Yellowstone Geysers and Pools

We just got back from Wyoming (or what I now fondly refer to as WOW-oming; seriously, I am in love). First stop: Yellowstone. I went there when I was little, but couldn’t remember much except the stinky smell of sulphur, sitting on the grass waiting for Old Faithful to erupt and then wondering what the big deal was, wanting to pet a bison and being mad that my mom wouldn’t let me.

We arrived in the Old Faithful area in the late afternoon. The light was perfect, all slanty and golden. As expected, a bunch of people were sitting around Old Faithful, like the crowds at Sea World who crowd the orca tank. We had what I think is a much better view when it finally “did its thing” (which is what one ranger called a geyser’s eruption).

A pretty little boardwalk runs though the area and brings you into safe viewing distance of all the hot springs and geysers.

The geysers and pools have their own names because each of them is, as the park signage insists, a unique geological formation, special in its own way. This, for example, is Castle Geyser.

Here’s Riverside.

I’m pretty sure this is Solitary Geyser.

Um, yeah, no idea.

???

Okay, this one I remember: Heart Spring.

and who could forget Morning Glory?

I’m clearly not much of a huge geyser person, but some people definitely are. There was this one girl perched on the boardwalk the whole time we were there, reading a book. Can you see her?

Anyway, she was apparently waiting for her favorite geyser to “do its thing,” which it did just as we were heading out. “Look!” she said to me, big grin on her face, as we walked by. She made me very happy.

And I’ve gotta admit that Old Faithful is really nice at sunset, even when it’s not doing its thing.