Yellowstone - Day 3

On our second day at Yellowstone, we decided not to be in too big of a hurry to get up and out.  We were all pooped.  Once we finally got up and moving, we headed on down to the southern part of the park to Yellowstone Lake.  On our way to the lake we did a couple of side drives to see more geysers.  We got on down to Yellowstone Lake and had a picnic on the shore.  We couldn’t hang around very long there though… there were swarms of mosquitoes, and they were vicious!  Bug spray didn’t even affect them.

Firehole Spring

Great Fountain Geyser

Hot Cascades

The water in Hot Lake was so hot it was boiling.

 This tiny geyser was called "Young Hopeful Geyser."

Guess they're hoping it grows up! 

Picnic beside Yellowstone Lake

Bird stalking our sandwiches

 Overlooking Yellowstone Lake - notice Scott

swatting at the killer mosquitoes.

We drove on around the loop to a boardwalk trail to see mud volcanos.  Mud volcanos are bubbling mudpots.  They were like the geysers but were mud instead of water.  We started off on the boardwalk and noticed a group of people gathered just around the corner.  There were three bison standing around, and one of them was agitated.  He kept stomping his front hoof and shaking his head up and down.  Not going anywhere near that.  We hung back for a while until they moved on.  It was pretty funny to see a bison walking down the boardwalk – I was just glad they were walking in the opposite direction.  My favorite mud volcano was the belching Dragon’s Mouth.  You could actually hear it roaring as it was gurgling up boiling mud.

Anyone up for a mud bath?  See it boiling?

This buffalo was in the middle of a circular boardwalk,

and he wasn't happy about it.

Churning Cauldron

Dragon's Mouth

We finished up our hike and headed back to hotel. On our way, we had to take advantage of a pullout for a spectacular view.

Ashlee couldn't resist going down the stairs to the water.

When we got back to town, then the girls and I took a stroll through the little town of West Yellowstone to browse the souvenir shops and pick up their postcards before turning in for the night.

Emilee found a buffalo hat!