Yellowstone July 22

We drove into Yellowstone through the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Arch at the North Entrance. Five miles later we were at Mammoth Hot Springs where we saw hundreds of geothermal hot springs bubbling up and creating lots of different colors and mineral formations. From there we drove down to our first geyser, Steamboat Geyser. It erupts very often, every few minutes. The geysers and other formations have an interesting sulphur smell, stronger in some places than others.

We saw a variety of things throughout the day, lost of geysers, mud paint pots (muddy, bubbling springs, some of which are so hot and acidic that they will take off skin), and steam vents that make lots of noise. The two most interesting were, of course, the Old Faithful geyser and the Dragon's mouth, a cave like thing that made a roar and spewed sulphuric steam.

In the evening we saw lots of wild animals; bison herds, elk herds, white pelicans, wolves 

and a grizzly bear. They were all in an area near the Yellowstone River. So many people had driven to Hayden Valley to watch the animals in this area. People had lawn chairs and binoculars, just hanging out to see the animals come out for the night. People were so nice talking about what they were seeing and letting people look through their binoculars or telescopes. It was really cool. Driving out of the park we enjoyed seeing Yellowstone Lake at sunset. 

We got a hotel in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, so we had quite a drive to get there. At 11:30 PM we were in the middle of the Grand Teton National Park when we stopped to look at the stars. There was no artificial light around and no moon. The stars were incredible, more than we had ever seen, and we could see them all the way to the horizon. We could even see the Milky Way. Amazing.

We made it to our hotel at about 12:30 PM after a total day's driving of 330 miles. Now we must drive across Wyoming to Devil's Tower. Unfortunately there are no direct roads there, so it is eight hours on the road,all in one state. People complain about driving across Kansas, but at least the road is direct.