Yellowstone Getaway: Day 2

On Friday the plan was to get up fairly early, eat breakfast in the restaurant there in the hotel (coupons if you got select meals, then you pay for beverage, tax, and tip), then head to Old Faithful. All went according to plan, the breakfast was decent for the price we paid. When we got to the gate of the park they informed us the only road open that day was the one down to Old Faithful. Phew! Had we continued up to Mammoth its very likely we would have gotten stranded up there without our snacks or suitcase. Glad we decided to turn back! We made alot of stops along the way, so this selection of pictures is truly just a handful! Also, I don't remember what all is from where, so sorry for the lack of info!

Roads still somewhat yucky condition starting out. And I had talked Josh into letting me drive so he could take pictures with the better camera while we traveled. :)

Another calf. I just can't get over how cute they are!

We got lots of pretty snow pictures!

Deer or Elk

Close-up of a buffalo

Our first bear sighting! (I think this is the Grizzly, my high school mascot!)

Yes, I said first. Hehe :) (Same bear)

White Tailed Deer

This pretty blue (hot) water reminded us of the gorgeous blue water Ben has down in Fiji

Fountain Paint Pots

This one was bubbling under those rocks quite a bit

This tree got splashed by the paint pot

Some geyser or other ;)

Just another tourist

Water from terrace flowing into a river

Me and Joshie. Notice a bit of blue sky! We did mostly have snow that day, though. (I think this is the day we got sunburned. I have awesome raccoon eyes from my huge sun glasses. :p)

Squirrel!

The reds and browns mean the water isn't as hot. Look how the steam looks kind blue. Cool, huh?

Yes, this is under water in one of the thermal areas, and no, it was not us!

Old Faithful

 After we saw Old Faithful go off RIGHT after finding a good seat, we went to find lunch at the lodge there. I did some shopping in the gift shop while Josh was in the bathroom. :) I didn't purchase anything until I had his approval! Then we managed to catch Old Faithful again as we headed off to view all the other stuff there in the Upper Geyser Basin. I was about dead by the time we made it back to the village. We did ALOT of walking that day! But we stopped in at the General Store (After getting back to see Old Faithful a 3rd time...we had amazing luck that day!) and found me a jacket I liked better than the one I'd already bought at the Lodge. So we bought that, a couple onesies for the boys, and a Huckleberry BonBon for Josh, then went back to exchange my first jacket for a fleece blanket they'd offered us before for spending X amount of dollars.

Morning Glory, although there was a sign that said its Fading Glory because people throw stuff in (coins, garbage, rocks, etc.) and it ruins it. They fish a ton of stuff out every year. :(

Another calf. I may be obsessed with their cuteness.

Another bison traffic jam. As you can see, a Park Ranger had to come herd them!

 

We obviously weren't going anywhere. This is about the time the ranger motioned for us to roll down our window and told us if we went about 5 mph they'd move out of our way. While slightly feared for the prettiness of our car, we managed to do that with no problem.

After dropping off our treasures at the hotel we went to Arby's for dinner. Of course their credit card machine was having issues. So since we had brought along a little cash for the trip, we offered to pay that way. Then we chilled in the hotel for a few minutes before going to the little theater there in town to see Pirates! Guess what? They don't accept credit/debit cards there. So we had to go across the street to use an ATM because we no longer had enough cash. And of course it was bank owned so we got charged a fee. Grrrr. But we saw the movie and LOVED it! Definitely better than the 3rd, and possibly the 2nd. I was practically giggling through the whole thing, and I'm sure laughing the loudest in a few spots. One of the girls in the row in front of us turned around to look at me at least once or twice. How embarrassing. But it was a great movie, and a great way to end Day 2!