Sunday July 8, 2012

Alex made blueberry pancakes for breakfast this morning.  Everyone enjoyed them.  We decided to explore the area north of Old Faithful today, as the boys have not yet seen a boiling mud pot.  Our first stop was at Biscuit Basin.  Our favorite hot spring there was Sapphire Pool – the color was fabulous!  We walked along the boardwalk admiring the colors of the thermophiles (green, yellow, red) until we came to a trail that led to Mystic Falls.  With a name like that, we had to take the trail!  The hike was pleasant, but the falls were fantastic!  It was a 70-foot-high chain of cascades – both lovely to look at and very cooling.  We stopped at Midway Geyser Basin, which contains two of the largest hot springs in the world.  Grand Prismatic Spring is 370 feet in diameter!  We couldn’t see all of the gradients of color as it was very steamy today, but it was still awesome.  Excelsior Geyser no longer erupts, but it is unique as it spills hot water into the Firehole River.  We stopped for lunch at a lovely picnic area – lovely, except for the smelly outhouse (Theo said we should have brought our oxygen masks) and then took a drive down Firehole Lake Drive.  We were so lucky because Great Fountain Geyser, which erupts every 8 to 12 hours, blew about five minutes after we arrived!  It sprayed water over 100 feet in the air and lasted at least 15 minutes!  We stopped at White Dome Geyser and thought it was about to erupt judging from the steam coming from the vent, but after 10 minutes, we gave up on it.  Our last stop was at Fountain Paint Pot, which is famous for its mudpots.  I was disappointed as the mudpot was boiling, but it was thin and watery, probably due to the rain we have been having each day.  The last time we were here, the mud was thick and the mud bubbles were much more fun to watch.  We headed back to camp to pick up towels for showers and our dirty laundry.  I thought Sunday afternoon would be a quiet time in the laundry, but I was wrong.  I had to wait for some machines to be free, but managed to get it done.  Unfortunately, there is no wifi service here in Yellowstone and I haven’t had any cell service here either so I guess we will have to wait until we get to Jackson Hole to get online again.  I hope you all don’t think we have fallen off the edge of the Earth – I didn’t think it would be so hard to keep in touch.  I will have to put some photos up at some point, but that takes more time so will have to wait.  We got back to camp and Alex and Dan said they wanted to cook dinner.  Dan cut and marinated the steak strips while Alex make fried potatoes.  I made the salad and Theo and I set the table.  Dinner was delicious!  Dan was very proud, as he has watched his dad make this meal and was so pleased that it came out so well on his first attempt.  This was Alex’s second time making the potatoes and he is becoming quite the expert.  Theo and I washed the dishes as Dave and Dan had done the breakfast dishes.  The boys went for a walk while Dave and I finished putting things back into the bear box (yes, we have to keep all cooking material in a bear box as there has been one sighted in the campground).  They found a boy about their age and were running races in the road.  They had a great time and then we came back to our campsite and read a few more chapters of our book.  We let the boys choose a hike for tomorrow so we will see how we make out.  Tomorrow will be our last full day here in Yellowstone.