First visit to Yellowstone in over 20 years

July 15 – Today was a real vacation day, although not as great as we would have liked!

We managed to leave at 9:30 for Yellowstone National Park.  It’s only 16 miles to entrance from here and we passed through the town of West Yellowstone to get there.  It’s a major tourist town, mostly hotels, cabins and gift shops.  You actually have to go through it to get to the entrance of the park. 

One of the elk herds

We got in the Pass line since Bill’s has his Senior Pass but it was slower than the pay lines because there were 4 of those and one of ours.  Things didn’t progress very well for very long.  At times we were at a dead stop on a drive of 30 miles to Old Faithful!  It took almost 2 hours from the entrance primarily due to one lone buffalo grazing along the road and every car stopping to take a photo while hundreds of us inched along.  We did also see 2 herds of elk and Bill pulled into a pull off so I could get photos of the elk.

Along the way we passed by the Lower Geyser Basin we

Fountain Paint Pot

pulled over at the Fountain Paint Pot where there were 2 impressive geysers and several hot springs misting near by.  I think the main one was the Big Fountain Geyser.  All of the parking lots to walk closer were full in addition to tons of cars (and RV’s) parked along the road edge).  A bit further up the road was the Midway Geyser Basin where the Grand Prismatic Spring is.  You could see the moisture from the various springs running down into the Firehole River, streaking the sides of the rock from the chemicals in the springs.

Everyone waiting is way behind us

Slowly but surely we managed to reach Old Faithful and the Visitor Center but had a problem finding parking.  We circled several lots and Bill finally let me off in from of Old Faithful and the Old Faithful Lodge while he continued to

Old Faithful

hunt a space.  We were to meet at the Visitor Center, which is new since our last visit in I think, 1990.  I picked up a variety of literature to get us through the day and got my passport stamp, then sat outside waiting for Bill.  He found me with about 10 minutes to spare until Old Faithful did her thing.  I took photos for a family so they took one of Bill and I at the sign and then we waited.  It continually has steam coming out but then the upward stream starts and gradually gets taller and then smaller again.  People must have been waiting for an hour as there were hordes of people and then they so quickly disband.

We were starving and the closest place was the Old Faithful Lodge.  When we were here years ago we ate in the same cafeteria and we stayed in a square canvas tent set up on a large wood platform.  We didn’t drive back to see if they were still there but maybe will before we leave the area.  The lunch line was long and slow but at least the quality was good.

We checked out the main gift shop in the lodge and then walked over to the General Store and checked it out.  Bill wants to find the perfect Yellowstone t-shirt so took photos of the ones he liked best.  The prices were what you’d expect but he doesn’t buy much but magnets and a nice t-shirt.

Bill's Warning!

Bill told me he had parked on an endcap and I wondered if we’d be OK there, but he said people were parking on them all over.  As soon as we saw our car we also saw the bright yellow paper under the wiper, but the car next to us looked the same!  Lucky for us it was only a warning but they had recorded our make, model and tag number. 

The drive out was much more pleasant than the drive in.  We stopped to see the elk again and then by the time we got into West Yellowstone it was raining.  Bill filled the car up and we ducked into a couple of shops to check out things in town.  The rain was making it colder so I didn’t want to hang out too long.  After a dive into a small grocery for 3 things we headed home.

It was almost through raining by the time we got to the

Beautiful end of the day!

RV and I immediately got on the computer to get photos downloaded and ready to blog when I looked at the window at a beautiful rainbow.  It looked like I could almost touch it!  I took the camera out and got a picture and by the time I came back in it was a double rainbow, and then it got much brighter.  It was beautiful!  I could not quite get the entire thing but could see the far end which was much lighter.

So later I made a good dinner and put some things away for our move tomorrow.