The Next Day

We were told there might be some delays due to road construction on the west entrance to Yellowstone. That was an understatement. We were completely parked with the car's engine turned off. It took us an hour to make a 15 minute drive. Both Bud and I had sore backs (mine from moving office furniture before we left, compounded by the long drive the day before- his because he'd had a sore back for weeks prior to coming here, compounded by the long drive) so I let Bud drive and I laid down in the back of the Jeep until we got through this mess.
Once we got going, the going was great. Our destination for today was Mammoth Hot Springs. I'd seen the coolest picture of it in my friend's book and wanted to see it for myself.

This was our first stop, Gibbon Falls.

We actually made a u-turn to come back here. I am always thinking I'm going to miss something really great and I don't want to miss anything really great. This is Artists Paintpots. Nice name. It was a 1/3 mile hike in. I'd have skipped this place and the hike if I'd known then what I know now, but the walk did help to loosen up my back a bit, so that was good.

Here is Steamboat Geyser, which has major eruptions infrequently, but when it blows it is the world's tallest geyser. The last major eruption was May 23, 2005, so we weren't going to wait around for it to do its thing again.

This is Norris Geyser Basin. I thought it was beautiful.

We finally arrived at Mammoth Hot Springs. I looked around for the spot I'd seen in the book. Um...this isn't it.

This definitely isn't it!

Seriously? Where is it?

This rock is called Liberty Cap. It is rather tall. I'd have had Bud go stand by it, but you can't do that.

Still looking for that place in the book- I think I just found it.

Yep, this is it. It's called Minerva Terrace.

Except that you can no longer get to the spot to take the photo that was in the book, due to the trail being non-existent these days. Disappointment.
At lest I found the spot, even if I couldn't get the exact shot I wanted.

This is called Bleached Cliffs.

This is the upper falls. I'm not getting in a barrel, thank you.
This is on the walk down to the lower falls. It was quite the "walk" but worth it (unlike Artists Paintpots).



And here's the view of the lower falls from across the way.
By 4:00, I was starving. We didn't get to eat for another couple of hours, and here's where we found some dinner. The place was packed. Every table was filled, with people waiting to be seated.
Here's my dinner.

Here's my drink. A huckleberry shake. Oh yes, it was good. Bud got boring vanilla.
That's almost $11 worth of shakes there! Dinner cost us $30 for a hamburger and shake, but I'd go back there again anyway. Maybe I was just super hungry.