I think I’ve killed them.
Both Mama and Jack may be crying for mercy at this point – Jack said,
and I quote “this vacation is kicking my ass.”
I’m trying not to laugh, really, but you can’t come to a place such as
this and just be lazy – you have to go – you have to see – you have to experience
it. That being said, I relented at 5 and
we came back to the hotel for a bit, skipping a few things on the plan. I had us planned to be out till closer to 9,
but I may have been feed to a Bear if I said that out loud this afternoon.
All that being said, today was wonderful. We started the day off with breakfast at a
local place called Old Town Café. The
gentleman who waited on us was extremely nice and outgoing. Breakfast was delicious, filling and it didn’t
break the bank so win! They were
advertising a huckleberry drink that is alcoholic. I’ve never had huckleberry’s before and asked
him about the berry itself. He gave us a
miniature lesson on what they taste like and how they are harvested. Did you know they can’t seem to cultivate
them to grow outside of the wild? I found
that fascinating.
After dinner we headed into the park intent on hitting a scenic
drive. However, before we even were in the
park 5 minutes there was a bison right beside the road. We stopped and took lots and lots of
pictures. They are so massive!
After the picture fest we headed in to do the Firehole
Canyon scenic drive and to see Firehole falls.
We were able to climb down a bit and explore the falls which was
cool. I love getting out in it vs.
staring at it from a guard rail. The falls aren’t necessarily high, but they are
massive and the raging. You can’t
hardly talk over the roar of them and the way they snake through the canyon is impressive. And
the views of the overall scenery… I have
no words.
We then headed on to Fountain Paint Pot which has a ½ mile
loop you can walk around to see a very unique landscape filled with mud pits,
boiling water pits and rocks in formation.
It was colorful and alien. There
were dead trees here and there in the landscape that just added an even more
alien feel to it. I could see a Star
Trek episode being filmed here…
We then went to see the Mid-Way Geyser Basin and walked the mile
loop around it. Again, extremely
colorful pits of boiling water with steam rolling off of them. Like walking into a sauna if the wind blows
it your way. Which is a unique feeling
given the wind itself is cold… odd to describe, but you are cold, then in a sauna,
then cold again with the wind that will flat bowl you down sometimes. The ground is a rainbow of oranges, yellows,
greens, whites… and the water is so clear in places it’s see through. It looks blue or turquoise depending on the pool. It is so unique. While I enjoyed them, I wouldn’t want to come
back. Once you’ve seen them – you’ve
seen them.
Whereas the area I saw in the Grand Tetons I
could stare at for days, weeks, heck years….
After Mid-Way we went up to the Old Faithful area and
grabbed lunch at a fast food grill area they have. I ate a hotdog and some chips, nothing fancy,
but it was filling. This is what I am
used to at national parks… Yellowstone and the other parks want to take a
lesson from its sister the GT 😊
After lunch we went and waited for Old Faithful. We only had to wait about 20 minutes and she
blew her top as expected. It was neat,
but I don’t know, not all that and a bag of chips for me. Maybe, because I’ve seen it on TV so many
times? Maybe because I knew exactly what
to expect? Not sure. I can say I’ve seen it and the views around
it were astounding.
After watching the old girl blow we headed on to the West
Thumb Geyser Basin. This one is unique
in that it backs up to a lake with snow covered mountains on the other side. It was gorgeous. We enjoyed walking around taking pictures
and visiting. This was another 2/3 of a
mile… While walking we saw three really
interesting things.
- A lone read headed duck in the lake fishing. We enjoyed watching him for quite some time.
- Bubbling pools at the edge of the river… Picture a boiling pool of water, a pristine, clear lake and a snow-covered mountain all in the same photograph!
- Three Pronghorn came up, 1 a baby, and started drinking the water and eating in the middle of the walk way. We spent over 30 minutes just photographing them and could have spent an hour or more taking pictures as they were laying down in the field by time we left. I mean they were no more than 20 feet away, surrounded by humans that they walked in the middle of and did not care. It was awesome!
Once we made it back to the car it was 5 PM and everyone,
including myself, was dragging a bit. So,
I asked the question – do you want to finish our plans or go back to the
hotel. They both yelled hotel! I
could have taken a 20-minute power nap and kept going, but we are here to enjoy
ourselves not kill ourselves, so we drove the hour or so back to the hotel and
rested.
After an hour or so we headed to dinner. We ate at the Old Town Café again because
they were great this AM and because Mama wanted to play with the slots. The same waiter was there and immediately greeted
us. He remembered us from this morning which
was a pleasant surprise. He apparently
is married into the family that owns it which is why he was there so long
today. We came in this morning at 7:45
and by this time it was close to 8 PM.
Dinner was ok, I’ve had better, but it was good and not
overly expensive which was nice. However,
the service was really good, and they had huckleberry salad dressing and ice
cream. I had both and loved
both!!!! I need to find some of this
stuff to take home with me – it is so good.
Now we are back at the apartment and everyone is going to
bed early. We missed out on the Gull Point
Drive, Yellowstone Lake Hotel, Fishing Bridge and the Lake Butte Lookout. Next time I hope I can squeeze these back
in. This trip has made me want an RV so
bad. One I can live in for 6 months and
just go from place to place. Spend a month
and then move on. Maybe we will figure
out how to do this in a few years…. I’m going to start planning now!
Tomorrow is another day of me trying to squeeze ever moment
I can in, so I guess I’ll go to sleep myself.
Hope all is well with you blogland, God Bless.
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