Yellowstone: Old Faithful

The parking lot for Old Faithful is massive.  We were not sure where we should go, but then we saw a large crowd, and Old Faithful was erupting right as we arrived!

Afterward we went to the Visitor Center.

The kids earned their Junior Ranger Badges.  There is a different badge for each age category. 

The next eruption was due at 12:02 so we had a little time to kill.  (We wanted to see it again, from the beginning.)  We watched the movie in the visitor center theater.

D graciously offered to buy us sandwiches at the General Store while the kids and I saved our viewing spot.  There are benches all around Old Faithful, and there are no bad seats!

The eruption starts off slow…It really is amazing how accurate its timing is. 

Massage time.

D offered some comedic relief to everyone around us by counting down from ten seconds at the predicted time, and adding, “3 and a half…3…2 and a half…” etc. when there was still no eruption. 

But, about five minutes after the predicted time, Old Faithful did her thing. 

Won’t that be a sad day if/when Old Faithful stops being so faithful? 

Afterward, we walked along the boardwalk to see the neighboring sights. 

Our next stop was the Old Faithful Lodge, where we sampled Huckleberry and Mango ice cream. 

The double scoop was quite large, more like four scoops, which all four of us shared.  The family in front of me ordered six double scoops, one for each member in their family, which included small children.  Is that normal, or are we the weird ones? 

The second story of the lodge had a nice seating area, and provided us with some much-needed shady respite. 

Yellowstone: Gibbon Falls; Lower Geyser Basin; Midway Geyser Basin

The overnight low was in the high 30’s, but we had enough blankets, sleeping bags and clothing to keep warm.  We packed up our campsite since we had another reservation in a different part of the park the next day.  After eating our oatmeal, fruit and granola bars, we drove to Gibbon Falls.  It was nice to be pretty close to the waterfall without hiking!

Our next stop was Lower Geyser Basin, along Firehole Lake Drive, which we could see off to the distance during our drive. 

Next on the itinerary was Midway Geyser Basin.  Before the trip, I downloaded a Yellowstone app on my phone.  We listened to a brief overview of the sights we were going to see along the way.  I thought it was well worth $3.  (There are much more extensive and expensive audio tours available for rent, but given our kids’ short attention span, the app was the way to go for us). 

I was really excited to see the Grand Prismatic Spring. 

The light blue steam was so cool, especially in contrast to the orange basin. 

Up next: Old Faithful!