High Times in Yellowstone

While we were all happy to have arrived at Yellowstone's East Entry, you forget how big the park is - over 2.2 million acres. After a long day of driving, it would still take us 2 more hours to reach our campground.  The campground was, as a Minnesotan would say, "interesting".  Since Yellowstone was founded in 1872, they weren't planning on the size of our trailers & motorhomes, so we were pretty squashed in.  Poor Jeff & Kathy had to walk out their door onto the street! 

While setting up, we discovered a problem with our 12 volt trailer battery, so Monday decided that we would drive back to Cody and buy a new one.  Driving through Yellowstone can be very challenging.  This time of year there are many people there - it seemed like most of them were from Europe or Asia.  People seemed to have no problem stopping dead in the middle of the road because they saw a buffalo (they are everywhere), despite the fact that there are roadside pull outs everywhere.  This, combined with a wrong turn, made our trip to Cody 2 hours longer than we expected.  Oh, well.....

Tuesday, we made the drive to Old Faithful.  On the way we stopped at the geyser basin in West Thumb, where geysers line the shoreline of Yellowstone Lake (a beautiful huge lake - 141 miles of shoreline). 

They are all kinds of colors, caused by the different bacteria that grow in them.  The color tells how hot the water is. 

Then we headed for Old Faithful, who was scheduled to blow at 12:10 pm. 

And she did!!!!  Despite the cool, cloudy day, it was awesome to see.

The old Yellowstone Lodge is also really fun to see, with its use of logs and stone.

And other buildings with unique features....

We enjoyed the day, and on the way back to camp, hit a huge traffic jam because the buffalo were chasing each other across the road.  It finally took one of the park vehicles to chase them away and get traffic moving again. 

 

The next day we took a trip up to Mammoth - about 50 miles away, so an all day trip.  Jeff was kind enough to take us in his motorhome so we 6 didn't have to squish into the pickup.  Mammoth Hot Springs is one of the largest, hottest areas in the park. 

The hot springs bubble down the mountain side, creating these levels.  Because of the thin crust over the hot springs, new ones can erupt any time.  It is always changing, and some of the areas that are no longer active look like desolation.  The trees have actually absorbed so much calcium that they are as hard as rock.

Looks like Ron & the girls were having fun!

When we drove into the town of Mammoth, we were surprised to see a herd of elk cows with their calves had decided to graze in the town square.

Jeff & I wanted to stop by the Mammoth Lodge where our mom & dad met in the late 1940's. 

Dad was a bellhop & Mom was an elevator operator.  Jeff & I had to pose in from of the elevator!  There were a lot of historical photos in the Lodge.  Interesting to see people walking right through the hot springs.  All in all it was a really fun day and well worth the drive.

 

Tomorrow - the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and, more hot springs!