Snowflakes in Summer 夏天里的雪花

Today was another really tiring day, but it ended with one of the coolest surprises yet. First, we went to see Roaring Mountain, which got its name a long, long time ago. Deep underground, it has this low rumbling sound, and if you stay quiet and really listen, you can actually hear it! That low roar comes from steam and gases escaping through cracks in the earth — pretty amazing when you think about it.

After that, we were starving because we hadn’t eaten much breakfast, so we stopped at a place near Norris Basin and grabbed something to eat. Believe it or not, they had bison burgers on the menu! Bison meat is a lot like beef, which makes sense because bison and cows are close relatives — they’re both part of the same animal family. Even so, they’re not exactly the same animal: a bison is its own species, with that big shaggy hump and a much wilder look. Still, like cows, bison eat grass, and their meat can be eaten too. We watched some real bison out in the wild, and then I got to taste one in burger form — kind of funny when you think about it.

Later, we drove off to see another mountain, which honestly wasn’t all that exciting. But the drive to our new hotel sure was! On the way, it started snowing so hard that I thought we were in a small blizzard. The snow got so intense that the car’s radar, cruise control, and lane-centering all stopped working, and even the map cut out. So I had to track my mom’s car by hand on the map myself, just to make sure we stayed on the right route.

Earlier, I had checked the weather and predicted that the bad weather would hit around 3 o’clock — and sure enough, right as we reached the hotel at 3, the storm came down hard! Everything around us got covered in snow, even though it’s still summer. Snowflakes in summer — how cool is that? I think I’ve fallen in love with snow. I really hope it snows again tomorrow, though I doubt that’ll happen anytime soon. It was a tough day, but I’d do every bit of it all over again.