We were treated to an awesome glimpse of a bald eagle sitting proudly in its nest on our way into the park today. It was pretty thrilling to see a bald eagle in the wild. We turned the car around to get another look! It was just thrilling to see one in the wild!
Staying in the town of West Yellowstone is great because of its easy entrance to Yellowstone. The city literally begins just outside of the parks west entrance. Our campground is just 6 miles from the entrance. West Yellowstone is a neat little town - a very eclectic mix of restaurants and shops. There are plenty of places for a weary traveler to spend his money ( or, window shop)- a sort of Gatlinburg of the west. We were also intrigued by the city’s trashcans – they are all bear proof. There are signs at many establishments telling you were the nearest trashcans are due to the bears! We were a little nervous about camping in our trailer because of its tented bunk ends. Many of the campgrounds in Yellowstone do not allow camping unless you are in a hard-sided trailer due to the bears. That is one of the main reasons we chose to stay the 6 miles up the road at the local KOA. Still, there were signs all around our campground reminding us to beware. Tony managed to park the truck right up against the girls’ bunk so we felt better about them being safe. I guess we were just out of luck!
We spent much of our time in the park today at the geyser basins. We pulled up and parked and walked over to the visitor center just before Old Faithful erupted. It was a very impressive sight! Water spouted into the air as if someone had just opened a fire hydrant. Then as quickly as it erupted, it stopped again. Old Faithful isn’t as faithful as she used to be. The geyser erupts every 90 minutes or so, give or take 10 minutes on each side of the predicted time. We decided that we wanted to see it again, so we spent the time walking around the upper geyser basin.There are several geyser basins to choose from, but with little legs, we thought we should choose our routes carefully. You could probably spend a few days working your way around to all of the geysers. Some of the other geysers eruptions can be
“predicted.” I use the term predicted loosely because the board in the visitor’s center gives estimated eruption times and the +/- window. Some of them had a range of a few hours for predictions and others a few days! Some of the smaller geysers continuously erupt/have water bubbling up from the ground. The bubbles get faster and higher momentarily and then die down for a time before starting up again. Some of the hot springs are crystal clear and you can see deep into the earth. It is an awesome sight. You view many of the park’s geothermal features by an elaborate system of boardwalks. There are signs everywhere warning about the dangers of the thin crust layer and the extreme temperatures of the water. It was a little daunting trying to keep AJ from careening off the side – perhaps a little glimpse of what our visit to the Grand Canyon will be like! We had to have him hold our hand as we walked much of the path. Needless to say he was none too thrilled about that! One of the rangers thanked us for keeping our children safe though – a statement that was lost on an almost 3 year old. She said she recently had a family who let their child put their hands in the run-off water from the geysers. People! Chalk up a gold star for us. We hustled everyone back to the front to see Old Faithful again. Of course, the eruption was on the plus 10 minutes side rather than the minus. It was hard to keep the attention of tired and hungry Abby and AJ. Sarah has been completely into Yellowstone. She is awed by its many wonders and looks for new discoveries. She has been taking more pictures than we are and has been trying to identify animal tracks too. After all of that, we were thrilled to get another chance to see Old Faithful in action. We were looking forward to capturing it on film and video from a better vantage point. In true fashion, the memory card on the camera was full and then the battery on the camcorder died! Oh well, it was still well worth it to see its eruption again!
“predicted.” I use the term predicted loosely because the board in the visitor’s center gives estimated eruption times and the +/- window. Some of them had a range of a few hours for predictions and others a few days! Some of the smaller geysers continuously erupt/have water bubbling up from the ground. The bubbles get faster and higher momentarily and then die down for a time before starting up again. Some of the hot springs are crystal clear and you can see deep into the earth. It is an awesome sight. You view many of the park’s geothermal features by an elaborate system of boardwalks. There are signs everywhere warning about the dangers of the thin crust layer and the extreme temperatures of the water. It was a little daunting trying to keep AJ from careening off the side – perhaps a little glimpse of what our visit to the Grand Canyon will be like! We had to have him hold our hand as we walked much of the path. Needless to say he was none too thrilled about that! One of the rangers thanked us for keeping our children safe though – a statement that was lost on an almost 3 year old. She said she recently had a family who let their child put their hands in the run-off water from the geysers. People! Chalk up a gold star for us. We hustled everyone back to the front to see Old Faithful again. Of course, the eruption was on the plus 10 minutes side rather than the minus. It was hard to keep the attention of tired and hungry Abby and AJ. Sarah has been completely into Yellowstone. She is awed by its many wonders and looks for new discoveries. She has been taking more pictures than we are and has been trying to identify animal tracks too. After all of that, we were thrilled to get another chance to see Old Faithful in action. We were looking forward to capturing it on film and video from a better vantage point. In true fashion, the memory card on the camera was full and then the battery on the camcorder died! Oh well, it was still well worth it to see its eruption again! 
After a picnic lunch in the park, we drove around a little and then headed for the campground. We saw herds of buffalo again today. There are so many buffalo in this park that Tony has taken to putting the phrase “Buffa” in front of many of his words. The park should be called Buffastone. A Buffalo lying down is taking a Buffanap. The kids were grossed out by seeing one take a buffapoop. You get the picture. It will be difficult to decide where to spend our last day in the park tomorrow.
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