We are officially halfway through
our trip. It’s hard to believe we have been away this long. So, last night
during the Parent Meeting we decided to try for an earlier start today. Our first
stop will be Old Faithful, which is the most visited spot in the park. If you
were to have only one day to visit this park you would go to see Old Faithful.
So, in anticipation of crowds and tour buses we decided this would be a good
place to start the day. The goal was to roll out of the campsite by 9 am. We
only missed by 25 minutes. It’s not easy getting 29 people motivated and moving
as early as 9 am. With practice, we’ll get better.
The ride to Old Faithful is 38
miles, but because of the traffic and motorists stopping to take pictures of
nature it took us almost an hour to get there. This is yet another place where
the pictures in the books or on the internet don’t paint the true landscape. It
is not just a hole in the ground spouting water. It’s part of a much larger
collection of geysers and chromatic pools spread across miles of the park.
So, we all know that Old Faithful
was named that because of the fact that it goes off at a pretty set interval of
time. What I didn’t know was that there are over 300 geysers in Yellowstone Park
all of which erupt at various intervals and if you are lucky you are there when
one of the rarer ones chooses to blow. We looked at some geysers that have as
many as 7 years between eruptions.
Anyway, we got there not realizing
the size of the park. The initial intention was to see O.F. and then do some of
the short walks to the see the other geysers and pools. We topped off the water
bottles and threw some snacks into the packs and off we went. When we arrived
at O.F. we found out that we missed the last show by 7 minutes so we had to
kick around a little while to wait for the 55 minutes in between shows. We went
over to the visitor center to learn a little more about the fascinating natural
occurrences in the park. It was like a mini museum and most of the kids were
interested in the science behind the things we have seen so far. To top off the
visit to the visitor center, there was a 15 minute film about the origin of
Yellowstone, some of the amazing things you can see in the park and safety
precautions visitors need to heed when traveling through or staying in the
park. It was a perfect break before the big show.
We left the movie and headed out
to the boardwalk surrounding O.F. It was jam packed with people all trying to
get the best vantage point to see the geyser. Little did folks realize, but the
boardwalk around the geyser game you a pretty equal view no matter where you
stood. So the 29 of us wandered a little away from the crowd to get an unobstructed
view for the kids. The Show started right on time, 11:33 am, and it lasted just
over 3 minutes. It was beautiful to watch. The combination of water shooting up
so high and big plumes of white steam rushing out of the hole in the ground was
awe inspiring. When the wind changed directions you would get a little spray of
water which was actually very surprising because you kind of expected the water
to be pretty hot, but in actuality it was very cold.
After the show we took a quick
look at the map and decided that we would like to venture our way around this
section of the park for a while. The map showed all sorts of hikes varying in
length. Our thought as it would be easier to keep it short since it was so late
already. But, once we got started hiking and realized how much there was to see
and enjoy we just kept on going. A mere 2.5 hours later we met back at the cars
to make lunches. It’s a good thing we packed plenty of snacks today. This could
have gotten ugly if we didn’t have anything for the kids.
After lunch we decided the kids
deserved some general ‘play’ time. The day before Mark & Rich saw some
people splashing around in what appeared to be a reasonably shallow river not
too far from O.F. They had no idea where they were going or how far it was, but
they did remember that the river entrance wasn’t too far from the O.F. parking
area. So off we went in search of water. It didn’t take us long to find a great
picnic location that had everything we were looking for; bathroom, river and tall
grass to stretch out and just lay down on to rest. The kids all put on their
bathing suits and waded into what we thought would be a dreadfully cold river.
But, it turns out that the water was partly comprised of two of the smaller
geysers upstream and it was reasonably warm. They had a blast! The current was
strong enough for them to all float down a section of the river over and over.
And, the best part was that the river was shallow enough that when they stood
it was barely over knee deep. However, standing wasn’t appealing because the
wind was blowing so hard you would freeze your butt off when you were out of
the water, so staying low in the water was key.
After watching them for a while,
it occurred to me that this was my best chance for a shower so I ran up to the
car and changed into my suit. Off I went to take my deep woods style bath. I
had to skip the soap and shampoo because none of my stuff was bio-degradable.
It wasn’t the most perfect bath, but it was better than nothing. If nothing
else, I was refreshed and regenerated for the evening. Tonight is our night to
cook for the masses. Bring your appetite because we’re making some pulled pork!
Not that we have to remind people to eat. The kids are so hungry after all the
activity that they will eat just about anything.
After 6 lbs of pulled pork, 1
gallon of macaroni and cheese, 2 lbs of coleslaw and 1 lb of cherry tomatoes
later dinner was over and the kids were full. Dinner was a hit for both kids
and adults. When we were planning our meal for the trip it was a huge challenge
because of how we were arriving. Sharon and I were coming into Yellowstone from
a direction that had no shopping between Big Sky and Yellowstone and Rich and
Mark were flying in with only their clothes so buying enough food, transporting
it to the campsite and keeping it from spoiling was a big challenge. We finally
concluded that preparing our meal ahead of time and freezing it would solve
some of the problems. But, there was no way we could transport it all the way
from Framingham to Yellowstone so we called a few take out restaurants in the
Utah/Idaho and made an unusual request. We asked if they would freeze the pork
and mac-n-cheese ahead of time and we would pick it up on the way through. We
found a place that agreed and placed our order. Mark and Rich stopped at the
Walmart in Idaho city to buy coolers, bread, beer and veggies and then continued
on to get the food. The timing worked out perfectly and we all got to enjoy a
fabulous pulled pork meal. If you are ever in the Mid-West and you encounter a
chain restaurant called “Big Daves” we highly recommend the pulled pork and
mac-n-cheese. Hmmm, maybe I should put their add on the blog to earn some money
;-)
Anyway, after dinner Robin, Ally,
Brooke, Ethan & Matthew entertained us with a bunch of songs that they wrote and sang during the car ride from Framingham to Yelllowstone. This was one of the many
ways these guys kept themselves busy during the long days in the car. They made
up a bunch of different songs to summarize some of the great sights and
activities that entertained us throughout the trip. The kids really wanted to perform
their songs for all their friends. The songs were witty and funny and totally
summarized our experiences together. One of the wonderful things about this entire group of people is we all encourage each other and the kids are so comfortable
together that they will sing and dance without a care in the world. To watch
these kids work together to put on plays and dances is heart warming. These are
lifelong friendships for these guys.
Well, it’s another late night to
bed for the kids. No total meltdowns yet!
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