It was another early morning for me...5am-ish. Sun was just barely up and not even breaking over the mountains yet. For some reason I prefer not sleeping in, and taking in the sites & sounds of the predawn campground. After getting the coffee & campfire started, I went for a little walk around the campground by myself...well, with my camera. Was looking for some wildlife, but didn't any today. After the rest of the gang got up, we made breakfast and packed up to head out.
On the agenda today was Old Faithful....by far, the premier attraction of the park. It was a little different than I remembered it before. Now they have multiple lodges and hotels that surround it, and a big museum as you enter it. There is a mini science center for both the adults and the kids...snack bars, gift shops, movie theater, etc. It has been turned into a true tourist attraction! There were benches set up all around the geyser for optimal viewing. There was a TON of people there.
It was pretty amazing. It is almost hard to believe that nature creates this geyser phenomenon! It is like clockwork, and we SWORE that there was a magic wizard in the back somewhere pushing a button to start this thing every 90 minutes. Still not sure of this...could be on to something here...working on my next biggest conspiracy theory. Not an impossible thought ya know!
Anyways, back to the geyser. Yes, it was cool....yes, it was packed with a million people watching it "erupt" (I can't imagine it during busy season!!)...yes, it was amazing...yes, it was all over in 5 minutes...and yes, we had to go to the gift shops to fund my smashed pennies. Couldn't find them at first and had to go to 2 different ones....still no luck. Brent disappeared & ran to another one and found a machine and got me my penny!! Relief! Yes, I collect smashed pennies. Have for a long time. Keep them in my wallet with me all the time. Nice to check them out when I'm bored or something and remember all the great places I have been. Just realized that if my wallet is every lost or stolen, I will be more upset about losing my smashed pennies than all my money & other "stuff" in there. Ugh...never thought about that...now I need to reconsider where I keep my smashed pennies.
Getting good at this digression stuff....
Back to Yellowstone. Brianna started collecting smashed pennies on this trip too. Luckily there are lots of gift shops all over the park, and lots of places to smash pennies. It became a quest/game for everyone for the rest of the trip. Kinda fun!
 |
| Drake in the science center place |
 |
| Grandma & Piggy exploring |
 |
| The crew...except me |
 |
| Old Faithful warming up |
 |
| The guys didn't want to get too close to the tourists. |
 |
| Thar she blows!!! |
 |
| And there she goes....just 5 mins or so of blowing off some steam. Wish we could all get it out of our system that quick. |
 |
| Yup, I was there too... |
No comments:
Post a Comment