Yellowstone {Day 2}

After a much needed night of rest, we packed a cooler with enough food to last through dinner, threw our swim suits and water shoes in a bag, and hit the road for the park.  Today brought some amazing surprises.  We had a plan to make it down to Old Faithful and hit some other geothermal features along the way.  Since we were driving through Mammoth we decided to start with a drive through the upper portion of Mammoth Springs.  We didn't want to stop and actually walk the boardwalk right then because we got a bit of a late morning start on the day and we had a drive ahead of us.

 {Sulfur-y steam makes for beautiful lighting}

 {Mammoth Hot Springs}

 {Above and Below: A scenic overlook of a waterfall?!  Amazing!}

After doing the short road tour at Mammoth and making a quick stop for a waterfall, we were back on the road for Old Faithful.  But then I saw something unbelievable.  As we drove by a mountain lake (that I didn't know the name of at the time) I asked Dan, "Are those swans on that lake?"  He responded with "Yeah, probably."  At this point the boys and I were ecstatic and Dan quickly made a u-turn.  I grabbed every camera and camcorder we had with us.  The boys grabbed all the binoculars (or burr-noculars and they sometimes say) and we headed to the shore of the aptly named, Swan Lake.  Not only did we find 2 Trumpeter Swans, but they had 3 cygnets!  It was a truly amazing moment for our family.  We have read The Trumpet of the Swan together 2 times, D has read it on his own at least 1 time, and his 1st grade class read it together at school.  I had dreamed we might get to see a swan, but didn't think it would actually happen.

We made one last stop on the way down to Old Faithful; Undine Falls.  There we found a much needed bathroom, a large rock wall face, and a little trail down to some very cold water.

We finally arrived at Old Faithful at the perfect time.  That morning in Mammoth we picked up books for the Junior Ranger program.  Its a program where kids can fill out a workbook and learn different things about the park: the animals in the park, the thermal features, the history.  If they complete a certain number of activities they get to be sworn in as Yellowstone Junior Park Rangers and receive a ranger badge.  So, all that so say, we arrived at Old Faithful at the perfect time.  Right as we were walking up they had a ranger led education program taking place AND attending a ranger led education program was one of the activities the boys needed to complete.  SCORE!  We listened to the talk about Bison and their history in the United States and particularly in Yellowstone, then we headed over the geyser (or gee-sahr as they say in the UK).  We had some extra time before it was predicted to erupt, so the boys played in the dirt with sticks and watched some other kids make a see-saw out of fallen logs.  Then we started to see O.F. gurgle and sputter so we ran over to try to get a good spot for the eruption.  We were lucky enough to be there when a large impressive geyser behind Old Faithful was erupting too.  That one lasted quite a long time, especially compared to Old Faithful's 3 minute eruption.

After the eruption we wanted to look around the Old Faithful Inn (and eat an early dinner).  On the way over there the boys wanted to try out the see-saw and we wanted to walk through the education center.

The Old Faithful Inn was built in 1903-1904 out of locally sourced logs and stone.  It is hard to explain how amazing it is.  It has a huge 4-sided fireplace, part of which can be seen below with the clock on one of its sides.  There is a baby grand piano in the open air 2nd floor of the lobby with a pianist playing; D loved that.  We ate at the little restaurant they have in the Inn.  Dan and D shared a Bison Bratwurst Sandwich which they said was very good.

Once we left Old Faithful we started making the trek back to the north part of the park.  We were passing by the Firehole River and its infamous swim hole so we decided we needed to stop and jump in.  Before that though, we had to get our hands on the rock face that was near by.  It wasn't great for climbing, since pieces of it kept falling off, but it was still fun.

Not pictured above (because we were in the water and our camera is not waterproof) are the many people that would scramble up to the top of a little cliff and jump in.  It terrified me to watch them, but it was also hard not too.  There was also a spot around the corner where people would jump in and then let the current float them to the swim hole.  We didn't do this either, mostly because the current was quite strong in that area and we didn't want to risk going over the small falls at the end of it.  The river is called "Firehole" but it was not fire-y; it was actually quite cold.  We were there somewhat late in the day though and we think that around high noon, it would feel great.

After we got changed back into dry clothes we started the long haul back to the cabin.

 {A rainbow on the drive}

 {Emigrant Peak, we were staying at the base of it}

{Yellowstone: Where you are guaranteed to have tired kids at the end of each day}