Vacation 2007 [part 2]

On May 31, the third day of our vacation we arrived in Yellowstone National Park. There were herds of buffalo not 5 feet from the highway that were not fenced in and we saw a grizzly bear but it was too far away to get a picture. We crossed the Great Divide - altitude 8390 feet - and lots of snow. We saw Old Faithful as well as several smaller geysers. Old Faithful erupts on an average of about every 90 minutes but we only had to wait about 40 minutes to see it. We also saw Fountain Paint Pot. The minerals in the ground makes swirls of different colors that give the natural phenomenon it's name. Mud Volcano is a fascinating sight; apparently in the 1880's the mud actually shot out of the ground like a geyser until it finally literally blew itself apart. It still bubbles and boils.

We stayed in Cody Wyoming that night. The next day - June 1 - we drove straight through to Rapid City, South Dakota where we met up with Rob, Michelle, Zach and Ian about 7:30 PM. We spent the evening in the hotel pool.