Sat, Jun 13, 2009
Last night was a nightmare. We had expected it to be cold and were reasonably prepared, but didn’t think it would be in the 30s. We froze. The tent didn’t let any rain water seep in, but just the moisture in the air had dampened the insides. We had good comforters, but our heads, noses, ears etc were exposed. Sometime in the night, 3.5 yr old SK declared, “this is sooo not fun”.
But once it was past 9 in the morning, it became much more bearable. The shower facilities were awesome. After a nice hot shower, we set out to explore Yellowstone NP. We love NPs but Yellowstone is really unique. We drove on the North Rim drive and saw the Upper and Lower Yellowstone falls. The Canyon was pretty amazing too. Later in the day we saw the spectacular eruptions of several geysers, the Great Fountain Geyser being the best of them. It was almost an hour’s show. The sheer volume of water, the height to which it erupted and the duration of the eruption, it all came together for a one of a kind of experience. Later we drove to Old faithful and watched it erupt too. But after the Great Fountain Geyser, I was not at all impressed by Old faithful. There was just too much mist and dense fog to realize what was going on. But the visitor center was fabulous and we enjoyed some hot coffee and snacks there, which was perfect for the drippy weather.
On the drive back, there was only one thought on my mind – to see if we could get any sort of room for the night. It being the weekend, chances were slim, but I hoped a basic room may be available. When we checked at the reception, they had nothing open and the nearest place which had any availability was the Old faithful Inn and that too, only the pricey, exclusive suites. I confirmed with her that it was ok to get in the car and run the engine in the night, if it got too cold. With peace of mind that we had a plan B and wearing two layers of pajamas, we went to bed.
Miles driven today: 145
States: WY
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