Everyone around this joint has something to do. Dad is working. Justin is working. Arilee has a drivers license, a car, and a boyfriend. Ashlee and I ... have baby kittens that prefer to spend most of the day under the porch still.
So, we decided we needed to go exploring our great state of Idaho. There is so much to see, and I've not seen most of it since I was a child. It's time.
First stop on our adventures was Yellowstone National Park, which is technically mostly not in Idaho, but you drive through Idaho to get there. Plus, the husband had to go up to Old Faithful for work, so we decided to tag along.
West Yellowstone is only about 90 minutes to the north of me. It's a cute little tourist town with lots of cute little shops selling just about anything you never knew you needed. Seriously. I never knew we needed a stuffed moose or wolf, but apparently, we did, and now we have one of each. This is what we did while dad was visiting the clinic in West.
The drive from West to Madison Junction was the worst part. We drove an average of 20 miles an hour thanks to bumper to bumper traffic, so that 16 or so mile trek took just under forever. Luckily, there was plenty of buffalo and fisherman and stupid tourists out trying to get up close and personal with buffalo to entertain us along the way. By the first ten minutes, we were tired of buffalo.
Once we got past the junction, traffic resumed to normal (notice the lack of traffic behind my punks). Just past the junction are the Paint Pots. It was nice to get out and walk around for a bit, smell the refreshing smell of sulfer and be thankful I don't live any closer than I do. Bleck.
Next stop was Old Faithful. We sent the husband off to the clinic and wandered over to the visitors center. There isn't a lot to see at Old Faithful, a few stores, the lodge, the visitors center, and loads and loads and loads of people all waiting to see Old Faithful.
It teases and threatens to blow it's top for a good 15 minutes before it actually blows, which gave the husband and kids time to crack jokes with the neighboring people about how the show is over and maybe Obama had the geyser shut off. But alas, Old Faithful was faithful yet again...
We couldn't see hide nor hair of a picnic table at Old Faithful (nor did we look very hard) so we ate our sandwiches in the car before moving on down the road to West Thumb (where we found lots of picnic tables).
The bluer the water, the hotter it is.
The park ranger told us that a baby elk had fallen (or been chased) into this hot pool last week. Within an hour, it was pretty much soup and less than a week later, this was all that was left of the bones. They were still trying to figure out how to fish them out. They said several people had been cooked in this same pool, but not for about 90 years.
Next stop was Lake Village where the other clinic is located. Dad dropped us off at the local grocery store for a bottle of water and we wandered our way down the beach while he visited the clinic.
The lake is huge.
Arilee vandalized government property by carving her name into the railing at an overlook - along with about a million other people.
The hotel on the lake - where I want to stay next time I'm in town and have $300 I don't know what to do with.
Despite all the boiling hot water that runs into this lake, it was very very very cold. Or so I'm told.
I think the east side of the park is the most beautiful, especially without all those annoying buffalo everywhere (though we did see a few here and there, just not by the hundreds like the west side). There were cars stopped everywhere here with their binoculars and cameras photographing this spot - we never did figure out what was out there to see. Whatever it was... it's probably in this picture. I just don't know where. Or what.
Next stop, Yellowstone Falls. We hiked down to the lower falls overlook, which is about a 600 foot drop in 3/8 of a mile. We got all the way down there and realized I had my telephoto lens on the camera, which wasn't good for taking pictures of a huge waterfall located about 20 feet from where you were standing but needed for the upper falls off in the distance.
The lower falls from a different overlook - the place we stood was the ledge to the right of the falls (in case you've never been there and have no idea what I'm talking about). I think I'll skip that long hike next time and go with this shorter one. Not to mention, looking over that waterfall from there gave me the heebie jeebies.
The canyon - as the river runs through it...
Last stop on our little tour was Norris Geyser Basin. It's a good stop to leave for last as it's a short little hike, and just a few miles back up to Madison Junction. We were far too tired to walk any further than we had to.
Believe it or not, we were pretty tired by this point. Arilee (who never gets car sick) was feeling yucky (thank goodness for peppermint oil) and we were all ready to be home - especially dad. A quick stop in West Yellowstone for gas and Arby's and home we went.
Miles traveled (according to Google maps): 313
Time: left home at 7:15 a.m.
returned home at 8:00 p.m.
Licence plates seen: 36 different states, 4 Canadian provinces, and Argentina.
Next up: Lost River Valley
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