Yellowstone National Park Day 8

Tim's truck did not take as long as expected and therefore was a few hundred less than the estimate… yeah! So by 1:00 we were on our way to Yellowstone, about 5 hours behind schedule but we'll take it!

Wow… Yellowstone has to be the most beautiful place on earth! When you first enter is not unlike any forest but then as you wind down the roads the forest becomes denser and there are streams and lakes all around you. When we got to our campsite I was just so amazed. It was like going from Motel 6 to the Ritz Carlton. Our campsite has meadows, grass, wildflowers, tons of pine trees, and has a view of the lake! We set up camp and then it was off to Old Faithful and the geyser areas.

Yellowstone is so big; a drive to Old Faithful is 1 hour from camp so we got there about 6:30 pm. We went to the visitor's center and stopped by Old Faithful but it wasn't going off for another hour. We decided to eat at the Old Faithful lodge cafeteria (would not recommend it, the food was disgusting but the view was good). After dinner we sat on the benches to watch Old Faithful go off. The clouds stared rolling in and it was looking like rain and oh boy did it come in! Just when it was about to explode, the sky exploded instead with a bitter cold, windy rain. I had ponchos so we put those on, determined to watch it go off. Shortly after it did and I left with Noah and Megan to the cover of the lodge after about 1 minute. Tim and Leah stuck it out and I think were the last ones on that bench, everyone else were under cover. They joined us at the lodge when Old Faithful was done and we waited out the rain. Then we took a walk on the boardwalks where you can see tons of geysers and hot springs. The hot springs and pools were my favorite, they look like little hot tubs with clear water and the insides were at times white, green, orange, and just beautiful! I honestly felt like I was on another planet, here on earth you just don't see smoke coming from the ground, and bubbling water in natural pools, it was spectacular! We walked around until 9:15 and then went back to the lodge for a snack. Then it was back to camp and straight to bed! Tomorrow is lake day so we will see what that brings…