Touring Yellowstone with a Group of Seniors…Who Knew?

Grand Prismatic SpringI consider myself a well-seasoned traveler. I’ve logged many miles, for business and pleasure, both in the States and abroad. Except for ski club trips, I’ve always traveled on my own or with one or two people from my inner circle (BF, family, good friends). I frequently noticed these large groups of people get off big motor coaches and file through tourist sites listening to their guide using some kind of headset. They are kind of hard to miss.  I scoffed at them, haughtily at times, thinking they looked like lemmings blindly following their leader. Then I took a 6-day Road Scholar trip to Yellowstone National Park and it totally changed my mind.
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Yellow is the Colour of My True Love’s Hair — Pine Pollen Season in the South

Working in my yard this weekend, pulling weeds and mulching the flower beds, I found myself humming this old folk song “Yellow is the Colour of My True Love’s Hair”. Not because my love’s hair is blonde in the morning (it is salt-and-pepper all the time), but because EVERYTHING was yellow, dusted with a thick coat of what my botanist friend calls tree sperm. Pine pollen — we all more or less hate it.

pine pollen coating

Everything looks dull. It clings to all surfaces; cars seem to be a particular magnet. With a small gust of wind, you can see it billowing in sulfurous clouds of gold. Despite our general annoyance — guess what?  Pine pollen is supposed to be good for you!  Seriously.
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