Star ski trail.

This meant going over the hilly, and icy, trail again. We've received a dusting of snow, but most of the employee's conversations at the dinner table or on the trails revolve around snow, how much we want it and need it.

After what seemed like forever (and two spectacular falls by me), we finally reached Kepler Cascades


and left the hills behind. After skiing up the road for a bit we reached the trail to Lone Star Geyser. The trail is on an old service road and it's flat, perfect for us. It winds through the forest alongside the Firehole River.


Here's the daily shot of Steve peering into the river. Steve's never met a river that he hasn't stopped to look into, but here his purpose is twofold: 1) look for fish and 2) look for otters.


Finally our otter karma paid off: Steve stopped mid-ski to take a closer look at what he thought was a log, but suddenly the "log" moved and a head popped up. Soon there were 4 little heads watching us from the water, wondering why we were watching them.


But my favorite was this guy, an otter after my own heart. He was too busy eating to care about us, he was all about his food





We were still a good mile from the Lone Star geyser so we decided it was probably best to head back home. And to be honest, we're more otter people than geyser people anyway...

The good thing about "home" is that you can tell when you're getting close on account of the steam and the sulphur smell


We finally made it home, beat. But we managed to drag ourselves over to check our mail and we had two packages from home, including one full of f-o-o-d


This should keep us sorted. For a little while, at least.