We started Day 1 in Yellowstone at Steamboat Point - it had a great view of Yellowstone lake, a few very active and loud steam vents and access to a decent 3G signal so Lisa could pay some bills online. It also happened to be near a short hike to let us stretch our legs and see a little bit of Yellowstone far from a road. The hike itself was through beautiful meadows, a pine forest and out to the lake with a view from a high vantage point.
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| About a third of the way into our hike |
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| Graeme worried about this fact more than once on our hike... |
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The kids explore some yellow bellied marmot habitat -
Laryssa smelled something bad |
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| Scarlett finds a yellow-bellied marmot |
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| The yellow-bellied marmot |
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| At the tail end of our hike - these kind of meadows abound in Yellowstone. |
Old Faithful
A trip to Yellowstone would be incomplete without seeing Old Faithful. The fact that it is predictable and is a large geyser make it truly unique, but as a thermal feature it isn't all that impressive. I can think of more than a dozen other features in the park that are more impressive and beautiful than Old Faithful. But here she is. We happened to be downwind of the geyser when it went off (although we weren't when we sat down) so we saw more steam than anything...
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| A little volcano shaped hot spring in the Old Faithful area |
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| Annalise and "Lucky" the bison around Old Faithful |
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| The inside of the Old Faithful Inn |
The Old Faithful Inn is built completely of lodgepole pine which makes up 80% of the timber in Yellowstone. We learned on a Ranger led hike later that millions of dollars were spent protecting this original structure during the 1988 fires. The fires that year destroyed 1/3 of Yellowstone. This inn was constructed during the winter of 1903-04 and it's construction is a centerpiece of the park.
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| Graeme the gangsta - he loved that this car matched his clothes |
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The kids loved that this Pepper White MINI from Alaska
was parked near us when got back to the parking lot! |
We ended our day in search of wildlife at dusk close to camp. We saw elk and deer but no bear. We were also treated to one of the most impressive lightning storms I've seen. It was short lived and made for a beautiful sunset which Annalise and Lucky were more than happy to pose in front of. I have a series of pictures of Annalise hamming it up - too funny! But, from up here on top of Lake Butte overlook, the devastation from the fires in 1988 were more than obvious.
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