Reunion time! We explored a new (to us) part of Yellowstone National Park this time: Yellowstone Lake. We stayed in cabins near the Lake Lodge. It was 4th of July weekend, but we didn’t notice the crowds until we stopped at Old Faithful on the way out.
An amazing hike in the area is Storm Point Trail. I felt like I was in Ireland with grassy hills and steep cliffs along the water. And we saw a yellow-bellied marmot yawning on a rock.
Storm Point Trail hike
Storm Point Trail hike
Storm Point Trail hike
Storm Point Trail hike
Storm Point Trail hike
Elisabeth
Storm Point Trail hike
Storm Point Trail hike
Storm Point Trail hike
Storm Point Trail hike
Storm Point Trail hike
Yellow-bellied marmot yawn
Yellow-bellied marmot
Storm Point Trail hike
Storm Point Trail hike
Storm Point Trail hike
Yellow-bellied marmot
Over the years I’ve seen a few bears in the distance, but never up close. This time we had front-row seats to a female grizzly foraging and crossing the road in front of us.
I fell a little behind in documenting the safari from October. We spent a couple of days in Johannesburg and a day in Pretoria. The different branches of government in South Africa are located in separate cities, so Pretoria is the administrative (executive branch) capital, Cape Town is the legislative capital, Bloemfontein is the judicial capital, and Johannesburg is the largest city. It was interesting to spend a day in Johannesburg and get one perspective on the country followed by a day in Pretoria to get a very different perspective.
You can watch the video slideshow version or browse through way too many photos or just go about your life without doing either.
Long drive from MalaMala (near Kruger National Park) to Johannesburg, via the loosely-defined Panorama Route (God’s Window, Bourke’s Luck, Graskop, etc.)
A little snack of beef heart and liver on the bike tour
Photo op
Grandpa to many
Kids in Soweto
Climing on the tourists
Soweto
Soweto
Cool house on Soweto bike tour
Hector Peterson memorial
He told me he hand-crafted the trinket I bought so I took a picture with him. He didn’t.
Near Hector Peterson memorial
Mandela’s Family Restaurant
Mandela House
Aquafresh
Desmond Tutu House
Locals
Drinking something suspicious
Drinking something suspicious
Tourists with bike tour guide
Lunch at Lebo’s
Chicken legs for lunch
Wooden bike
Bob Marley sign at Lebo’s
Lebo’s Soweto Backpackers
Blending right in
Finale of bike tour
Soweto bike tour
Street hawker sizes up Michael
Soweto bike tour
Soweto bike tour
Soweto
Soweto
Kids checking the photos
Kids posing in Soweto
Soweto bike tour
Soweto bike tour
Apartheid Museum, Constitution Hill, the Zoo, LDS Temple, etc.
Youth event at Constitutional Court
Constitutional Court
Statue outside Constitutional Court
Constitutional Court
Mandela – Gandhi exhibit at Constitution Hill
Gandhi statue at Constitution Hill
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony – Gandhi
Gandhi and Mandela exhibit at Constitution Hill
Constitution Hill
Cells (some haunted) at Constitution Hill
Constitution Hill
Constitution Hill
South Africa LDS (Mormon) Temple
South Africa LDS (Mormon) Temple
South Africa LDS (Mormon) Temple
South Africa LDS (Mormon) Temple
South Africa LDS (Mormon) Temple
Shaking hands
Distant view of South Africa LDS Temple from Johannesburg Zoo
Apartheid Museum White card.
Apartheid Museum
Apartheid Museum
Pretoria, including Voortrekker Monument, Kruger House, Church Square, City Hall, Union Buildings, Cullinan Diamond Mine area, and a delicious braai (barbecue) with our hosts
An evening braai (barbecue)
Hippo art
Paul Kruger statue at Church Square, Pretoria
Tshwane City Hall
Kids swimming on the fountain – Tshwane City Hall at Pretorius Square
Tshwane City Hall
Cullinan Diamonds area, outside Pretoria
Cullinan Diamonds area, outside Pretoria
Jacaranda trees in Pretoria
Group shot among the Jacaranda trees in Pretoria
Jacaranda trees in Pretoria
Jacaranda trees in Pretoria
Jacaranda trees in Pretoria
Union Buildings Gardens
Mandela statue
Mandela statue
Purple jacaranda tree at Kruger House
Reformed Church across from Kruger House
Kruger House
Kruger House
Gereformeerde Kerk (Reformed Church) – Pretoria. Across from Kruger House.
Voortrekker Monument
Voortrekker Monument
Voortrekker Monument
Voortrekker Monument
Voortrekker Monument
Voortrekker Monument, Pretoria
Voortrekker Monument
And a few straggler photos just to make this page take forever to load –
I relax best when I’m watching something else work really hard. Here’s a hummingbird in slow-motion (25% of normal) from last night. You can see his long tongue flick out at the very beginning. Also, backyard bird sounds at 1/4 speed are freaky!
My hive didn’t do so well over the winter. The queen is still there but I only found a few hundred bees around her (normal hive is in the tens of thousands – healthy hive is 70,000). I moved them to a nuc (small 5-frame box) to see if they can turn things around — if they do, I’ll have two hives.
The old bees, gathered around the queen after a tough winter. Can you spot the queen?
I ordered a new package of bees, which I installed Saturday. Today I released the queen who stays in her own cage for several days until the new bees (who aren’t her kin) decide she smells ok and can be their matriarch. She has already mated with some drones in California, so she has all she needs to lay up to 2,000 eggs a day (less in the winter) for 5 years or so. The other bees’ job is to keep the queen alive and prepare cells so she can lay eggs that will hatch into their replacements. Tough life. After a month or so the whole hive will be the new queen’s progeny.
Here’s a little video, at half speed, of today’s hive entrance activity –
And some photos –
Peach blossom harvest
Bees are pretty interested in the queen who is in that corner of the hive (but inside)
Orange-legged one on the right (facing down with spread wings) is bringing in pollen
Installing the bee package (plastic white box at my feet)
