Yellowstone Trip {5/19: Grand Prismatic Spring, Old Faithful, Upper Geyser Basin}

On our second day of Yellowstone awesomeness, we woke up fairly early, so we made a stop at some overlooks on the drive in to watch the baby buffs, and then we took a detour through Madison Campground and knocked off a lot of states in our license plate game, all on the way to meeting up with Grandpa and Grandma at Grand Prismatic Springs. We wanted to hike to the Grand Prismatic Spring overlook, but alas, it was closed because of bear management. Bummer! So we walked on the boardwalk right next to Grand Prismatic, which really wasn't much of a view, especially since it was a crisp, beautiful, steamy morning. But, as usual, it didn't really matter, because we were in Yellowstone and it was wonderful! ;) After our walk, we drove back down the road to see if we could spot any wildlife (just a few bison).

Before they met us at Grand Prismatic, Paul snapped these
pics of bison at Old Faithful, basically just outside his
cabin door.

Lots of baby buffs out there in the field - I think we
counted 11+?

Oh what a beautiful morning!

They say this is Grand Prismatic Spring.

Grand Prismatic boardwalk on a bluebird day.

I just love those colors!

Opal pool.

We headed back to Old Faithful after watching the bison for a minute. We visited the cabin Grandma and Grandpa were staying in and caught our first (of five! (spoiler alert!)) eruptions of Old Faithful. Then we made our picnic lunch in our car and ate on the patio of the lodge (we were parked right next to it! Perk of being in the park in mid-May before the crowds show up!). After lunch we wandered down toward the Old Faithful Inn and were able to watch our second eruption of OF.

The river behind the cabins was so lovely!

Thar she blows!

Outside the Yellowstone Tribal
Heritage Center there was a cool
tipi to check out.

Old Faithful #2 of our day.

We followed the pathway around the back of Old Faithful and continued on through the Upper Geyser Basin, enjoying the pools and rivers and geysers and colorful rocks. And the sunshine! While we were walking, we also saw our eruption #3 of Old Faithful from a great distance. We were hot and tired by the time we made it back to the Inn, where we hoped to get a nice cold ice cream cone, but the deli that serves ice cream cones there was closed! We tried the Lodge (no ice cream there until later in the season) and finally found the long, long line of ice cream seekers in the General Stores. Our legs were beat, but the ice cream made everything better.

Hardy little pretty yellow flowers.

Spasmodic Geyser was aptly named.

This one must be big when it errupts - check out those
bleached trees on the hill! (I think it's Giant Geyser?)

Brave and tough flowers.

Chromatic Pool - such vivid colors.

I think this is Daisy Geyser in the distance.

I just love the colors!

Grotto Geyser is such a cool formation.

Bench break in the shade!

Morning Glory Pool - we learned from a sign
that the colors are fading and changing due to people
throwing all kinds of garbage into the pool, clogging the
vents, and changing the temperature of the water
so different bacteria are growing than a hundred years ago.

Sam was not really into having
his pic taken, so I said everyone
should just have grumpy faces.
Sam and Gregg are the only 
ones who got the memo.

Grotto Geyser again, from another angle.

Castle Geyser

Old Faithful Inn at last!

After our ice cream, we had about an hour before our dinner reservation, so we sat on a log in the shade, watched one more eruption of Old Faithful, and the kids worked on finishing up their junior ranger booklets. Then they went to the Visitor Center to get their badges and take the oath. Then we ate a delicious buffet dinner in the Inn (what a fun treat, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa!), browsed the gift shop, and relaxed on the chairs on the second floor of the Inn while listening to some live music. So delightful! We headed back out to catch our fifth eruption of the day (there was one more that went off while we were at dinner that we didn't see at all), and then headed 

Old Faithful #4!

Junior Ranger oath takers. (There was a huge
group of kids squeezing in the badge-getting
right at the end of the day before the Visitor's
Center closed.)

This bison was hanging around right by the geyser
pretty much all day.

Waiting in line for dinner - not a bad
view of the inside of the Inn!

Gift shop shenanigans.

I spy Cal and Sam on
the third floor!

On the second floor we had a sneak peek down into
the dining room where we had just finished eating.

Gregg and I walked around and checked out that cool
patio between the two buildings of the Inn.

I love these desks on the second floor!

That lady in the corner was playing cello, but she had this
whole cool set up so she could play her own accompaniment
with her feet. She sang, too!

Remember how Kim and I were checkerboard
matchy yesterday? The kids realized they were
checkerboard matchy today, so we had to get a pic!

And then Dad photobombed
the picture.

So fun to see the old yellow Yellowstone buses!

These logs were the best playground.

Number 5! Probably a record!

Gregg's version of the tree frame.

We were sitting on the logs right in front of the visitor's center
for the last Old Faithful of the day when we heard a boy call
to his family who were walking on the path right next to us:
"hey! there's a bison right behind you!" We turned around, too, and
sure enough, there he was . . . we quickly headed to the car since
he was walking our way.

The sunset was lovely on the drive back to West Yellowstone.

Picture doesn't do it justice, but this tree-lined
road and the ombre sky . . . amazing!

Yellowstone Trip {5/18: Tetons, West Thumb, Mud Volcano, Artist Point, Artist Paint Pots}

We have been planning a Yellowstone trip with Gregg's parents for years that has just never worked out for various reasons. Finally, at last, this year we made it happen! We left early Thursday, 18 May 2023, and met up with Paul and Kim in Jackson Hole at lunchtime. We enjoyed our picnic at the Elk Refuge and then continued on through the Tetons with a couple stops to enjoy the view. It was super hazy/smoky from the fires in Canada, but it's still a magnificent sight! At our stop at Oxbow Bend, we enjoyed watching an osprey fishing in the river. We even saw it catch a big fish . . . and then drop it into the river again! (What an adventure for that fish, eh?!) We also drove into Grant Village, which I don't think I've ever been to before, and got our first glimpse of the frozen Yellowstone Lake.

Cal is into making debris huts, so she crafted
a few at the picnic spot after lunch . . . and they're
pretty camouflaged! Can you spot the one in this
pic?

Here she is with another.

Cal noticed that Kim and I were
matchy matchy but opposite
(or checkerboard, as Sam called
it) so we of course had to have
a pic.

Smoky skies, but still lovely.

Paul snapped this great pic with his DSLR of that osprey
who caught (then lost) the fish!

Oxbow girls.

Frozen Yellowstone Lake at Grant Village.

Our next stop was West Thumb. I always love this spot since the pools are stunning. It was different with a smoky sky and a frozen lake, but, again, still so cool!

We were on the hunt for animals and stopped at a bear jam shortly before (or maybe after?) Mud Volcano, but we couldn't see the grizzly napping on the shore of the river far away and behind some trees, so we continued onward. Mud Volcano was a fun stop, and we walked the entire boardwalk loop, then kept going up the hill to the back pools and lakes and cauldrons that I don't think I've even been to either. It's a stinky stop, for sure, but marvelous to behold.

We drove through Hayden Valley looking for more animals, but didn't spot a single one, so we continued on to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone to Artist Point. The parking lot was practically empty, so we plopped out our blanket and chairs and ate our picnic dinner right there. The views were gorgeous from Artist's Point.

Our last stop before we headed to West Yellowstone to our hotel for the night: Artist Paint Pots. We were the only ones on the trail as the sun was getting low. It was a marvelous little loop with some fun boiling mud to watch pop and bubble.

Sam liked the redness of this rock, but since
he couldn't take it home, we opted for a picture.

We could watch these boiling mud pots
for a long, long time.

Day one in the books! Time for sleep at the Dude and Roundup Motel in West. (Paul and Kim continued on to Old Faithful, where they had reservations in the Lodge cabins (which, spoiler alert, turned out to not be the best sleeping or showering situation for them with one double bed and a broken boiler, so they ended up canceling after the first night and finding a place down the road from us in West Yellowstone for the second night.)