I like TREES!!

I am really going to miss the trees. We have seen so many different kinds and all of them beautiful. I regret not getting pictures of the burned pine trees in Yellowstone. Some of them have been standing since the 1988 fires. They were so pretty . As straight as arrows and black as pitch. I seem to remember hearing that you do not tie a tree to keep the wind from blowing it. The wind needs to move, twist and turn the tree for the roots to grow strong to support a big tree. That is why the trees that grow fast cannot withstand strong winds. Sort of like people. The trials we overcome make us stronger. If it doesn't break us it makes us stronger. Sort of like the trees that don't learn to bend with the wind.













Speaking of trees- Charlie left his mark on a good many in a lot of states.
Speaking of Charlie - one day when we was in Yellowstone I was walking Charlie outside the path to one of the geysers when a young Asian lady came up and motioned she wanted to pet Charlie. I told Charlie to "sit" so she could pet him. For some reason she thought that was funny. She started laughing and saying "seet, seet". All the while waving her hands in the air. I got away as soon as I could because Charlie thought she was playing, what with all the laughing and hand waving. Pretty soon she brought one of her traveling companions who was carrying a great big camera and after a lot of sign language finally figured out they wanted a picture of Charlie. Well here we go again. "seet, seet", hands waving, me trying to stay out of the picture, Charlie jumping and having a good old time, and the camera man clicking away. Finally I got away with them standing there grinning like everything. I tried to be graceful in my exit. After all one day they may own us. Maybe if I keep Charlie I'll be ok.
Speaking of cameras - nearly every tourist had big old cannon sized cameras. Some with tripods even. And here we had our tiny little digital cameras. I carried mine undercover as much as possible. We was visiting with a couple who said he told his wife 'lets get out of here. This is embarrassing”.
Well, we are sitting in the shadow of Pikes Peak in Fountain Colorado. I'm gonna miss mountains too.