Call Her Mellow Yellow

[pbsthisdayinhistory]

September 23, 1806: Lewis and Clark Return from Expedition

On this day in 1806, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark returned from their two-and-a-half-year expedition, which covered the expanse from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Coast and back.

The two men brought back a wealth of information about the largely unexplored region within the Louisiana Purchase territory. During their expedition, Lewis and Clark studied the plants, animal life, geography and elements of economic opportunity throughout the vast area.

Check out this Lewis and Clark: Into the Unknown interactive story in which you lead the expedition.

Photo: Florentine Films

[dameudidench-yellowstone]

Just, you know, Merriwether had some challenges later on, but this was a highlight for him, I'm sure.

[dameudidench-yellowstone]

Mt. Washburn, as told by the Lion King

Me: Anything the light touches is our kingdom.

Amanda: But what about that shadowy place?

Me: Those are the Tetons. You must never go there, Simba.

My housemate and I hiked Mt. Washburn, a peak that gives you a panoramic view of almost the entire park, and then some. At the top, we had a pretty intense heart to heart.

[hollywoodpolyglot-blog-deactiva]

It is necessary, especially for Americans, to see other lands and experience other cultures. The American, living in this vast country and able to traverse three thousand miles east to west using the same language, needs to hear languages as they collide in Europe, Africa, and Asia. A tourist, browsing in a Paris shop, eating in an Italian ristorante, or idling along a Hong Kong street, will encounter three or four languages as she negotiates the buying of a blouse, the paying of a check, or the choosing of a trinket. I do not mean to suggest that simply overhearing a foreign tongue adds to one’s understanding of that language. I do know, however, that being exposed to the existence of other languages increases the perception that the world is populated by people who not only speak differently from oneself but whose cultures and philosophies are other than one’s own. Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try to understand each other, we may even become friends.

Maya Angelou, Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now

According to her Wiki page, Angelou speaks Spanish, French, Italian, Arabic, and West African Fante. Amazing.

(via hollywoodpolyglot)

I'm so lucky that as a child my parents took me out of the country as often as they could. And that early exposure as a child is why I've lived abroad, moved around the United States, and try to learn the local language - linguistically or culturally - wherever I go. 

[allcreatures]

Picture: Julian Cox/Solent News & Photo Agency (via Pictures of the day: 16 August 2012 - Telegraph)

[dameudidench-yellowstone]

Just because, you know, in theory this could happen at Yellowstone. At least, it does in my imagination. 

[natalabatala]

[dameudidench-yellowstone]

Everyone who lives in Mammoth long-term has a dog. Yesterday we all went to a block party and there were at least three or four wonderful dogs running around making friends.  This past week I've been taking my boss' dog for a walk everyday at lunch. 

All of this to say, as soon as I am able (financially and living situation-wise), I'm getting me a puppy. 

[theatlantic]

“I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.” —Neil Armstrong

[dameudidench-yellowstone]

When I first moved to Yellowstone I felt this way all the time. I would drive by mountains and canyons and the sheer scale of my surroundings - the knowledge that I was so small it their presence, and yet significant as their witness - put many of my anxieties, joys, and fears into perspective. 

[nprfreshair]

Summer is fading

Have a great weekend!  We at Fresh Air encourage all of you to follow this example while summer’s still around.

[dameudidench-yellowstone]

I appreciate the extra little boost. Around here summer is fading, and fast. No joke, it's dark by 8:30 PM - just three weeks ago it was bright as day until 10:00 PM - and it dips down into the 30's every night. Yeesh! 

That said, Happy Summer!

[whatshouldwecallme]

Trying to wake up for work on a Friday

[dameudidench-yellowstone]

And then I remembered its my lieu day!

[littleorphanammo]

PBR US teaches PBR Canada a lesson about not being an a**hole

There was this

Now there’s this

Well. That’s a thing.

[dameudidench-yellowstone]

They didn't win the gold medal in 18-- for nothing. 

PBR: The official beer of car camping, national parks, and not being jerks. 

[ribsnthighs]

…I don’t believe in guilty pleasures, I only believe in pleasures. People who call reading detective fiction or eating dessert a guilty pleasure make me want to puke. Pedophilia is a pleasure a person should have guilt about. Not chocolate.

Ira Glass (via ribsnthighs)

Add to this list also:

Thai peanut sauce - by itself ... out of the jar ... while standing in the kitchen

SNL staring Phil Hartman, Chris Farley, Amy Poehler and/or Tina Fey 

Really awful romance novels bought at international airports

Car camping

Tom Hiddleston - reading Lord Byron or, you know, just existing

[inothernews]

[dameudidench-yellowstone]

Sometimes elk make this face. They don't know it, but they do. Beautiful creatures. 

[brokenimagination]

Anything on earth that a woman is capable of doing is womanly. It is impossible for a woman to be unwomanly because a woman is a woman. Therefore, anything a woman does is womanly by default. Fighting is womanly. Winning fights is womanly. Bruises are womanly. Savagery is womanly. Unwholesomeness is womanly. Athleticism is womanly. And not giving a shit what some poor delicate flower of a newspaper columnist thinks about your womanliness is super fucking womanly.

Fierce Women’s Judo Competitors Offend One Man’s Delicate Sensibilities    (via cottonbutts)

Absolutely. What’s lady-like? Anything a lady likes to do. What’s womanly? Anything that a person who identifies as a woman does. Get it? Got it. Good.

(via dameudidench)

[dameudidench-yellowstone]

You know how all you can see is that one measly hill? Well, there's usually an entire national park behind there. Instead, we've got ourselves a 360 degree smoke veil courtesy of every wild fire in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. According to NPR this morning it's all Smokey the Bear's fault.

[quotevadis]

“The price of being a sheep is boredom. The price of being a wolf is loneliness. Choose one or the other with great care.”

— Hugh MacLeod, an American cartoonist and writer, creator of gapingvoid.com

[dameudidench-yellowstone]

Not too long ago I had a coworker say something very similar. She told me not to be afraid that my life is different than I expected, or to be concerned that different can be lonely. "Leadership is lonely," she told me. "But that's what it takes sometimes."

[pleatedjeans]

[laughingsquid]

Pun Hunting in the Kitchen

[dameudidench-yellowstone]

Now that Christina's left, we find ourselves short a roommate and a can-opener. Oh, sure we sort of bought one at Food Farm, but between you, and me, and the Internet my proficiency with that thing is more like 'can't opener.'

[thedailyfeed-blog]

Time to put together a summer shindig — Bill Murray’s been tooling around the U.S. crashing every party he can find.

Known to pop up in the unlikeliest karaoke bars and house parties in New York City, he “is looking to take a vacation around the United States,” his rep announced last month. “He’s hoping that if he shows up to your party with a bottle of wine or vegetable tray, you will be able to make the proper accommodations for him. This includes allowing him to sleep on your couch or in a spare bedroom.”

Bill Murray can sleep on our couch anytime.

[dameudidench-yellowstone]

Oh my god, Bill Murray. Come to Mammoth Hot Springs! Come to Mammoth right now. We'll be friends, and we'll drink, and we'll laugh, and laugh, and laugh!

[pbsthisdayinhistory]

August 18, 1774:  Birth of Meriwether Lewis

On this day in 1774, American explorer Meriwether Lewis was born in the Colony of Virginia.  Lewis was best known for his role as co-leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (a.k.a. the Corps of Discovery).

The Lewis and Clark Expedition contributed to the expansion of the United States and the understanding of indigenous nations and terrain of the far west.

Can you tell Lewis from Clark?  Test your knowledge of major figures of the time period with this “Who’s Who in the West” quiz.

[dameudidench-yellowstone]

Fun Facts* about Meriwether Lewis:

He was good with the ladies.

He only led the expedition when they were going downhill.

Look at that stud. Now will people start naming their kids Meriwether again?