I really didn't know that much about Yellowstone before we drove into it, but Jacki was super pumped. She couldn't wait to see Old Faithful, a geyser that spurts out water (faithfully) approximately every hour and a half. I couldn't understand why since to me the name "Old Faithful" seemed more fitting for a cow than a product of volcanic activity. But again as always, I was pleasantly surprised by how super awesome it is to watch a triangular shaped hole emit volumes of water spraying high up into the sky. I may not have been as excited as Jacki, who was making sure to capture the moment of Old Faithful's eruption with her camera and her iPhone at the same time, or as Shannon, who had her video going for ten minutes before the eruption, but I was impressed by the fact that these eruptions have occurred every hour and a half since the park became a park. Probably even long before that. Can you imagine? Most people aren't even that reliable. Again my photos as usual don't really do it justice, but below you can see the height the water can reach when it erupts from Old Faithful:
After Old Faithful, we walked on to see several hot springs including the infamous Morning Glory. A hot spring is like a hot tub that is powered by the geothermal heat emitted by the earth. These pools are filled with clear water that appears to be colored, but this color actually comes from bacteria below the surface that thrives in this hot environment. Literally we could feel hot steam coming from these springs as we walked across boardwalks that were suspended over them. We were not allowed to walk on the actual ground because it is hard to predict what is underneath it. Morning Glory is one of the largest and most brilliantly colored hot springs in the park, aka it has tons of bacteria. Here it is below:
The hot springs actually looked really cool! Yellowstone is basically a scientist's dreamland. I thought it was interesting once Shannon explained everything to me (you can thank her for the scientific explanations above) but I'm more of a lover of landscapes, and majestic landforms. This is why my favorite part of Yellowstone was our time spent in the Grand Canyon (of Yellowstone). Day 2 involved us trekking down into the canyon. This was a strenuous hike that required us to take around 500 steep steps down into the Canyon, which left us at the bottom of the water fall (which was at one end of the canyon). When we got all the way to the bottom we were actually able to see a waterfall - it was beautiful.
The waterfall flowed into a river that you can actually see from the top of the canyon:
In between our days at Yellowstone we were actually able to drive down into the Grand Tetons and stay in a log cabin by the lake. Because we left Yellowstone that night at around 5, we actually made it to our cabin in time to see the sunset over Colter Bay, which flows into Jackson Lake. I fell in love with this cabin by the bay. I felt like I was at summer camp, and I thought that this could be a place I come back to in the future when I have a family of my own. I remember thinking there was no place in the world I would rather be than sitting on the dock watching the sunset over the Tetons. The drive over was beautiful, but it did not prepare me for this fantastic sight. The calmness reminded me of being at sleep away camp in the woods. So far this was my favorite night of the trip, and I wish I could show you a photo that captures the colors I witnessed, but it's just not enough. I hope my photos make you want to visit it yourself one day:
The next day we actually got to do a hike over Jenny lake in the Grand Tetons. This required us to take a boat across the lake, which was awesome. We hiked to Inspiration point, which allowed us to see Jenny Lake from high above the water. This was also pretty cool:
I think this trip has helped me discover how much I love boats and lakes. I want a boat and I want to live as close as possible to a body of water that I can watch sunsets on. I hope that by the time my forty year old self looks back at this blog she has spent at least a few years living on a body of water. I hope she has seen hundreds of sunsets, but I hope she never forgets how special they are. I also hope I have returned to Wyoming at least a dozen times, since it certainly lived up to its reviews. I feel like I end every post these days saying that you have to go somewhere and see whatever I've talked about, but I really do mean it. This state is like a hidden treasure, and I feel blessed that Jacki took me here to see it. I hope you can experience it one day too :)
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this looks beautiful!!! You have definitely convinced me to visit someday!!
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