Across America Part IV

Two weeks ago (before the scanner broke), we were just arriving at our primary destination - Yellowstone National Park.

My photos probably look a lot like those of thousands of other families (who may have all been visiting at the same time we were).

We saw thousands of acres of fire damage, but fire is necessary for rejuvenation, especially after decades of suppression.

The West Thumb Geyser basin has hundreds of hot springs, mud pots, and hydrothermal features.

Ryan continued to point out interesting features, like stumps on the shore of Yellowstone Lake. He wanted reprints

of all the stumps he had pointed out on the trip and made his own photo album that he called "Stumps of the West".

It even includes this rare and wondrous petrified wood stump at Mammoth Hot Springs.

Yellowstone Lake is huge, beautiful, and also where we learned about the Yellowstone Caldera.

There were times when the crowds got be a bit too much for all of us, so it was nice that the park also afforded plenty

 of places to pull over and do some quiet fishing. Some of us knit in between our duties as the official fish photographer.

The Grand View of Lower Falls was exactly that.

And of course we had to see Old Faithful. I was proud that after a ranger had explained some of the geology of the park

 to us at Yellowstone Lake, my kids understood that the eruption of Old Faithful was not caused by a ranger

 pushing a button and could explain this to the woman sitting next to us. 

We hiked and saw elk in velvet.

And buffalo up close. I took this photo from inside the RV because of this:

Yellowstone is beautiful and I'm glad we went, yet much of what I remember is crowds and traffic jams. We were there in early July, so crowds were to be expected. We didn't expect traffic jams, but we spent several hours sitting still in traffic every day of the four that we were there. Much of this was due to road construction and maintenance, and traffic also came to a complete standstill every time wildlife was sighted. All of this is understandable (and we were part of the crowds!), but I think I would not try to view Yelllowstone in a vehicle if I were to visit again. I would go in the fall and do more hiking.

One of my favorite times during our visit was when we got up really early on our last day and stopped by Norris Geyser Basin

 around sunrise. It was quiet, lovely, and we were the only one around besides the birds. Ah, solitude and beautiful views.

Next week: A rodeo and the race home.