Hi from West Yellowstone

Today we begin our 2nd full day in West Yellowstone. We are really taking advantage of the hotel stay, both resting up and taking excursions into the park. This late Tuesday morning, Elise, Cameron and Jasper are napping and later today we plan to visit Old Faithful. Yesterday we visited the Fountain Paint Pots. They were fantastic. The boardwalk over and around the thermal areas was wheelchair accessible, so we were all able to get up close to these amazing volcanic sites. One thermal pool was very deep,clear, and vibrantly colored aqua blues, steamy, and surrounded by a rusty orange colored shallows. Another pool was boiling and popping gray mud, sulfur smelling. Further on, a small opening in the earth had red mud that roared as it boiled angrily. There was another pool that looked just like an innocent fishing pond except that water boiled along it's edge. And in the distance we could see a small erupting geyser that
never stops. I'm sure Cameron will post pictures that he and Elise took.

Other highlights of yesterday's drive included the wildlife. We saw lots of bison (buffalo) and lots of their new calfs jumping and playing at dusk. Cameron took a small diversion on a "road less traveled" and we came upon a cow elk laying down just chewing her cud ... only about 10 feet from the van. We also took a 2 mile drive, 800 feet down into Firehole Canyon ... seeing Firehole Falls which drops a spectacular 40 feet. The lush green, steep rock canyon walls, and rushing white water were inspiring.

Right now, I'm going to do some window shopping. West Yellowstone is very much a touristy town with lots of buildings make like log cabins in the old west style.
Suanne