Yellowstone Post #2

After seeing all those buffalo, we arrived at the geysers. Which is an understatement. While Yellowstone is famous for Old Faithful, there are hundreds of other geysers and hot springs in geyser basin. Our first stop had a variety of things to see, but most overwhelming was the smell that greeted us as we approached the steaming pools: sulphur! Yuck.

Here is miss Megan posing next to the first of many colorful hot spring pools.

One of my favorite things was this pool of white mud that was boiling! Watch the video to see (and possibly get motion sickness).



At this particular stop, we were lucky to coincide with a busload of Japanese tourists. So while this geyser video is nothing special in and of itself, the dialogue in the background is funny. Imagine yourself being jostled by short pushy people rushing past you along the narrow boardwalk, then suddenly stopping in front of you to take pictures of one another in front of EVERY geyser. Repeat. It was rather amusing. Sort of.

Then we were off to the Granddaddy of them all: Old Faithful. I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that this is the best photo we got... since we arrived right at the tail end of an eruption. How far did we drive to see this?

We started off down the boardwalk to see more sights, and saw another bison grazing languidly next to the steaming base of Old Faithful.


While waiting for Old Faithful to build up steam again, we walked geyser loop, looking for other interesting things to photograph. In the upper left is Castle Geyser, but it's pretty obvious that my kids are the main subject of this particular shot.


I don't remember the name of this pool... but isn't it pretty? How interesting to think that that hole leads down deep into the earth.


Susan and Nathan engage in a little drama over the binculars. Ah, the joys of family life.



In this short, Karianne shares her most profound thoughts about this spunky little geyser pool, while Susan tortures Megan in the background.



We spent over two hours waiting for Grand Geyser to go off. It is reportedly taller and more impressive than Old Faithful, but goes off less often. It's next door buddy, Turban Geyser, would tease us about ever 20 minutes with an underwhelming display.



Someone in the crowd suggested that we offer a sacrifice to the geyser to induce it to erupt. Karianne and Susan offered up their little sister.

After annoying the gathered crowd for over two hours, we became hungry and tired, and left for the long drive back to our hotel. The big bison herd was just finishing their road crossing as we approached, which meant that we didn't have to sit and wait for them. Thanks, guys.

Next.... Day two.