Friday, August 8th
We were up early, packed a lunch, and headed into Yellowstone National Park, Old Faithful area.
The first part of our drive was along the Madison River and was very foggy. At the Madison intersection, we headed south into the geyser area:
We made it to the Old Faithful area, walked down the boardwalk to see when it was going to erupt:
And 5 minutes later, we were blessed with this awesome site:
Check out the rainbow:
One of the other geysers in the area:
Here it is in motion: Old Faithful
After the eruption, we made our way to the Old Faithful Inn – sites along the way:
I wanted to see the lobby area of the Old Faithful Inn – Beautiful (my pictures did not come out real well – sorry). This inn was constructed during the winter of 1903-1904 with local materials. Much of its hardware was made on the spot by blacksmiths. It is said to be the largest log structure in the world and the lobby ceiling is 84 feet high.
Our next stop was the visitor center and the museum. Some interesting tidbits:
We decided to take the loop hike to Morning Glory Pool and back thru Geyser Hill to see all the geysers, hot springs and scenery along the way. Andy and I had never taken this hike even though we had been at Old Faithful a few times. But then again, this is the first time we saw Old Faithful when we are retired – 
Come along with me for some of these beautiful sites:
Blue Star Spring:
Another view of Old Faithful. It erupted again as we were on our hike.
The Old Faithful Inn:
Chinese Spring bubbling away:
Firehole River Basin:
The walk took us by many hot springs and small geysers:
How about those colors:
Firehole River:
Morning Glory Pool:
Morning Glory Pool was named in the 1880’s for its remarkable likeness to its namesake flower – isn’t it beautiful!
Chromatic Pool:
Beauty Pool:
Wave Spring:
Economic Geyser:
Belgian Pool:
Check out this geyser: Geyser 2
And this one: Geyser 3
Heart Spring:
The Old Faithful Inn under the gathering dark clouds – Oh Oh:
The storm is coming….
We made it back to Old Faithful and went to the lodge for a soda. We were able to watch Old Faithful erupt again from the comfort of a great couch looking out very large windows. There must have been about 10 times more people watching the eruption than the one we saw this morning.
We stayed in the lodge for a while hoping the storm would pass. When it looked like the worst was over, we left and found a nice little pull out to have lunch. (Oh my, even in the storm, the park was very crowded!)
As we headed back we took a couple side trips. The first one was Fire Hole Lake Drive. This road was shut down last month because it was melting due to some of the thermal hot spots.
This is Firehole Spring – early explorers thought the large bubbles looked like flashes of light:
Great Fountain Geyser:
Part of the melted road – it reminded me of some of Pennsylvania’s roads after a rough winter:
Firehole Lake:
Another side trip – Firehole Falls in Firehole Canyon:
The fire of 1988 came thru this area – it is so nice to see all this new growth:
Our last side trip was Riverside Drive – along the Madison River:
The side trips were much less crowded than the other stops. We did want to spend some time in the Midway Geyser Basin and Biscuit Basin but the parking lot was full and they were parking on the main road- it was very crowded. This morning it was not crowded so we will head in again in the early morning and check them out.
We made it back home in time for all the rain and just hung out the rest of the day.
What a great day!
Saturday, 9th, and Sunday, 10th
We just enjoyed these two days hanging out, reading, beading, getting some of the blogs and pictures caught up, and enjoying the forest.
On Saturday, we went on a campfire wood search (Yes, we found more) and then I made a quick run into the store in town and on Sunday, we took the RV to town to empty our tanks and fill with water.
Tomorrow we are heading back to Yellowstone so stay tuned and enjoy today!
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