foundtheworld.com
Growing up my family used to spend a lot of our summers in a cabin near Yellowstone National Park. It's such a beautiful area with pine trees everywhere, mountains, rivers and all sorts of wildlife. The wildlife is usually best observed from the distance though, moose, elk and bison are not friendly animals when they are up close and personal.
When my mother was young she travelled to the park with my grandparents. This was during the era when people were allowed to feed the bears. As a result bears were everywhere by the roads looking for free handouts. Once my grandfather rolled down his car window and took out a stick of gum, ripped it in half and gave half to a bear. He then rolled the window back up just in time because the bear swatted the window with his paw because it wanted the whole stick of gum. Perfect example of why they banned feeding the bears in Yellowstone!
Yellowstone is full of geothermal pools and geysers which are part of the parks draw. In reality it's a supervolcano that last erupted 70,000 years ago. However, it remarkably stable and not likely to erupt anytime soon. But the magma deep below heats the water resulting in widespread hot springs and impressive geysers. That's why it was the United States very first National Park.
In 1999 the US Mint produced a commemorative coin in the Philadelphia Mint to mark the 125th anniversary of Yellowstone. This one is a silver proof made with ninety percent silver. The obverse features the geyser Old Faithful and the reverse a bison as part of a modified seal of the Department of the Interior:
About the coin:
From numista.com
It's a beautiful commemorative coin. The US produces multiple commemorative coins yearly, and I tend to pick up the one I like the best. This one I have a personal connection to from all the summers I spent around Yellowstone Park. If you have never been it's well worth the trip!
I'm going to share some really nice pictures from the park along with some videos of geysers erupting. The photo up top is of a hot spring in the Norris basin of the park if I'm not mistaken. The algae turn the area surrounding the spring orange and red, they have evolved to survive the near boiling environment around these pools. It wouldn't be wise to take a dip here because the water is so hot you wouldn't live very long.
I have many pictures of the park that haven't been converted to digital yet. I really need to get that done...
wallpapercave.com
One of thousands of hot springs in the park.
history.com
Yellowstone's grand canyon
forbes.com
Some bison grazing near a river, what a beautiful view!
There are numerous geysers around the park that erupt boiling water into air. Old Faithful gained that name because it regularly erupts every sixty to ninety minutes. It can launch water up to 185 feet (56 meters) into the sky. The world's tallest geyser is also located there, called Steamboat Geyser. It can launch water 300 feet (91 meters) in the air! It erupts sporadically from once every three days to once every fifty years. It's currently in a stage of activity where it has been erupting up to 38 times a year. I've always wanted to see it erupt in person, but have never been lucky enough to be there when it erupted!
Here I have included a couple youtube videos, the first of Old Faithful erupting and the second is Steamboat geyser erupting. Unfortunately the links aren't appearing on the preview right now but I'm hoping they work when I publish the final product. Crossing my fingers! You can always click on the link to youtube worst case scenario!
I also included a couple still images for you below in case the videos don't work.
Old Faithful
Steamboat Geyser
yellowstonenaturalist.com
It's more impressive when you realize that the pine trees can reach a height of 80 feet (24 meters.)
Old Faithful
Steamboat Geyser
Yellowstone has always been a special place for me personally having spent so much time there as a youngster. I understand that it can be a little busy in summer anymore along with so many other of the National Parks in the western US. I highly recommend a visit if you get a chance even if you have to brave a few crowds.
That will about do it for my post today. I hope you enjoyed the silver coin and the Yellowstone photos. It's one of my favorite places! If you have any suggestion, comments, or questions please feel free to leave them below. Thanks for stopping by and keep on stacking!
And my disclaimer:
Gold and silver collecting and stacking can be a fun hobby but isn't for everyone. You can lose money. I'm not a financial advisor and this isn't financial advice, please always do your own research before spending your hard earned money.
All pictures are mine unless otherwise noted.
References:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces37837.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Faithful
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steamboat_Geyser
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_National_Park
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