October 6, 2010      10:40 p.m.

Day 11 was Sept. 14.

We woke up in West Yellowstone, Montana.
Temperature was 32 degrees!
Odometer read 28,150.

After a breakfast inside the van (there was a sheet of ice on the picnic table), we entered Yellowstone Park and drove in toward Madison.  There were elk and bison along the way.  Turning right toward Old Faithful, we drove first through the Firehole Canyon with its active cascades and waterfall.

We also stopped to view the Lower- and Middle-Geyser Basins.  It was neat to see gurgling paintpots and roaring and hissing fumaroles and gushers.  When we got to the Grand Prismatic Spring, we met a couple who lived in the same county where we live.  What are the chances?  Actually, Chips began the conversation, as he often does, by commenting on the man's wristwatch.  Also, it was at the Grand Prismatic Spring that Chips nearly lost his cowboy hat (of four years).  The wind took it off his head and it went zipping across the hot water.  Chips ran for many yards along the boardwalk's curving path, hoping against hope to keep up with it.  Fortunately -- no, miraculously -- the hat became stuck on one pillar of the boardwalk and he was actually able to retrieve it from the boardwalk simply by reaching down and grabbing.  That could never have happened again in quite the same way.

When we arrived at the Old Faithful area, we found that the famous geyser was expected to erupt in about 40 minutes, at 1:02, +/- 10 minutes.  We got our passports stamped and got settled to wait for the geyser.  After a few teasers in the earlier minutes of the waiting window -- a spurt here, a gush there -- Old Faithful did erupt, on time, as predicted, to the minute!  I have to say, Old Faithful is quite the crowd pleaser, and it is difficult to believe that there isn't a hidden control room somewhere where park employees control the valves and pumps from below.

We also went to the West Thumb Geyser Basin and saw some really neat thermal features.  Each one was different in some way.  Some were like gurgling, bubbling, or gushing pools of boiling water.  Some were lakes of yellow sulfuric acid!  Many of them contained various colors, depending upon the water temperature at various points, and the microscopic life that thrived in those temperatures.  We went to the Lake Lodge at Yellowstone Lake and had dinner overlooking this huge lake with snow-capped mountain peaks in view.

Earlier in the day, we had investigated the lobby of the Old Faithful Inn, with its high log structure and fireplace.  In all the hotels, there were wood fires in the fireplaces -- for real, because they were already needed (not fake, like the ones in the Disney hotels).  The temperatures in Yellowstone were dipping below freezing each night.

That evening was difficult; we had a trying drive 69 miles back to our campground.  Much of this stretch was after dusk, over dark, winding, steep mountain road, and there was the constant threat of deer wandering onto the roads.  To make it even more challenging, it began to rain, the first rain event of our vacation.  We were relieved to finally get back to our campsite around 9:30.  Unfortunately, we did notice a dead deer by the roadside while we were still in the park.  Many people drive too fast, and too foolishly, in Yellowstone, and it was getting really annoying.  Self-Reliant Man was pretty exhausted at the end of this evening, and we planned to take in fewer miles each day during the next couple of days.

Someone offered to take our picture.  We don't get many of these.

So weird to see these steaming pools.

At Grand Prismatic Spring, where Chips nearly lost his hat for good.

Old Faithful -- still faithful after all these years.

Second story overlooking lobby of Old Faithful Inn.

Highlight of the trip(?) - a Cobra rally at Yellowstone.

Such vivid color at some of the thermal features.

Splash.  Gurgle.  Glub. Glub.  Hiss. Shhh..