I hope they got lots of candy! Or something at least.

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Photo #393: Halloween DeerLocation Taken: Cody, Wyoming
Time Taken: October 2012

My last Halloween was a bit different than my usual patterns, just because I happened to be traveling across the country at the time. I didn’t have to buy any candy, or hand it out, much less dress up myself.

But I did happen to be driving through a decently-large town right at dusk, when the trick-or-treaters were out and about, so I did happen to see people in costume!

These were by far the best costumes I saw that night!

I mean, not only are these highly accurate deer costumes, but the parent with the kids dressed up too!

It’s a bit odd that they were in the road but-

Wait, belay that.

Those are actual deer hanging out in town on Halloween while people are bustling around getting candy.

Carry on with your day.

  

The True Bridge, the False Bridge, the Dead Bridge…

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Photo #391: Bridge After BridgeLocation Taken: Niagara Falls, New York
Time Taken: December 2009

So, how many bridges does one river need?

One, two, three, four, five?

I’ve seen places with far too many and places with far too few.

But this is the only I’ve seen with both at once.

Only one of these bridges can you drive across, you see. The others are for other things.

The close one is the one to cross, but it takes a long time. It’s the border between countries, so you must stop and declare who and why you are there.

The second closest no one can cross. Its days of use have ended, but its death has not yet come.

Past that is its twin, taking over the job of the undead bridge. Train after train crosses here, bearing people and items, but mostly items.

Beyond that is a bridge that does not cross. It merely lifts a small road above the twin bridges.

And even closer than you can see was another bridge, only going halfway. It is a footbridge, to a tall tower for viewing the falls behind us. I stood near it, and looked beyond.

Five bridges, perhaps, but only two truly cross. Too much, too few, and so it goes.

  

Humans Carve Pumpkins, Rivers Carve Canyons.

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Photo #390: Canyon CarvingLocation Taken: South of Thermopolis, Wyoming
Time Taken: November 2012

So, when you think of a canyon, what do you picture?

Tall rock walls?

Eroded sections and gullies?

The occasional cave?

A river at the bottom?

Drier conditions?

Here ya go, a prototypical canyon!

Well, aside from the fact that most canyons are carved by a river digging down. This one was carved by the mountains going up. But that’s not too odd, the Grand Canyon formed the same way. How about the fact that this river actually cuts right through this small mountain ridge? Have you seen that one before?

It comes from the mountain ridge being part of a rather old chain of mountains that got buried under a large amount of dirt and sand. Rivers formed across the land, not caring at all about the peculiarities of the rock below. Then the land started uplifting, the dirt and sand washed away, but this river stayed put.

It stayed put when the land stopped being flat plains, just carving its way through the rock it now flowed through.

It stayed put when the dirt fell away from both sides of this pile of rock. It had cut a path through, it did not need to move.

It stayed put while the climates shifted and the ice ages came and went.

And to this day, it is there, carving even deeper.

  

This is my tree, my tree is amazing!

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Photo #389: Amazing TreeLocation Taken: Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Time Taken: October 2012

Look, it’s a tree!

Isn’t it AMAZING?!?

No really, it is. See that oddly layered rock it’s growing on? That rock is created by the massive hot spring this tree is growing at the top of. It’s a rock that crumbles very quickly when it’s no longer being renewed. And as it crumbles, the thin layers that build up are revealed, which is rather interesting.

It would be really pretty if it didn’t get that brown-gray coating so fast that ruins the pristine white it starts as.

It seems to be a very fertile rock, at least. There were trees and other plants growing all over the inactive parts of the hot spring. They seem to do well with the extra heat coming off of the water as well.

So here you have the top of a massive hot spring, full of waters that steam in any weather and full of minerals that gather together into a rock that quickly erodes, and what do you find?

A tree. A pretty good sized one, too.

See, amazing.