20 Day Escape (Len Kagamine)

20 Day Escape: Day 9

~-~-~-~-~

Day 9:

When we hit the edge of Wyoming, we finally slowed down. We had driven all the way to the top of Iowa to make it seem like we were running away to Canada, then used an ATM to withdraw as much money as I could before heading back towards California. I wouldn't touch my credit card again until I knew for sure I could fix everything.

Len and I sat in a parking lot, collecting all our snacks for the day and throwing them into a backpack before starting our exploration adventure of Yellowstone National Park. We were going to see wildlife. We were going to see geysers. We were going to have a picnic and witness waterfalls and this would undoubtedly remove all the drama from our minds and refocus us on our optimistic sides.

"It's already so beautiful." Len said quietly, as we began heading up the main trail towards Wyoming's more famous areas of the park. You could see steam in the air a fair distance ahead of us, no doubt where the geysers were. The air was moist, but not alarmingly so. It was nice out, sunny, but not hot. Elk were visible in fields far away, and moose in a pond a bit closer. Tourists all over were taking pictures, and it was plain to see why. This whole place was a dream.

We approach a geyser, steam pooling in the air around it. The cavern into the ground turned the water from shades of yellow, to green, to a deep sea blue and even dark the further down it went. It was beautiful.

"I really don't leave the tour bus enough..." Len says quietly, lifting his disposable camera and taking a snapshot of the geyser. "There's a whole world that... I mean, you can read about it on the internet, but it's not the same as being here. It's not smelling the fresh air, or feeling the steam hit your cheeks, or the thrill of having an actual moose standing like fifty feet from you. This is mind blowing. This is fantastic." Len smiles at me, his eyes wide with wonder. "Why are we doing all these things?"

"Because we deserve to have fun. I can't drive for more than twelve hours, and neither can you, so stopping every now and then to have some fun can't be too bad for us. Plus, you've never seen things like this before, and I've never really been here either-- so we get to share this. This is just me and you time. Just--"

"A date." Len answers. I open my mouth to argue, but I let it slide as he raises his camera to take more pictures. It could be a date, if he really wanted it to be. "Can we eat lunch at the waterfalls? I really want to see a real waterfall." There's hope in his eyes, and I feel my smile growing.

"I was thinking the same thing!" I respond, starting to continue up the trails whilst making sure to look everywhere to admire the beauty, and of course watching Len's wonderful reactions to all the natural settings and wildlife.

"Is that an otter!?" He cried, snapping another picture. "Wow, Nami, look it's an otter! It's really cute." He whispers, sneaking up to the edge of the pond. The small aquatic creature looks at him for a moment, but mostly ignores him before going back to playing with a shellfish on it's stomach. I sneak up to the water's edge with Len and lean down in the grass.

"They are really cute. I wish there wasn't a no petting rule, but I guess it's better that we keep our distance." I watch the family of waterlife swim around in the small pond, chittering away and splashing at each other.

"That's okay, Raion, you can pet me instead." I turn my gaze over to Len, who winks lightly, earning a simple eye roll from me. I rise up from the grass and stretch, enjoying the warm rays of the run hitting my skin.

"Let's hurry up and get to the waterfalls, I'm starving."

~-~-~-~-~

The area surrounding the falls were exceptionally green. Moss and lichen covered any rock that wasn't in the center of the river, and the cascading waterfalls put so much mist in the air that a visible rainbow rested static in the area in front of the falls.