Yellowstone…Day 2

Day 2 took us around the south loop. We started at the Lower Geyser Basin and the Fountain Paint Pots. I remember these from when I was here as a little girl. I am not sure these are the same ones, but they smelled the same.

However, even though they smell they are

beautiful. From the Lower Basin we traveled on to the

Here we saw some really pretty geysers. The geysers here flow

into the Firehole River. We walked

across the river on this bridge and then followed a board walk all around the geysers. These were a lot

larger than the ones in the Lower Basin. They also had more

color to them. They are really pretty to look at.

From the Midway Basin, we traveled on to the Upper Geyser Basin and of course that is the home of

Old Faithful.

We reached the Old Faithful park and decided that we would have lunch first. Today, we packed a

picnic lunch. How much fun. We were reminded to be careful of bears. Posted on the tables

was this message. And, in all of the parks the garbage cans are

bear proof. When lunch was over and we were sure we had not left anything behind for the bears, we are ready for Old Faithful. By the time we parked, we found out that we had just missed it. So, while we waited for the next eruption time, we visited

none other than the local gift store. I also had time to look around the area. I saw where they are building

a new visitor center. And, this is the

Yellowstone Lodge. And they also have their own

gas station and convenience store. Well, it should be about time for the next eruption.

We gathered at the site with

everyone else and waited. We knew it was almost time when the

first bit of steam begin to roll, and then there were

several small spits and spurts. Then more steam and more spurts until

we finally saw what we came for. It was an awesome sight on a beautiful day. By the way in case you didn’t know it. Old Faithful erupts every 40 to 126 minutes. It is the world’s best known geyser.

Well, we must move on and we have only made it about 30 miles through the south loop. The next stop would be a quick picture stop at the

which is at the top of Craig Pass. You will actually cross it twice at this spot. Once as you start up the pass and once when you come down the pass.

Now, we are on around the loop and heading to Yellowstone Lake and how

beautiful it is. Soon we found ourselves at another spot I remembered and that is the

Fishing Bridge. This is were Yellowstone Lake and the Yellowstone River come together. When I was here as a little girl, people were lined up on both side of the bridge fishing. But, as you can tell, there is no more fishing allowed from the bridge.

Mark and Jim are getting all the details from one of the park rangers. We just enjoyed hanging out here for awhile. We watched the

White Pelicans. And, I saw a

duck just swimming around. As we were leaving I got to take this

beautiful reflection picture.

From the Fishing Bridge we headed to The Upper and Lower Falls. This is something else I remembered…and it is still a sight to see.

The Upper Falls

are beautiful, but the Lower Falls

are breath taking as they dump millions of gallons of water down far below into the

the gorge below. This is known as the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

It was quite a walk down to see the Lower Falls, but worth every step of the way. I can hardly wait for the kids to get here so we can take them to see this beautiful sight.

Well, it is getting late afternoon by now and we decide to head back to West Yellowstone and get something to eat. However, it was still several miles back and we still had plenty of time to see

elk

beaver, and

buffalo.

Again, another great day in Yellowstone. See you tomorrow for another great adventure.