Yellowstone National Park: Old Faithful
So this is how it happened…..how it always happens……
I LOVE roadtripping, I love planning my road trips, I love getting down to the crazy details. I plan everything but our bathroom breaks. I reserve campsites or hotels in advance. I read reviews of local restaurants and points of tourism. I even think ahead about various photo opportunities. It’s not about trying to be anal about our travel process but more about me being a giant dork who doesn’t want to miss anything. THAT SAID, some of our best travel experiences happen when my husband decides to throw a wrench in my plans and takes us off course. This was one of those times. I had not planned on going to Yellowstone National Park at all on this particular trip. I had seen the PBS specials on Old Faithful and had even viewed the geyser erupt live via the park’s webcam. It seemed like a cool phenomenon but honestly, it just wasn’t at the top of my list of things I HAD to see in person. I understand that seeing things in person vs. my computer screen provides a very different viewpoint . At the park I got to see it from my own perspective vs. that of a camera lense, I got to feel the heat of the sun bearing down on me and I even got to inhale the sulphur like smells wafting through the air. All things that add up for a more complete experience. I enjoyed watching the geyser erupt but looking back on it; Old Faithful is not the first thing I think of when I remember Yellowstone. This is where it gets real good! When you go to Yellowstone National Park go ahead and wander through the gift shops and take a seat in the stands to watch Old Faithful and after you’ve done that you MUST walk along the wooden walkways to view the various thermal pools and additional geysers located around the park. I was completely mesmerized by them. I went in July, it was HOT, the pools smelled kind of stinky, but they were like nothing I had ever seen before and in the most amazing kind of way! The water boiled up from submerged caverns that you could look way into the depths of. The pools were so vibrantly aqua and the edges had this kind of slimy sludge that was a rich terra cotta color. There were streaks of what must have been mineral deposits across the more dried up ground that were different colors like bright yellow and orange. Some of the pools made boiling sounds as bubbles rolled up to the surface. I felt as if I were immersed in Van Gogh’s paint covered pallet as he created his well known “Vase with Twelve Sunflowers.” I imagine some people walk through there and don’t recognize the saturated colors or think about Van Gogh……I did go to art school hahaha. Art school or not, It was pretty spectacular.
A few other noteworthy features within the park:
