Another beautiful summer day! Today is our day to explore the thermal areas of the park, including Old Faithful, of course, and end up at the Old Faithful Inn for our special dinner at 5:00.
We started out at Norris Geyser Basin, walking the "Upper Loop", to avoid the "Lower Loop" which required a hike back up! We walked past Steamboat Geyser, the largest geyser in the park which has been going off sporadically only for the past few years.
We then went down to our favorite place in the park, Grand Prismatic Spring. Like at every feature, there are cars parked everywhere. We figured out the secret of parking - the lots are always "churning", with people coming out as fast as they go in so just be patient! The colors of the spring are spectacular. And, there's one particular spot where the wind always blows and Mom was sure to remind everyone to hold on to their hats. Of course, she lost hers!
The spring is hard to see from the level of the boardwalk. Two years ago the park built a new trail from Fairy Springs to get an overview. Unfortunately, the trail looked pretty long so we'll save that for another time.
Lunch was from our picnic supplies, in the parking lot!
From there, we continued South, went past Old Faithful and down to "West Thumb", which has thermal features along the shore of Lake Yellowstone.
We arrived back at the Yellowstone Inn right on time for our dinner! After a few minutes to explore the magnificent hotel lobby, the hotel staff was great - they accommodated our request for a "table for 12". I didn't count, but many of us enjoyed the buffet, which included Prime Rib. It was all good!
After our fine dinner, we went outside and waited patiently for Old Faithful to erupt. Before too long, "thar' she blows"! Unfortunately, the skies had clouded over so you really couldn't appreciate the height of the geyser - you need a bright blue sky behind it! Some of us couldn't stand the rain!
We then adjourned to the outdoor patio on the second floor of the hotel. We enjoyed "toasts" to our 50 years achievement and Jake surprised us with a very touching tribute (see below).
On the way back to Mammoth, as it got dark, there were thunderstorms and showers around which made for a great sunset and rainbows.
A great day!!
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