Although the other attractions had been great fun, the purpose of our trip to Idaho Falls (besides seeing Jen) was to use it as the gateway to Yellowstone Park.
We started out Saturday morning, and the drive went really quickly. As we left Idaho we crossed over a tiny corner of Montana, and entered the park at about the same time we entered Wyoming.
I do not really have any pictures from while the vehicle was moving, but I have to recommend the beauty of the drive. We passed gorgeous woods and river and grass, and based on some of the shops, it appears to be good fly fishing country. We did stop to get a picture of a bison on the side of the road, but otherwise the first place we parked was the lower geyser basin.
http://www.yellowstonenationalpark.com/lowergeyser.htm
Here you find nearly one quarter of the world's geysers in a 2 square mile area, which is pretty impressive. We walked on a boardwalk path that took us past geysers, hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles.
The most amazing thing is probably the color, from the blue of Silex Spring to the reds and oranges that stain the mud in some places. I had initially thought it was because of chemical deposits, but a sign in front of one orange spread saying "Bacteria Mat" pointed me in the right direction. These are bacteria that can handle high temperatures (Silex Spring is 196 degrees), which many other living things can't. This results in an arid landscape of white skeletal trees and only a few birds flitting about, but odd bits of life do poke through, in bunches of small flowers or a dragonfly checking out the crowd. And there are green trees too.
There's something primordial and fascinating about watching the mud pots bubble and ooze, and there are frequent reminders that there are strong forces of nature operating. Red Spouter is just a baby geologically, coming from an earthquake in 1959. You can see and feel and smell the elements. Generally it smelled like fried eggs and syrup, only not delicious.
My favorite was probably the appropriately names Spasm Geyser. The opposite of Old Faithful, spasm goes constantly, and inconsistently, varying in its outbursts but not really slowing down. The pictures can't quite capture that.
Our next stop was Old Faithful itself. There is a clock and schedule you can refer to in the Cafeteria and Gift Shop building, but if you see a crowd gathered around, it is probably pretty close. We arrived just a few minutes before the next eruption, which was good timing.
So, basically you know what it is, a hole in the ground that shoots water into the air on a regular basis. The fascinating thing is that it does it so regularly, but also it is just impressive to watch. It is a lot of water, shooting up with a lot of force, and you can hear about it and not really comprehend it the way you do when you see it.
We ate lunch outside of the cafeteria, and then headed towards the visitors center. This was a fun spot with a lot of good scientific information, and strong reminders that you are on a volcano, which is good to keep in mind. One thing that the center really showed us was that we were missing a lot. Even though what we were seeing was amazing, there was more amazement to be had than we had allowed time for. Fortunately we had a good guide, and we will get her advice when we plan our return.
Our last stop was the Old Faithful Inn. From a distance it reminded us a little of Santa's Castle as seen in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (or Elf), all peaked roof and flags. Oddly, they were celebrating Christmas in August, so the theme seemed appropriate. Inside, you realize you had completely misunderstood how vast it was. The wooden staircases seem to go up forever, kind of like the world's most elegant tree house. It is popular, so you need to make reservations at least a year in advance, but it might be worth it.
As we were leaving the park we noticed cars stopping, and saw a bison, then two, and eventually four bison taking their time leaving the area, and displaying just a little bit of attitude about it. At that point, it's a gang, and they knew they were cool. We also saw some elk on the way back. No bear, but the last thing I saw was information about returning your bear spray, so that was a good reminder.
We went back past the river and woods into Idaho Falls, and ate at Wingers where we had a very nice waitress, even though she seated us in the haunted corner of the restaurant. At other meals I'd had french fries, tater tots, and hash browns, so here I finished out with mashed potatoes, which were excellent. When in Idaho, eat potatoes. The next day we were heading home.
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