Old Faithful

Greetings!

I didn't get this posted last night as I was just too tired. Vacation can really wear a person out. We started our morning at the Running Bear Pancake House on the recommendation of our inn keeper. It was very busy and just so-so. Nothing to shout about. Headed up into the park about 10:30 with everyone else in the world it seemed. Our first wildlife encounter occurred shortly after entering the park. Traffic was backed up and when we finally got to the head of the line there were 3 large buffalo sauntering down the road. There was a ranger directing traffic and you had to maneuver around the buffalo. They looked like they were out for a morning stroll.

Since our time here is so limited we decided to divide the park into two days. Good thing there are only two loops of road in the park. Yesterday we took the south loop past the geyser fields and down to Old Faithful. The last time we were here was in 1993 and the Old Faithful area has changed a great deal since then. There is a beautiful new visitor's center that opened last August. It is spacious and has a museum gallery, a nice bookstore and a viewing area for Old Faithful. Our timing was perfect as Old Faithful was estimated to erupt a few minutes after we arrived. We made our way to the outside viewing area where about 800 other people had already gathered. After a few false starts and sputters, the geyser shot up into the air about 150 feet and the eruption lasted about 4 minutes.

Since most of the spectators seemed to head to the visitor's center, we decided to go to the Lodge. Yellowstone National Park is the oldest national park in the United States having been designated so in 1872. The first part of the lodge was built in 1903-04. It is beautiful but much more rustic than the lodges in Glacier. The lobby is like an atrium and is about 5 stories high. At the very top is a tree house where orchestra's used to play so people could dance in the evenings. The infrastructure of the lodge was slightly weakened so they don't allow people to go up to the tree house anymore. It was fun to just sit on one of the balconies and watch the people below for awhile.

We went back to the visitor's center after the lodge and spent time looking at the exhibits. It was nearing time for Old Faithful to erupt again (it erupts approximately every 90 minutes thus giving it it's name) so Ken found a spot on the benches in the indoor viewing area. We met two lovely couples from Alabama who come up north every summer. We visited with them while waiting for Old Faithful, about Gulf Shores, their trip, our trip and so on. Following visits to the gift stores and post office we continued our trek around the south loop.

The highlight of the drive, after Old Faithful of course, were the upper falls of the Yellowstone River in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. We walked down the the viewing point on the south side and then drove around to the viewing point on the northside which was right by the falls. It was spectacular.

Drove back to West Yellowstone then and had dinner and then crashed in the motel room. Wildlife count is now: many bison, 1 bear, two or three elk and a couple of deer.

Today after breakfast, we will head up to the park and drive the north loop. I will try to write more tonight.

Love to all!