Sunday, July 11th

(Here’s a photo of me in Grand Teton that I just got from Marilyn. Now stop saying I never post photos of me!)

Marilyn let me sleep in this morning, all the way to seven o’clock! I’m unaccustomed to being the last one up and it was quite a shock to see her sitting there, all dressed and all packed! I scurried around getting ready and we assumed our usual morning roles – she makes coffee and sometimes breakfast and I pack our lunches. We’re all ready to go, with the exception of that last pot of coffee, and take our laptops up to the office to blog and post. Check out is at eleven so we only have an hour but today is mostly a travel day, so no worries.

Our room is tended by a Chinese girl, whose American name is Mandy. Marilyn has a friend from her 99’s group who is Chinese and she has written her to find out how to say “Thank you!” It’s “share share fee” in case you ever need it! (or at least that’s what she remembers after we get back to the room!)

It’s amazing how much you can write and how many pictures you can choose and upload in an hour! Still, there are some details I would like to add and if all goes well I’ll go back tonight to yesterday’s notes and add some thoughts IN BOLD. If you go back and there isn’t any BOLD, then I didn’t do it!! Mostly I wanted to note that we saw columbine and lupine which reminded us of Grand Mesa in the Colorado National Monument.

We finish computing, fill our cooler with ice and return to the room for one last room check and cup of coffee. Have I said anything about our coffee pot? We bought it at our first grocery stop and it is worth its weight in, well, coffee. We also use it to make hot water for instant oatmeal. We haven’t bought breakfast out yet – we’ve finished the vanilla yogurt and blueberries but there’s lots of oatmeal left! We do have to stop at the store for bread, so we can continue to make our lunches, although the salad and veggies are gone.

Oh, stopping at the store is a bit more complicated than getting bread. Who knew there was a gift shop! And they have some nice things, not just the normal tourist, er, stuff!

Okay, now we’re really on the road, leaving gorgeous, quiet, relatively un-populated Grand Teton and heading for Yellowstone, one of the premier destinations in the U.S. Entering the park we chalk up another twenty-five dollar savings by flashing our Senior Pass! Gotta love being old! The ranger at the gate was very nice and she has a cool little grabber thing that she uses to reach up to RVs and campers.

There are supposed to be two waterfalls immediately after leaving Grand Teton and entering Yellowstone, but we miss the first one. There is a lovely pull off, though, and we take pictures of a rapidly running stream. (Okay, the pull off is just pavement; but the view is lovely!) We’re pretty sure the falls are really just a drop in the river and move on to the next one, Lewis Falls. Not Hidden Falls, by any means, but quite worth the stop! Next, we stop at a trio of lakes and hear a mother pleading with her family not to “go down there!” Sure enough, her daughter is safely with her and her son and husband are mountain-goating down to the lake to break in the kid’s new fishing license!

We have three shots at a photo of the Continental Divide, since that’s how often it crosses our road. The first one creeps up on us with no notice! But now we’re ready, and at the second sign we hop out with the tripod to take a group photo without having to “count on the kindness of strangers”! There is a pull out for Shoshone Lake, but it might as well be called Hidden Lake from this vantage point. On to Kepler Cascades. Now this is more like it! How breathtaking! And we’re almost to Old Faithful Village.

And a village it is! There is the Old Faithful Lodge, where we’re staying for two nights, and the Old Faithful Inn, where we are staying another night, and the snow lodge and the visitors’ center and the post office and the general store and the clinic! We think we’ll check in first and get our bearings, but as we approach, the geyser looks like it might be getting ready to erupt. We charge toward the amphitheater and find seats. Well, Marilyn has a seat. I’ve chosen a different vantage point and sit cross-legged on the platform, waiting for the show to start. Turns out there is quite a wait. About half an hour, in fact! At one point it begins to mist and I pull out my rain gear, mostly to keep the camera dry, but it blows over, leaving a dark sky that makes a nice background for the geyser.

From where I’m sitting you can see two other geysers and they are both putting on a show! Old Faithful, meanwhile, keeps sending up plumes of steam with lots of promise and no follow-through! Finally it’s time for the main attraction! I’ve promised Jen to take a video for her, so I’ve got the Flip in one hand and my still camera in the other. I hope I can convince my computer to download it correctly this time!

When the performance is over it seems like everyone is heading to the lodge. We need to check in, so we don’t have a choice, but the rest of them are either looking for a snack or a safe place out of the rain, which is returning.

One of the many helpful Xanterra employees, Gloria “Colorado”, gives us lots of advice about her favorite places in the park and signs us up for charge cards that let us charge whatever we buy to our room. Pretty dangerous! We scope out the cafeteria and find that they have hot meals that are reasonably priced and decide to return later for dinner.

On to our room – a little cabin with a twin and a double bed, that is cute as it can be. The entire park system is very environmentally aware and we find that the soap here is packaged in “natural recycled packaging”. The shampoo and lotion are in bottles that will biodegrade; and the bath soap is “ergonomically shaped to reduce waste.” There’s a hole in the middle! They say this part is usually wasted!

We bring in what we need from the car and go exploring. There are several gift shops and one of them claims to have handcrafts. Okay stuff but nothing earthshaking. Marilyn is looking for a Christmas ornament and a doll for her collection, since she’s already found a charm for her necklace. I have an ornament but would like another and still need my charm, so we continue the hunt.

The visitors’ center is currently in a trailer while their new one is under construction. It will be open August 25th and Terrance Birdsall, the ranger who helps us, can’t wait. He adores the park and it shows every time he opens his mouth. He give us a pamphlet that tells all about the hikes in this village and for fifty cents we buy another that gives the location of everything we want to see and then some. There is a display board in the center that gives the expected eruption time for the six geysers in the basin that are fairly predictable. Terrance says to see Grand Geyser because it is the highest (tallest?) predictable geyser in the world. There is one more that is taller but it hasn’t erupted since October…wait for it!....of 2006! He says he is sure he will get to see it this summer, though! ☺

A word about the lodge – it is rustic all the way, with a huge fireplace and enormous windows that overlook its namesake geyser. On to dinner – trout almondine with two side of our choice and a roll, all for $10.87! A pretty good deal, it seems to me! And it’s delicious, too! Top that off with raspberry frozen yogurt and life is good!

A short walk back to our cabin and it is time to download and blog. We hear there is WiFi in the snow lodge and we plan to find out in the morning. Then we’ll check the eruption schedule and set off on the two and a half mile roundtrip hike to see the rest of the geysers. We should be back before the afternoon thundershowers. We’ve been so lucky so far! Hope it continues!