Our family group split up today after a super breakfast of ham, eggs and potatoes.  Dad went for a full day fly fishing trip with the lodge guide, a nice guy from Wisconsin named Art.  Mom wanted  an R&R day at the dude ranch.  And I wanted another look at the Yellowstone geysers. 

But spooky business first.  The manager of Dome Mountain Ranch had some great ghost stories to relate.  The Devil's Slide.  Quake Lake.  The Disappearing Boxer, aka King Kong Clayton. And many more.  Turns out that the ranch itself is haunted by a  former manager who drowned in a boating accident about a decade ago.  Mysterious footsteps and slamming doors are often heard in the house which he was building at the time of his death.  And once his ghost was seen walking down the upper hallway!

After swapping stories for more than an hour, I drove down to Yellowstone for another look at the Norris Geyser Basin.  This time I took the left fork with its mile-long walk through the basin.  Oh my!  Spouting geysers galore, and bubbling hot pools full of boiling water.  Steam spouts!  A mud pit!  What a surreal landscape.  It took me an hour and a half to walk a mile!!  One of my favorite spots was a large green pool in a private nook behind a small headland.  It steamed and boiled slightly, and looked as if it belongs in the land of Oz.  I kept looking for the Wizard, but apparently he'd stepped out at the moment. 

Our family group rejoined at dinner time, and we drove up to Chico again for dinner.  This time, I brought my swim suit with me.  That hot spring looked fantastic!  As soon as we sat down, the guys in the next booth over called out to us.  I turned around and saw Brian and Art from the ranch!  Brian had recommended we come up to Chico for dinner and a swim, and he was pleased to see we'd followed his advice.  I turned sideways in my seat to talk spooky with the guys until supper arrived.  Both Brian and Art had heard ghostly footsteps in the barn loft next door to the haunted ranch house while they were working.  Spooky! 

After supper, I took a long, luxurious swim in the hot spring pool next to our restaurant.  It was amazing!  Swimming in the pool was like swimming in a gigantic hot tub!  One side was eight feet deep and the other only three, so you could sit and enjoy or dive down under the water and swim like a seal!  I did both!  Mom and Dad had opted out of the swim, but both Brian and Art were there, and we continued trading ghost stories and travel tales until it was time to go home.  A fun end to the day.