Saturday, July 12, 2014

Pain In The Asphalt

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Yellowstone National Park announced yesterday that they had to close Firehole Lake Drive, the 3.3 mile loop that takes visitors past Great Fountain Geyser, White Dome Geyser, and, of course,  Firehole Lake. 

The problem is that geothermal energy in the area has melted the tar in the road surface – a reminder that Yellowstone lies within the caldera of one of the world’s largest active volcanoes.

It reminded me of summertime in Houston when I was a kid.  This time of year, it was common for the summer sun to melt the tar in the Macadam streets of our neighborhood.  Kids soon learned to cross the street fast, but at the end of the day the bottoms of our bare feet were usually black.

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