Finally, our night at Old Faithful Inn!

August 6 – Bill and I opened the RV Park this morning.  We arrived at 7:30 and he did the floors and I got the front desk all set up and ready to go.  Becky has left me some notes about things.  First thing a lady came knocking on the door early and said she left her purse there.  I remembered seeing one in the office and wondered who left it, so first mystery solved. 

The laundry was slow starting so I did some cleaning up and checking over the day’s arrivals and departures.  When Bill came in for a break I happened to notice a dark spot on the white ceiling which is about 18 feet.  I told Bill it looked like a bat and he didn’t totally agree but said to let the owners know.

The owners and Becky and Amelia had all stayed at their cabin for the night and slept in, which was good for them.   Once Becky and I went over my stack of problems I showed her the bat.  It was angled better and you could definitely tell it was a bat.  No one knows how it got in but for the time being no one was really concerned over it.

Becky relieved me at about 12:45 and Bill had gone back to the RV just after noon.  We had our lunch, showered and got on the road at 2, which was our goal.  Once in a while we do manage to be on time!

Native American Sculpture

We had noticed on the way to West Yellowstone a neat metal set of “statues” along the road so today we finally stopped to get a photo.  I had thought one was a cowboy but when I finally got close I saw they were all Native Americans.

Our first stop in the park was Madison Visitor Center so I

Firehole Falls

could finally get my passport stamp, it’s been closed at the times we’ve been by.  Then we proceeded on the loop drive to Firehole Falls.  They aren’t terribly large but still very nice falls.  We were quite surprised as we continued around the loop cars were parked all over so we thought we were going to see something really special.  The surprise was that people were actually swimming in the ice cold Firehole River.  Brrr, not Bill and Kelly Chambers!

Steam pool on Fountain Flat

Looks pretty desolate

We drove out on Fountain Flat Drive wondering what was there as it appears to be a flat plain with low grass, but we knew there must have been a reason for the road so we took it.  Nez Perce Creek runs though the plain/meadow and there was a steaming geyser pool.  It was small but at least we didn’t have trouble parking or stumbling over a crowd.  At the end of the drive you can hike out so some other small geysers but we chose not to.  Along the ridge where we turned were downed trees.  It was a dreary landscape.  We didn’t know if they were left from fire damage or what.

Crowds at Lower Geyser Basin

We ran into more crowds once we reached Lower Geyser Basin where we saw the Fountain Paint Pot.  Most of the pots or geysers there have names, but it’s not always easy to know which one is which.  There was a busload of Japanese and they are a bit rude.  They don’t excuse themselves when they want around you and they walk in the center of the walkways and take a zillion photos of each other so no one else can get close.

Some of the formations are much more active than others

Celestine Pool

and some of the colors are so vibrant.  The steam blows all over and at times in your face and smells of sulfur.  They say the pools vary in temperature, some to 197 degrees.  Clepsydra Geyser was the best and most active one in the basin we walked.

Clepsydra Geyser

It was getting close to time to check in at the Old Faithful Inn so we headed in that direction and we were pleased to find parking since they don’t have a lot just for guests.  Bill dropped me at the door and I took a couple of the bags in

Our sink

and checked in while he parked and brought in the rest of our “stuff”.  Our room was on the third floor in the Old House Wing.  The room was small and square

Our bed

with only a sink, but we had windows that opened with a view of the Upper Basin.  When I booked back in June there wasn’t a lot available so it was no big deal to go down the hall to the toilet and shower for one night.  It reminded me of several of my stays in Europe.

Our closet

We had been to the Inn years ago and had dinner when we stayed in a canvas tent room behind Old Faithful

The clock and lobby

Lodge in 1990.  We had been inside before but it’s such an amazing structure with all of the huge lodgepole pine tree arches and the huge balconies on the 2^nd and 3^rd floors that surround the lobby.  There was entertainment on the 2^nd level after the dinner hour started and it could easily be

Balcony around 3rd floor

enjoyed by everyone on each floor.  On the second level you can go out on a large balcony and the seats are facing Old Faithful, the geyser.  Once we settled into our room we came out on that balcony and visited with people waiting for Old Faithful to blow.  It was getting time for our reservation so Bill went on down and right after he left it went off.

Support pole

When we checked in for dinner the dining room was almost empty but by the time we left it was filling up fast.  They say you “must” have reservations and in June when I made them it was either 5:30 or 9:00 to pick from.  I had the buffet with prime rib and baked trout

Ladies bathroom

for the meats but there was a huge assortment.  There was a corn queso appetizer, 2 soups (I loved the red pepper smoked gouda one), baby glazed carrots and green bean almandine, rice pilaf, salad bar, apple crisp and bread pudding with hard sauce.  Yum!  I think I tried everything but the mashed potatoes and baked beans.  Bill had a pasta dish with elk and bison.  The service was excellent as was the food.  

Main part of Old Faithful Inn

After dinner we checked on the next eruption time and while

The Harleys

Bill watched it I went to check on places in the Inn serving breakfast at 5:45 AM.  We checked out the gift shop and sat around the balcony and listened to the music and went out and took photos of the Inn.  We walked out to the car for a few things and there was a bunch of Harley Davidsons parked together and all had Florida tags.  There was a guy at one so I asked where they were from in Florida.  He was

Old Faithful

from Australia as was the whole group.  They were a group of 13 from Australia on a tour 15 days going 6,500 miles.  Of course they had been to Sturgis and he said the traffic was horrendous.  It was

Registration Desk

a very interesting chat with him.  We didn’t really want to go to bed because the ambiance is no nice there but getting up at 5 AM was going to be tough.  We couldn’t miss our prepaid Photography tour.

There is no TV, no free WIFI and no cell service to speak of so we sat in our side chairs and read for a while to relax and then hit the sheets.  We left the window open and hoped it wasn’t going to get too cold