{WYOMING} THE MAGIC OF YELLOWSTONE

First, a massive breakfast: sunny side up eggs with fresh wild thyme from the backyard, crispy bacon, sautéed vegetables + berry-salted chocolate pancakes smothered in apple butter + mango coconut jam with an assortment of spiced nut milks. After we packed up, we went to the magical wildflower mountain again, to visit one last wildflower we fell in love with. We came rolling down the mountain, happy + content, having soaked in the flowers one last time.

We left the Tetons + jumped on the road - another epic day of road tripping - stopping along the way at various points to enjoy all the treasures. We came across a huge field of mustard flowers - it’s fluorescent expanse almost blinding. We climbed around in the flowers, took photos, squatted in them the yellow petals covering our heads.

We took a long drive through Yellowstone National Park, which was ten million times more precious + friendly than I ever would have anticipated. We pulled over + swam in the Madison River, refreshingly cold, with a swift-moving current.

We laid on large boulders just under the water’s surface in the warm sun, watching the soft strings of green algae swim on the rocks. We rolled around in the water, watched the sun move in and out of huge, fluffy white clouds + laughed together in exhilaration of the moment.

Suddenly Taylor exclaimed about a snake, and we watched as a long snake swam right through the middle of us, it’s head above water, with its slender body moving back + forth under the water. We hopped up on the rock + our bodies shivered at the sight of the wild, water snake.

We peeled off our wet suits at the side of the road and made our way to the Lower Geyser Basin, where we could see bubbling mud pots + steam vents.

The colors of the various minerals were stunning - neon chartreuse, burnt orange, milky whites, with bubbling waters a clear, boiling turquoise.

We stood in front of the steam vents, the warm, sulfurous breezes heating up + soothing our skin. We delighted in wildflowers that we’d not yet seen before. We found a gorgeous tree root sculpture and wrapped our bodies around it in human sculptures.

We rode through the rest of the park, the three of us girls hanging out the windows of the car, while Rey drove - drinking into our bodies the divinely aromatic clouds of resinous pine + sweet fir trees. Wind in our hair, laughing wildly with a freedom rarely felt in life, our eyes soaked in the wilderness.

A childlike levity arose, taking over our senses with a full-bodied delight + wonderment. I felt as if every molecule in my body was awash with a new kind of weight to it, as if every cell in my body was somehow making love to Mother Nature. This grand + wild love of the Earth woke up such a deep sense of contentment + fulfillment. I was so fully aware of how rare this tremendous fullness was, an expansiveness that has never known lack, scarcity, craving or worry.

We rode through the beautiful park, blissed out with bodies fully unraveled of modern life, brought back to the state of natural freedom + elation of being alive. I felt the familiar heat + tenderness of the skin on my shoulders, fully baked + brown from the sun, something I hadn't felt in years of avoiding the sun in the desert.

As a sort of grand finale to the park, we came across a massive hot springs waterfall, with hot water + steam pouring down a pristine snow-white mountain of minerals, water pooling in turquoise chasms before it made its way down the mountain. All around the snow-white waterfall were were rock formations in soft grays, apricots + orange cream. We stood in absolute awe at the otherworldly beauty of what was before our eyes.

The boiling river was closed because the water was too high, so after leaving he park, we had fulfilled our desire for hot springs with Chico Hot Spring, whose saloon was like walking into a scene in a movie.

We filled up on bar food + soaked in the hot springs pool, open air to the sky with stars above. We mastered our own game of beachball rodeo, flipping our bodies up onto a beachball - and tossed the ball around in a non-verbal conversation of play. After a last dip in the hot pool, we made our way to Bozeman, where we broke down in laughter at the airbnb, having to put up a makeshift bathroom door with a sarong, stabbing it up to the door frame with some kind of fork. We did an awareness movement exercise + fell into a deep sleep.

wind in my hair

reflection of the clouds in the mirror pools of water

there’s nowhere else I’d rather be

listening to music

on the open road

body blissed out

and unraveled from being off the grid

on the way to hot springs

having already dipped in a cold river

walked through bright yellow mustard flower fields

blueberry pancakes with oozing salted chocolate

smothered with apple butter

sweet taste on my lips

like last night’s

gooey roasted marshmallows

cinnamon s’mores

sitting next to Lynda

peaceful soul

quietly savoring hers

and Taylor developing a new weakness

for cinnamon churro marshmallows

this wide expansive sky

full of stars

like the ones

in my eyes

Love + flower petals,