Yellowstone Sunset

Half of the Yellowstone experience is “car hiking” through it. It’s such a huge park that completing either the north loop or the south loop, or the grand loop, is a multi-hour adventure with varying landscapes and natural beauty all along the way.

Car-hiking Yellowstone can easily fill a day including stops – to see a thermal feature, take a walk, recharge at a lodge, browse a gift shop, or view some wildlife (either by choice or by necessity such as when a herd of bison decide they want to be on the other side of the road right now).

Several of our day trips ended with an awesome drive at dusk, and this one in particular was spectacular.

Crater Lake National Park

In southern Oregon there is a lake that is a crater, and it is the deepest of all the lakes in the US. The crisp blue color is in a league of its own, holding up next to any color of the best sunsets you’ve seen. The fact that there are no rivers or inlets attached or flowing to it, makes for some of the purest water in the world – it is a clarity that goes undisputed. It is a landscape that Life painted – one that Gaia made for you. Welcome to Crater Lake.

Our one and only day at the Crater was spectacular and everything we hoped it to be: stunning in sight, uncrowded and without fuss, we checked a “first” off our list - we went snowshoeing! At $16 a pair and with free-roam of the park, we set off with a thwap and crunch as our wide feet left indents in the blinding white snow. At one point, we got right up next to the rim of the crater. A feeling of awe became us: the sensory experience of standing on the snow so high up, the sun warming our skin and the sight hypnotizing our eyes – it was simply awesome.

Aside from snowshoeing, we threw snowballs, wrote “Happy Mother’s Day!'“ messages into the walls of hard packed snow, toured the gift shop, made lunch in our van, and we found a sled, too! It was left on a hill, so we both jumped on and flew down.

It was different and fun to be snowshoeing in late May, in moderate temperature, with the astonishing clarity and intense blue hue of Crater Lake’s water. It was a day of play among a natural Earth wonder. Gratitude.

Low Power Mode

On the iPhone, Low Power Mode is typically engaged when the system notifies the user that less than 20% of battery life remains. It can deactivate certain nice-but-not-necessary features in order to conserve power and extend the life of the device.

We see an analog to Low Power Mode in the functioning of the human nervous system.

Ever been unwell or tired, but had to “show up” despite the suboptimal circumstances, and instead of falling flat you ended up easily playing your “A Game” and exceeding your own expectations?

The nervous system’s low power mode suppresses latent background processes tending toward self-doubt, self-criticism, and second-guessing.

When called to perform under pressure or deliver under duress, there are simply no spare cycles to spend overthinking, over analyzing, and questioning ourselves. We simply show up and do our duty. We get out of our own way.