Wednesday, July 14th

Yep, we had half an hour to post and that didn’t allow time for the video to upload. Little did we know it would be days before we could post again! In fact, it’s been days since we could even write because we’ve been so exhausted from playing too hard to write anything before bed and too excited to take the time to write in the mornings! It’s the morning of the 16th now and I’m going to try to remember what all we’ve done and seen!

After leaving the Snow Lodge Wednesday morning we were just in time for the tour of the historic Old Faithful Inn where we had spent Tuesday night. Ruth was our tour guide and it is her 21st summer at the Inn. She is quite an expert and knows all the names and dates and she is dressed in period clothes. During the winter she works in the corporate office in recruitment. She begins hiring in December for the following April. The Inn is open from April to October and when they close up for the winter it takes three weeks. Everything is secured against the snows and the systems are all blown out to protect against freeze damage.

She tells us that most of the money for the construction was provided by the railroads in hopes that Congress would allow them to lay tracks into the park! That never worked for them, but they brought people right to the edge of the park and made tons of money that way. The original tourists, back in 1904, paid fifty dollars for a five night tour, stopping one night at each of the five major hotels with a lunch stop in between each one. They traveled by stagecoach and each of the hotels is no more than forty miles from the next to allow enough time for the trip.

The architect was only in his twenties when he took the original assignment, so he was still working and able to design the additions that were required as the Inn’s popularity grew. Many of the furnishings are original and antiques dealers are particulary interested in the partners desks on the balcony that overlooks the huge lobby. The cost of the original construction, in today’s dollars, was 3.2 million and it took an entire year. Six months prior to the start of construction, men were sent out into the forest to find lodge pole pines that were suitable for the construction. Most needed to be straight and tall; but they also needed the decoratively bent ones for all the artistic touches which make the Inn so unique.

Back in the day, the guests, dressed to the nines, would all proceed into dinner at the same time, with a string quartet or ensemble playing from the small balcony that overlooks the dining room. After dinner they would re-emerge to find all the lobby chairs and tables pushed back to provide a dance floor and the musicians moved to the “tree house” under the roof. When not dancing, the guests would promenade around the balcony “to see and be seen”.

Ruth was fascinating and seemed willing and pleased to extend her time past the forty-five minutes designated for the tour. She does four a day!

We tear ourselves away, and head out passing one more time through Firehole Canyon. There are some cars stopped and we follow the people to see two female elk walking along the edge of the river, oblivious to the people who are following them and trying for the perfect shot.

There are more people swimming in the river! Crazy folks! Next stop Artists Paint Pots. More bubbling things; but an interesting shot of a photographer lying prone to shoot the flowers! They are pretty and I’m sure he got something great!

On to really new territory, The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone! We stop at the Canyon Lodge to check in and begin learning the lay of the land, the go to Visitors’ Center and buy the trail guides for Canyon and three other stops. Using both maps, one from the girl at the lodge and the other from the Park Service, we make several stops to see both the Lower Falls (302 feet) and the Upper Falls (??). First stop – Artist Point for the iconic view that is on all the posters. Next stop, , has two view points, one is a different view of Lower Falls and from the other we can catch a glimpse of Crystal Falls, which would be the high point of the stop if it didn’t have to compete with its big sister!

We cross the Yellowstone River to go to the South Rim and go to the Brink of Upper Falls. Marilyn yells at me for climbing on the rocks! The volunteer at the Visitors’ Center had said that people do crazy things here, and she’s right! But there’s a rainbow! Little did I know that you could see it even better at the end of the trail, where we’re supposed to go! There is even a spot where you can see the full arc!

On to Lookout Point where the trail leads past a rhyolite pinnacle with an osprey’s nest on it! Marilyn, the eagle eye spots it and has it confirmed by a kiddo with young eyes. He’s very impressed with her! On to the end of the trail for a beautiful view of the Lower Falls.

Grand View lets us look straight down into the Canyon. And Inspiration Point let us look the other way as just see Lower Falls in the distance. Marilyn lets me make this one by myself and it is an interesting walk because for every six steps there is a flat place to catch your breath!

Back to the lodge to grab a quick bite of bison burgers and fries, which we could only eat half of, (left overs for tomorrow’s lunch!). There are stores and a couple of different places to eat – a cafeteria and a deli and a grocery.

Out again, right away to Hayden Valley for animal spotting. Everyone says the best times are between six and nine, both morning and night. The first thing we spy is a huge bison (I think they are all huge!) right by the side of the road, up on a small rise.

At the next pull off there is a small herd of elk and just to the right people are watching something. There are a couple of scattered bison and a few elk just above them. As we stay and watch more and more elk come out of the forest and descend the slop, as the bison watch totally unconcerned. There are some people with spotting scopes and binoculars and they point out a black dot that they say is a black bear! Through the scope you can see him but I won’t bother posting the picture of the black dot!

Down the road again people are watching a red wolf!! I never thought we’d get to see a wolf and there he is right by the river! We watch him until he disappears and then go back to see if the elk are closer to the river.

They are a bit closer but the exciting part is that there is a black wolf coming to check them out! As he gets close enough the elk all jump to attention! The wolf is all by himself and decides, I guess, that he can’t get dinner here – not even the ducks and Canada geese on the river! They have all scattered!

The sun is setting and it’s getting late. There is an otter in the river and the light on the herd is lovely. It’s time to head home. Oh! Here’s what happens when people pull off the road in a non-designated area!

Just before we get home there is a bull elk right by the road! A ranger is shooing away the teenaged boy who thinks he can walk right up to him!! Luckily the elk doesn’t give two hoots