Rocky Mountain High

Saturday, 25 July, 2015

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Yesterday we drove to Yellowstone National Park.  Before we left, a colleague loaned me a book about Michael Dowling (the man our school is named for) and his family's trip to Yellowstone by car before there was a road to get there from Minnesota in 1913.  It was a personal narrative by his daughter.  So I read that aloud (the section to Yellowstone is only 40 pages long) to the family and showed them the photos that Ms. Pritchard took on the trip as we drove there.  It was fun to make comparisons of what they experienced compared to what we experienced.  

When we arrived at the park, our first stop was Mammoth Hot Springs.  Joshua was most offended by the sulphur smells!  When the hot water comes up through the limestone, it dissolves calcium carbonate, which is then desposited on the surface to form travertine (the white stuff).   The colors are caused by thermophiles (microorganisms).  Most of the walking is on boardwalks, which makes the walking easier, but doesn’t have the same feel as walking on a dirt trail.  I understand that they do it to protect the soil and plants, but it loses something.     

Then, we were stopped by road construction.  The traffic here alternates between seeing only a few cars to huge back-ups near sites.  At this back-up a ranger came to each vehicle saying that it would be about a 15 minute wait.  So, everyone turned their cars off, got snacks out from the trunk, took photos, took our Frisbees and babies, etc.  We ate our lunch (granola bars, grapes, and carrots—saving the almonds for later on).  Then we were led past two other groups of cars—I guess each group had to take it’s turn. 

Sabertooth Shelbysaurus

Next were the paint pots.  They are primarily the mud that forms.  One of the areas there is called the Red Spouter.  It didn’t exist before 1959.  Before that, it was a grassy knoll.  Then there was an earthquake near Yellowstone (measuring 7.5) in 1959 and the Red Spouter came to be.  It is supposed to shoot out water in the spring, mud in the summer, and steam in the dry fall.  It was just shooting out steam though—must be from all of the dryness out west.

The blue is caused glacier water

this is bubbling--we sang the Beverly Hillbillies theme song in the car

Red Spouter

Red Spouter

Our next stop—Old Faithful.  I believe I was last here when I was about 6.  This and the Old Faithful Inn are what I remember most from that trip (plus having cold cereal and hot chocolate that my mom made in a hot pot in our cabin in the morning; oh, and the blue plastic purse with the attached umbrella).   But, back to 2015.   We saw a lot of people waiting in front of  Old Faithful, so we figured it was almost time.  I found a seat in the front row (knowing that when people stood up to take pictures, I wouldn’t be able to see over them and their cameras).  The man I sat next to welcomed me to the party!  J  Then everyone I was sitting near began trading facts and thoughts about the geyser and checking the official eruption  ETA (though it gave a 17 minute window).   It was so funny, when it started, hundreds of cameras, phones, and iPads were raised.  I took some (OK—a lot of) photos, then put my camera down to enjoy the actual event in person rather than on a screen.  It was amazing to see so many people from all over the world, there to witness a geological phenomenon; no technology required (except for the photos to record the event). 

This is only half the people--see them even in the far distance all the way to the edge of the photo

After the geyser, we went to the Old Faithful Inn.  Randy and I saw a PBS special once on the old lodges of the National Park System and I love them.  They have such an early 1900s sense of grandeur along with rusticness.  

the main lobby

The dining room (the hostess told me how to go upstairs to get the best view,
even though she also allowed me to go in to take photos)

The windows of the dining room

See at the very top near the roof, the little loft area there was
designed by the architect who had a childhood
fairy-tale dream to build a space like that.  People aren't allowed
to go up there anymore because the earlier-mentioned 1959 earthquake
made it structurally unsafe for people to go up there.  (this
information was all provided by Joshua!)

the four-sided fireplace

a writing desk in the lobby

The clock on the fireplace

registration desk

The public bathroom--very fancy!

The front entrance

One of the two wings

After that, we went to our hotel—we were staying at the lodge in Grant Village.  Not one of the great originals, but it was nice and in the park.  We checked in at the registration building, then received our keys (real keys, not keycards) to the Antelope building.  Our keys did not work, which involved me driving back to the registration building, getting different keys and meeting the porter who wanted to make sure that these keys worked (they did).  The hallways reminded me of a dormitory, but the room was nice with thick, fuzzy blankets, a refrigerator, and nice bathroom.  To save waste, the toiletries were in glass pump bottles (and included body wash and liquid hand soap!).  Randy and Shelby took naps (Joshua and I had taken short ones in the car), then we went to dinner (Randy had made a reservation at the restaurant).  I wish I had brought my camera, but it was all wood with wooden beams and more modern chandeliers, but evoked the grand dining rooms of the older lodges.  It also had windows on one wall that looked over Lake Yellowstone.  It was quite pricy, and we all ordered bison burgers.  Then back to our building (quite cold outside) to watch a movie before bed.  No wifi, no internet, no cell service, no air conditioning--but we still had movies!