Yellowstone today!  We headed out right after a nice ranch breakfast – served to us by a young cowboy named Brian – and drove down through the Yankee Jim Canyon to the great Gates of Yellowstone, dedicated by Teddy Roosevelt.  Our goals were twofold: the Norris Geyser Basin and Old Faithful. We set off down the narrow, winding road through Mammoth and up into the hills.  The mountain and valley views to the east were amazing as we climbed higher and higher into the mountains.  But more amazing to me was the first sign of volcanism that we spotted driving along toward Norris.   It was just a few plumes of smoke out in the field, but I had to pull the car into a little pull-out and follow the trail down through a yellowing field of autumn grasses toward the steaming place.  Soon, I heard the sound of water bubbling and churning.  And there in front of me was a slightly elevated pool of steaming water, and a yard and a half from my feet was a bucket-sized pool of boiling, steaming water.  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  Out there in a field, water hot enough to boil, so close you could touch it (but nobody in their right mind would!)   If you dropped some eggs into that stuff, they would boil instantly. 

     But there was more to come.  I returned to the car and drove onward, pausing a few times to gape at bubbling pools, billowing steam, at steaming vents pouring out from a cliff several hundred feet high, and at last pulled into the parking lot of the Norris Geyser Basin.  My Dad and I armed ourselves with two cameras and a camcorder and set out.  The stop today was the Porcelain Basin.  Steam vents, geysers, bubbling hot pools in shades from milky white to green to Caribbean blue, and streams of water which began red-orange from microorganisms that loved heat (grew specially in water 120-140 degrees F), and then “cooled” to spectacular green and yellow colors, which thrive in water from 100-120 degrees F.  Amazing!  Dad headed back to the little museum after about 20 minutes, but I spent an hour or more taping the sights and sounds and taking many pictures.  What a surreal place! 

      It was getting late, so I tore myself away and headed back to the car.  I was ready for lunch!  We drove another thirty miles toward Old Faithful, passing some amazing steamy places with hot streams running down the sides of hills colored white and red and orange.  But I sternly resisted all such temptations, and only pulled up once when I spotted a moose wading in the river a few yards away from a fly fisherman.  Now THAT was something I had to photograph!  I was not the only one who pulled over to take pictures of that silly moose – tummy deep in water and calmly chewing away at something.  It had absolutely no fear of all the strangers shooting pictures of it from the opposite bank, and companionably ignored the fisherman.  I couldn’t help wondering which of them had gotten there first!! 

       Then it was on to Old Faithful.  The geyser was going off as I pulled into the parking lot.  We watched from a distance; and then Mom and Dad headed into the lodge to find food while I parked.  After the meal, Mom and  I sat on the porch to wait for the next eruption.  It felt so nice to sit down after all the driving.  But I soon grew restless, remembering my camera was in the car.  Then I spotted the ice cream stand and had to order a couple of cones.  Just as I wandered toward Dad, who was sitting in the front row of the stands in the bright sunshine, waiting for the geyser to go off, the steam was suddenly cut through with a huge spout of water.  So I stood there, balancing Dad’s ice cream cone and my huge camera with the massive 80-400mm lens, shooting off pictures of the geyser. Not a feat I’d like to repeat anytime soon!  But I didn’t drop the ice cream cone and I got some nice pictures of the geyser.  

      The return trip was long – two hours to get from Old Faithful back to the ranch.  We saw some bison browsing next to the road, which was very cool!  And we headed up to the haunted Chico Hot Springs to have dinner at the pool side café and watch people taking a dip in the hot spring for which Chico is named.   We made a quick stop at the local grocery for car snacks and then headed back to the ranch.