Yellowstone Lost and Found (Aug 1)

The car windows were dripping with condensation when we woke up. After we got them cleaned off we drove back into Yellowstone and made our first stop Mammoth Springs. We knew that we were pressed for time so we tried to move as quick as we could while still enjoying the views. I don't know if we were walking fast or if it was just a big hike but it felt like the stairs would never end. Every corner we turned there was another flight!

We hopped back into the car to travel to Midway Geyser. Nate specifically wanted to see Grand Prismatic Springs. I was happy to know that there were no stairs at this sight. These geysers and springs were full of vibrant color. Frequently, professional pictures have more extreme colors than you actually get to see, but this was not the case. The colors that I saw in the gift shop were just as vivid as the ones in front of me. It was neat to feel the combination of the hot steam from the geysers and then the cool morning breeze. As we walked along the boardwalk I giggled as I pointed out to Nate two hats that had blown away from their owners were just out of reach from the boardwalk. There are a lot of signs that say that you have to stay on the boardwalk. One of the biggest reasons is so that the microbial life is not disturbed. Any other place they could have taken three steps to pick their hat up and it would have been no big deal. But, in this case their hats were so close yet so far away. However, we did see some bison or elk tracks that obviously did not see the signs. After turning another corner we saw another two hats and a pair of sunglasses. At the end of the loop the total count for the Yellowstone's Lost and Found was 14 hats, a pair of sunglasses, and a pacifier (from Dragon's Mouth the day before).

Old Faithful was our last stop in the park and well worth the wait. She had just gone off when we arrived so we had to wait an hour and a half before she would go again. Old Faithful is the most consistent geyser at Yellowstone and goes off every 90 minutes, plus or minus 10 minutes. The visitors center had a schedule of when the geysers should go off but all the other geysers had a buffer of at least plus or minus 30 minutes from it's scheduled time and some of them were plus or minus 2 hours! We took a spin around the information and learned all about geysers before heading out to join the crowd. There were people everywhere standing and sitting all along the boardwalk surrounding Old Faithful. There was a geyser not too far away that started to go off and caught the attention of an anxious child next to us. He was very insistent with his parents that they were waiting at the wrong geyser and they were supposed to be at the one that was going off. His mother's reply was sarcastic but true, “Right, so whoever built alllll these benches made a mistake and put them at the wrong geyser.” Not too long after that another family had some commotion when a kid lost his tooth! Old Faithful was pretty much right on time and from start to finish she lasted around 5 minutes. And as soon as it was over the 2,000 viewers headed for their cars. Finding our car was a challenge in and of it's self. Even Walmart has their parking lot divided and labeled into sections. Not Yellowstone. Even though their parking lot is probably 3 times larger than most Walmarts. When we parked we had tried to make landmarks of some of the cars around us. But with all of the comings and goings when we were searching most of our landmarks had already left. Making our game of eye spy a little more challenging.

Once we found the car we broke open some Chef Boyardee Mac and Cheese as well as some canned pineapple and waved goodbye to Yellowstone. We stopped for dinner at an A&W and saw a group of elderly ladies playing Montana Rummy which was exciting because we were literally in the state of Montana! We drove through the tip of Idaho before making it to Washington. We stopped at a Walmart and a Panda Express for an evening snack that we ate at our hotel, Mireabeau Park. It was nice to join the rest of the world watching the Olympics, sleeping in a real bed, and having showers two days in a row! The fortune in my fortune cookie is fitting: There is a prospect of a thrilling time ahead of you. Woo Hoo!