May 28, The Grand Loop

On our final day in Yellowstone, we decided to take the Grand Loop. We had come in through the West entrance.

Our first stop was Kepler Cascades.

I can't seem to find the name of this geyser basin, but this was about the only other wildlife we saw besides bison.

Along the way, we waited while bison crossed the road.

Our next stop was the Upper and Lower Yellowstone Falls.

 Mark has never been to the Grand Canyon, and it's been years since I have been there, so this was truly spectacular.

We stopped for lunch in Canyon Village, where Mark was able to touch some snow.

We stopped briefly at Norris Geyser Basin, but the rain was starting so we didn't spend much time there--we are ready to go back and do some more exploring.

The next morning it was time to head back to Pete and Jane's.

May 27

On Sunday, we signed up for a bus tour, always a good way to learn more about the area.

Our bus was a wonderful vintage vehicle, in one of my favorite colors. Obviously...both my shoes and backpack matched.

This may be one of my favorite pictures--the bus driver couldn't figure out what I was doing until I told him I was trying to get a picture of Old Faithful as seen through the windshield.

We chose the Firehole Basin tour.

Immediately before we were to get on the bus, the Beehive Geyser started erupting, named because the sound is like a huge swarm of bees, very loud bees. While it is not as predictable as Old Faithful, the water goes higher and the eruption is longer. It was quite spectacular.

Then off to Firehole Lake Drive.

 White Dome Geyser.

Firehole Canyon Drive.

 Firehole Falls.

On the way back, we stopped at Biscuit Basin--just a short stop as it finally started to rain.

The bacteria mats were fascinating--so much microscopic life enduring extreme temperatures.

May 26, Grand Prismatic and the Old Faithful Inn

We got up very early Saturday morning and headed to Grand Prismatic Spring, one of the highlights of our stay in Yellowstone.

We walked the loop to get closer to the spring, and passed Turquoise Pool.

It's impossible to see the scope of Grand Prismatic when you are level with it. Next time we will take a short hike that will allow us to look down on it.

What we were able to see in the morning was the changing colors of the mist rising from the pool--pastel shades of yellow, pink and blue.

It was mesmerizing, and we stayed there for quite awhile before heading back to the Inn for breakfast.

There was a lot of this...

On a side note, I've been so inspired by Grand Prismatic that I'm making a quilt based on it.

Saturday was the day we decided to spend the afternoon enjoying the Inn.

When we stayed here for one night, 45 years ago, our room was in the original part of the Inn. The drawback...no private bathroom. This is similar to the room we had back then.

We stayed in the newer part of the Inn this time. There is no wifi connection, and in fact, the reservation system still uses the old DOS computer operating system! Mark took a tour of the Inn in the afternoon and learned a lot about its fascinating history. It had its first guests in June 1904, and has weathered a 7.5 magnitude earthquake, as well as fires in 1988.

He found Room 54, of significance because that was his college football number.

Staircases are made from this twisted lodgepole pine.

It is really a magnificent structure, with the lobby measuring over 76 feet!

We spent all of our evenings at a table on the second balcony, reading, listening to live music, and occasionally walking a few steps to the outdoor balcony to see Old Faithful erupting.

We saw little wildlife other than American bison. And they were everywhere!

All visitors were cautioned to keep 25 yards away, because while they look fairly tame and slow because of their size, they can become agitated and move rapidly.

We ended our day watching Old Faithful, which was always impressive.