Wigtons Go West Day 6

Our second day at Yellowstone was enchanting, perhaps even more than the first day, if that's possible.  On this day we only traveled from Mammoth Hot Springs to Old Faithful, both within Yellowstone Park, but it was 51 miles and took us four and a half hours.

Pictures like the one below graced the halls of our hotel.  I just loved them!

Sheepeater Cliff

 We think this was Obsidian Cliff, which looked super cool, but had some road work going on in front of it, so we couldn't' stop and check it out.

There were people fly fishing in parts of the beautiful Firehole River.

Norris Geyser Basin

"Green microorganisms, Mommy!"  :-)

One must lean in solidarity with Steamboat geyser.

Paint Pots below!  A visitor's dog got lose one year and jumped into a boiling hot paint pot and the man jumped in after him.  They both died, here's the gory details.  Maybe don't take your dog to Yellowstone.

The bison count for today was a mere 22, but each one had us captivated.

This was on the way to prismatic basin.

The Grand Prismatic Basin

The crowd awaiting Old Faithful's eruption.  It was surprisingly on time, like to the minute...not sure why we were so surprised as it's name is "OLD FAITHFUL".

 Each and every eruption is unique.  We witnessed four total.

It erupts every 91 minutes give or take 10 minutes.

This is a bluebird sitting in front of Old Faithful on some bison poo.  

Old Faithful Inn - When we left there was a bison in that grassy bit between us and the hotel.

Summary for Global Thinkers Pained by Excessive Detail:

Hours logged on the road thus far: 38.5

Miles so far: 1921

States we were in "today": WY 

Running total of states: 8

Sanity Status:  Completely and utterly exhausted on every level.  Can't even think about sanity levels.  Kids did better today, but I think we are done here.

Mood: I am full and ready to look forward to what's ahead.  I am ready to get to Oregon.  I think we all are.  

Major Incidents: 0 

Brief summary of the day: Just when we didn't think Yellowstone could get any better, it went over the top in it's amazingness.  We saw Google screen savers only in real life!  The entire day seemed to take place on the set of the 1959 version of Journey to the Center of the Earth.  It was surreal.  They say you need a week at Yellowstone.  We were unsure of the quality of visit we would have in just two days, but it turns out, two days is absolutely perfect for a family with three kids aged 8, 6 and 3.  We could spend another half day according to the trip plan, but no, we are off first thing in the morning and not even stopping at the tempting geysers we missed  (just a couple).

Prismatic Basin, an aerial view - like the screen saver pictures.