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Yellowstone Wrap-up & The Trip Home

Posted by on July 7, 2011

The rest of our stay at Yellowstone was about what you would expect for one of the most iconic parks in the USA. We got up mid morning, one morning and headed around the “infinite loop”. It’s a figure 8 shaped road highlighting all the touristy spots. The parking lots resembled those of Macy’s Boxing day sale – Packed to the 9’s. We had to circle the lot to find a parking spot at every stop. That aside, It was a nice day for a drive so we mostly enjoyed ourselves.

We stopped at the Roaring Mountain, Artists Paintpots and Beryl Spring. They where all as the brochure promised. We did the Firehole Canyon Drive, Walked the boardwalk at the Lower Geyser Basin and drove around Firehole Lake Drive. They were all pretty great. But then we made it to the “Grand Prismatic Spring”!!! Kara had shown me pictures before we left on this trip, but I had kinda forgotten. It was pretty intense, the colored rings radiating from the deep blue core are something else! None of our pictures really do it justice. (this one does, but it’s not ours). Another thing I was not expecting was the heat from the steam, blowing with the wind. You would get blasted in a cloud of sulfur stank steam, and then when you had a nice coating of condensation on your skin the steam would clear and you would get hit with plain ole wind. HOT-cold-HOT-cold-REALLLYY HOT – you get the point…

We then made our way to Old Faithful. We had just missed the last eruption, so we had 90 minuets to burn. We stopped for a overpriced/under-delivered concession burger as we waited. Once we got to the viewing area, I was surprised to see the nearly stadium style seating that formed an arch 3 rows deep around the Geyser. We took a front row seat and waited as the benches filled up. After a short wait, Spurt, Spurt, Goooosh!! There it was, It lasted for a few minuets and then as fast as the seats filled up, they cleared.

All the tourist hustle bustle, soon wore on us and we headed back to the camp spot for some seclusion. Then on Friday we got up and made a beeline for metric speed signs. Another 900km day, but we had to be there for a Family Reunion. It was neat to drive from one landscape and see it slowly transition to another. It is different then from Saskatchewan to Banff/Jasper, that trip is more like Prairies, Foothills, Mountains – Cut and Dry. This was more fluid, the land slowly flattened and the rock seemed to retract into the earth until it was gone. We crossed the border at Monchy, and after a quick inspection and GST payment for the tires we were on our way.

We spent the weekend with Kara’s extended family and then on Sunday afternoon we made the last push home. We both have to be at work tomorrow morning!

 

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