Location: Yellowstone National Park
Attractions: Artist Point, Grand Prismatic Spring, Old Faithful
Date: August 8th, 2018
This would be our last day/night in Yellowstone National Park so we used it to check off some of the more “well-know” attractions that you see on Instagram and postcards.
Our first stop was Artist Point. This is a beautiful scenic area overlooking the Yellowstone Falls from the south rim of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone which was carved out by… you guessed it, the Yellowstone River. It really is a breathtaking view, not only because of the massive waterfall in the distance, but the pine trees, river, and cliffs are also something to behold. As if this all wasn’t enough, the mist from the waterfall floats up, and on a sunny day, you can see a rainbow effect from the sun shinning through it. It’s not hard to see why they call it Artist Point. It’s so inspiring.
We stared, awestruck at the rushing falls and the gorgeous canyon for quite some time before we moved on to our next stop, the Norris Geyser Basin. It was busy and we didn’t really have an agenda, so we didn’t stay long. After a few minutes, we picked up and headed to the Grand Prismatic Spring. This is probably Yellowstone’s most colorful landmark. The desolate landscape explodes with bright, bold colors. One from every end of the spectrum. A rainbow, in a steaming pot of water.
Instead of parking where you can get out and walk along the boardwalk right on the Grand Prismatic Spring, we parked near a trailhead and climbed up on a 0.6 mile trail so we could see the spring from above. It was another hot and steamy day at Yellowstone so we ducked into the shade any chance we got. The view from the top was spectacular. Reddish-orange fading to yellow to green to blue. It was a bit crowded at the lookout, but we still managed to get some fantastic photos.
Once we hiked back to the vehicle, we had some cheese and crackers for lunch along with some PB&J sandwiches for the littles and we headed to the Upper Geyser Basin, home of Old Faithful.
The Old Faithful Inn is an engineering miracle in my eyes. Granted, I’m no engineer, but this is one massive log-style building. Built in 1904, this 327 room hotel features a classy restaurant, and enormous lounge, complete with a 3 story fireplace. It is a grand building for a grand park and it may be even more interesting than the old geyser itself.
We all sat, waiting for the geyser to build up enough pressure to blow again, like bumps on a log. We traded stories with the group that got there before us. They went to see the Morning Glory Pool and all recalled it being a lot more colorful when we saw it 20-some years ago. It’s crazy how fast these precious parks are changing.
After Old Faithful blew, we stopped at the general store for some supplies to fix my awing that had blown off the RV the day before. Our neighbors, who we had only met the night before, had it in their hearts to pick it up and attempt to reattach it as best they could after seeing it get torn off the motorhome when a mighty gust of wind kicked up the day before. We were still out for the day, probably sitting at the saloon in Jackson Hole and they were nice enough to work on putting our camper back together.
One of the best things about the human race, in my opinion, is kindness from strangers. I was humbled to discover the following note taped to our camper when we had returned. If you are curious about why it is signed “Red Panties”, it’s because the night before, both campsites had quite a few drinks around their respective campfires and some how we ended up giving one of the neighbor guys a hard time about wearing red panties. Kindness and humor. I wish the whole world operated this way.
After putting the final touches on the awning, we ate some delicious chili that my sister, Shannon, made. We ate well and then got some rest to prepare for the drive to Glacier National Park in the morning. The next day, day 7 of our epic road trip, would be a travel day.
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