Teaser Tuesday - Yellowstone Deception in Pictures

I am a visual person. If I can't see something clearly in my mind, I can't get a good feel for it. My husband often has these ideas for home improvements, and he goes into these lenghty descriptions of what he "sees" in his head. His descriptions are great, but in the end, I always say, "show me a picture. I can't see what you're telling me."In college, Organic Chemistry was one of my hardest classes (and I had to take three levels of OChem!) for me because I couldn't "see" the 3D images of molecules and compounds in my head. 
Writing a book is very difficult, because, unless it's a picture book, the author has to be able to create that visual for the reader that is in the author's head. 


I had the most difficult time describing a certain location in Yellowstone Deception. My critique partner returned that section with comments such as "I must be clueless, because I have no idea what you are describing"...."I had no idea you were describing a location." Hmm...bad writing on my part. In my mind, the location was crystal clear. Then, this past week, I actually went to the location I was describing, and I asked my husband, and my boys, "describe for me, in words, what you are seeing. Pretend I am blind and have never seen this before." They all had a hard time putting into words what was in front of them, but each one came up with something different.

So, in the end, I hope my description as I finally wrote it in the book will make sense to someone who has never seen this particular feature in Yellowstone before. I'll keep it a secret for now as to which feature I am talking about. Hopefully my readers will give me feedback.
Until then, my teaser for today, from Yellowstone Deception, are pictures I took while on vacation last week of places that I describe in the book. Below each picture is a short quote from the book. (Let me know what you think of this sort of "teaser." I can probably do the same for each of the other books, if anyone else wants to see some visuals of some of the locations from the books)

Brink of the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River looking straight down over guard fence

Jana grabbed for the fence, and slowly peered over the edge. It was an awe-inspiring view. Millions of gallons of water spilled over the yawning cliff, plunging straight downward. The icy wind created by the river left thick patches of snow and ice clinging to the rocks of the canyon walls, even though it was well into July. Far below in the canyon, the turquoise waters of the Yellowstone River continued their journey north after its mighty plunge. The blue ribbon was in sharp contrast to the earthy hues of yellows and reds that adorned the canyon walls as if an artist had painted them there with broad brush strokes.

Eruption of Old Faithful as viewed from Observation Point

Old Faithful was putting on its timeless show. The enormous fountain of water shot high up in the air, enveloped in a veil-like cloud of steam in the cool evening breeze. From their high vantage point, it seemed even grander than watching the spectacle from ground level.

Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces

“The early explorers called this White Mountain,” Dan said.