Step one: Strap 3 beautiful blonde kids into car. Check. Toss two dogs in the back for good measure.
Step 2: Find Mesa Falls. No problem. Joe has the directional sense of a migratory bird. I also have the apparent ability to find the breeding ground for all of the mosquitoes in North America. No, seriously, I'm talking like Alfred Hitchcock frightening numbers of mosquitoes. We all got a bit, um, bit. But, alas, we braved the bloodsuckers and walked the trail to the falls, which were indeed beautiful. They fall about a 110 feet.
Kolbe and Clementine must have thought we were on crack today. Bet they were glad they had fur at this point though. This hasty picture was brought to you by 10 thousand winged beasts. Liam found the view more intriquing than the cameraman.
I think I look best in black and white. The huge sunglasses are to hide the raccoon circles under my eyes. The jacket was not for warmth, but to help protect me from the mosquitoes, whom seemed to find me very, very tastey. I left there with bites on my head, neck, back, arms, legs, hands, finger....
Since our trip to Mesa Falls was cut short by the terrors of the sky, we explored the area for a while. Along the road we saw these great fields of wild flowers. Erin requested a portrait in the field.
Funny how she always comments on how Issy puts her head on her shoulder when she smiles for a picture....
Isabelle wanted to know what kind of flower these are. I have no idea. I told her we'd call them Rocky Mountain Wild Daisies for now. Any help identifying them would be most grateful. NOT a great smelling flower!
After the wildflower foray, it was time for lunch. Determined to not turn back, I pressed on and the road took me back to the highway by Island Park. We were going to eat lunch there, but nothing sounded great. I suggested we drive the 30 minutes to West Yellowstone, Montana, as there are a lot of restaraunts there. Well, if you are in West Yellowstone, you might as well go the mile east into Yellowstone National Park, right? So we hopped back into the trusty(?) Ranier and headed into the park...
We decided to go into the north of the park to an area we had not yet ventured. Along the way, we saw lots of Bison and Elk resting and feasting in the long green grass along the banks of the Gibbon and Firehole Rivers.
Bravely we set forth into the unknown. Actually, there were a lot of signs. We were headed to Geyser Basin.
Surprisingly enough, Geyser Basin is a Basin full of many geysers, steam vents and other holes of boiling water seeping from the ground. This is a steam vent, temperatures at the surface are about 204º F.
This is a geyser. Much cooler than the steam vent at about 195º F. It just so happened to erupt in time for me to turn around and grab a few shots. Most of the geysers in the park are completely unpredictable. Even old faithful ran about 10 min "late" today. The nerve!
The beautiful colors that you see in the pools and streams in the basin are caused by micro-organisms called Thermophiles. Erin reallllly likes the term Thermophile. Now you know what to get her for her birthday! Different Thermophiles live in different temperture water, and give off different colors. More proof of God's artistic skill.
This is an algaeous substance, which looks icky up close, but made awesome patters amoung the rocks and warm shallow waters below the boardwalk.
Pretty but dangerous. These pools often had steam rising from them. The temperatures could easily be 150º F or greater. The boardwalks built around the basin are the only means of getting close to some of these pools-the ground is too hot to walk on.
For as many warnings as there were, however, the big hooved animals didn't seem to adhere to the boardwalks. There were hoofprints and feces around the edges of some of these hot pools. Perhaps they were fetching water for tea?
These small wholes around not much bigger at the opening than a baseball. The water boils and bubbles slowly out of them, leaving mineral deposits around the edges. At this point, I stopped to ponder the red hot magma that was surely bubbling not-so-far below the surface. But the geothermal characteristics of Yellowstone is what makes for such a unique and rich ecosystem. I for one hope that is doesn't decide to burst open into a gigantic volcano for a while. I kinda like it how it is.
Issy and Isaac lead the way out. We had a great time in the Geyser Basin. Afterwards we drove down to Old Faithful and ate at the cafeteria. Tired, we hopped into the car and left through the South Entrance, taking us through Grand Teton National Park, Jackson Hole, across Teton Pass, and finally home to Teton Valley. Right now, 3 babies, 2 pups and 1 wife are all very sound asleep, and having now completed my long over-due duty of updating my blog, I am going to join them. What a great day for an unplanned trip to Yellowstone.
