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Published: June 11th 2007
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Southern Yellowstone. Hmmm. I'm not quite sure what to write about the southern part. I loved being there...really I did. But if the northern part is wild and woolly then the southern part is tame and civilized. Or maybe it just seemed that way after being in the northern area and loving it so much.
The big draw is, of course, Old Faithful. I think just about everyone in the U.S. has heard of her. And obviously many people outside the U.S. judging by the number of different languages we heard. Old Faithful is a geyser, of course, and is worthy of her name. She erupts about every 90 minutes. The park does some kind of special calculations based on the last eruption to determine when the next eruption will be, +/- 10 minutes. Minus 10 minutes? Wait a minute...Can you imagine driving 1,300 miles to see Old Faithful, arriving at 2:55, seeing the sign posted that says in big bold print “next eruption 3:05”, and saying to yourself, “great! I have time to hit the bathroom!”, only to walk out as she fizzles to a stop? Dang! How disappointing would that be? But, I actually overheard someone on the
phone saying, “yeah, we just missed it. Now we have to hang around here for 90 minutes until she goes off again.” Jeez Louise, go see something else in the meantime. It's not like Old Faithful's the only geyser in the park! She's really not even the biggest or most faithful it turns out. Now, I'm not bad-mouthing her...she's really amazing. And I'm so glad I got to see her erupt, several times, from different vantage points. But some of the other geysers are actually more interesting.
There's Heart Spring, so named because of the rhythmic thumping noise she makes. There's also Anemone geyser who goes through an entire eruption cycle every 7-14 minutes. Her depressions starts out dry, fills, erupts in a 4-foot blast, simmers down, and drains. As you watch. Very cool. Another is Morning Glory Pool which has a shape and color like a morning glory. The information about Morning Glory says that the color used to be a much deeper blue but over the years people have thrown so much junk in the opening that it's clogging the “plumbing”. How sad. Even now, with all the education they provide about what happens when we mess with
the geysers, people still throw stuff in the pools. Every year they suck out hundreds of pounds of trash, coins, rocks, sticks, etc. Really sad.
There are also many, many signs posted about keeping on the walkways with a picture of a little kid starting to fall through the crust into a geyser. Enough to make you think twice about getting off the boardwalk, and especially when you find out it really happened. A 9- or 10-year-old kid was killed in 1970 when he fell into one of the geysers. That apparently prompted the signage. I read somewhere that 19 people have been killed in the thermal areas since they started to keep records. And still people will try and “test” the water. (Sigh)
In addition to the geyser basin the southern part has some pretty historic sights, too. Old Faithful Inn is probably the most famous building in the park and it is beautiful! It's decorated in what I can only liken to a Bass-Pro, Big Cedar Lodge-ish kind of way. Only on steroids. I tried to take pictures inside but it was early evening when Steve and I went there for dinner and it was too dark inside
for pictures and they didn't turn out. But outside it was pretty great too. So the inn is the most famous but not the oldest. The oldest structure in the park was built (or at least owned) by a photographer. It's known as the Haynes Photo Shop. That's right...we could be related to the person who had the first building in the first national park! The building has been moved from its original location and is not currently being used. Seems like no one really wants it. Another thing that makes me sad. A lot of history there to just chuck it all.
So, what else does the southern part have? Shopping. Lot's of shopping. Since it was still pretty chilly and we'd been wearing the same outerwear for days (which looks really bad in the pictures but, I assure you, we had on different clothing underneath!) Steve, CJ and I picked up some new “Yellowstone” gear. And wore it! Now, I know that makes us look like a bunch of goobers...wearing Yellowstone gear while still in Yellowstone. But we didn't care. (Now watch it turn off really nice and warm where we don't need it anymore!) So, anyway, a
little more shopping for little stuff and we'd pretty much gotten that out of our system.
Besides the geysers and shopping there isn't that much to do/see in the southern part. Well, not for us anyway. The boys and Steve were just about trail-ed out. They were already starting to mutiny and I thought I should probably give in since I knew what was in store in the Tetons! Jake and CJ spent a ridiculous amount of time in the open area next to our cabin “planting” dead trees. They would take a tree that had been cut down for whatever reason - usually around 15-20 feet long - and support it at the base to make it stand up. They did this several times. And then thought I was no fun when I made them knock them down. Sometimes being a speech pathologist working with people with traumatic brain injury is no fun. All I could see was some poor, unsuspecting person walking through the open area when a stiff wind comes up and the tree falls on their noggin. The good news, though, is that the boys decided knocking the trees down was as much fun as planting
them. Also, they both found good walking sticks (something I knew would come in handy) and wanted to take them with us.
Some of the highlights of the southern area:
Watching Old Faithful from the upper deck of the Old Faithful Inn.
Watching Old Faithful from the Observation Point high above the geyser basin.
The boys and their dead trees.
Walking the boardwalk with Steve early in the morning. Not many people up and around.
Eating watermelon given us by some cabin neighbors the boys made friends with. (Yes, it's true. I ate something given me by someone I don't know!)
Eating ice cream in waffle cones...something I don't think I've had in years!
Seeing a buffalo walk down the center boardwalk toward Old Faithful and then rolling around in the dust.
And walking the geyser “trail” with CJ while Steve and Jake went on a tour of the Inn. (I hadn't spent any time alone with CJ since leaving home so it was really nice.)
Our next stop is Jackson, Wy which will be our base for exploring the Grand Tetons. I'm really looking forward to getting back the wilderness...or something like it.
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Christina
non-member comment
The pictures continue to be done so well. Such great memories and fun to enjoy back here in MO. The West has so many great natural creations. The pools are beautiful. Been excitingly busy back here with family in town. Great fun with the kids. Jackie, this Blog has been such fun to share in, THANKS! Soooo, looking forward to seeing yall back too! Happy Traveling and laughs. Blessings