If you are following us in real-time I’m sorry I’ve gotten a little behind on posting. We’re having too much fun to keep up with! Saturday was a down day that was as chill as possible at the cabin, followed by a night on the town. First, hitting up a Halloween fair, then hopped around about four restaurants and bars trying all things plant based. We ended with ordering all the side dishes one place had available! The dessert there was the star of the night. Smores with a twist and it had Amanda drooling. It was a brownie base atop a gramcracker crust with toasted house-made marshmallow fluff. Not plant based, but well worth the cheat.
After a good night’s sleep, we were up early and off for our last Yellowstone day. Amanda was wound tight and hyper this morning, like our dogs when they have the zoomies. I told her if she was one of them, she’d be up and down running through the cabin bouncing off the sofa, chairs, and bed. The early morning departures would make for some grand sunrise sights over Grand Teton!
As we entered the park, the ranger said the north entrance would be open afternoon. The day would consist of geyser basins only and would all be on the west side of the bottom loop. Old Faithful would be the first planned stop. Other stops before Old Faithful include a waterfall and a curious fox hopping along snow-covered rocks.
Old Faithful is the number one attraction at Yellowstone by far. The roadway entering the area would prove this. There was a divided highway with two lanes on each side and an overpass! I ignored the signs to the geyser parking lots, 3 of them, and went straight to the visitors center. Rolling into a parking lot with only 30 or fewer cars. Parking next to the entrance, this is what Amanda calls princess parking!
We both would need to use the facilities after a double coffee morning. As we walked in, we could see steam from Old Faithful through the large windows at the back of the center. The next eruption sign showed 11 minutes till the next one, plus or minus 10 minutes. We ran to the restroom quickly, and as we walked out the back of the center, there she blew. What seemed like all the passengers of every car in the parking lot standing in front on the boardwalk.
Back to the visitors center to talk with a ranger about which loop to take to see the other geysers. This is the largest concentration of geysers in one square mile worldwide. I decided on a loop with a point we could veer off if Amanda needed a route back. Her knee was hurting, a prior injury from falling down a set of stairs on a mission trip in New Mexico. We wouldn’t need to take the escape, but she would be hurting and limping by the end.
As we walked, you could see steam billowing out of the entire basin, an amazing sight. All the senses at work processing this experiences. We walked a little farther it began to stink. Amanda spun around, saying in an accusing tone, “did you fart?’ loudly! We laughed when I started to give her a hard time for breaking the serenity with her loud accusation.
We would wind our way around a few geysers seeing may go off or boil over. So many different features were in this area. Boardwalks meandered through the entire basin to keep people from wandering off the trail. There were so many features to be seen in the basin. Enjoy scrolling through the gallery of photos.
Then we made it to my favorite feature of Yellowstone, which I’d been waiting to see. An iconic multicolored hot spring pool. The brightest of natural colors you can imagine; blues, greens, yellows. I could have sat and stared at this pool for hours. But, instead, we had an Old Faithful eruption to catch from the backside.
So on through the boardwalks, we went on to see many other geysers and hot springs. Amanda would have to hurry me along or walk ahead sometimes. We would get our bearings to Old Faithful seeing people start to line up in front of it in the distance. As we drew closer, I could see a spot with benches we could watch from, no one else in sight.
When we arrived at the spot I’d eyed from a distance; we’d have it all to ourselves. A much more prime location than the crowded boardwalk right outside the visitor’s center. Not moments after we arrived, she was warming up to put on a show right at the predicted time.
This would prove to be a fantastic location for viewing the eruption. People can spoil anything, but up close, where everyone is, you can’t get a sense of how grand it is anyway. The height is so much taller than what it seemed close up. It was much more serine without comments from bystanders too.
On the way back to the visitors center, there was a nice walking bridge over a small creek. Beyond that, a small hill was proving hard for Amanda’s knee. After this walk, my bad knee was sore as well. Just up the hill, we were rewarded with a show by a few black rock squirrels.
Once back at the center, Amanda wanted to use the regular bathroom versus the park-style outhouses we’d been using all week. I heard an announcement that a once-a-day geyser was about to go off in 10 minutes or so. It would erupt longer and higher than Old Faithfull. I grabbed Amanda, and we headed out to see it. Not far from our good spot for the backside of Old Faithful, it would be too far away for Amanda to walk, so we watched from afar. A rainbow could barely be seen in the mist of this large eruption. People were making their way to see it up close in droves. I’m happy we didn’t come during the busy time of the year; I really don’t think I could handle the crowds!
