One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. – John Muir

What I learned, Day 7:

Sometimes you just need to rest.  We’ve been going hard since leaving Fredericksburg on June 5.  And Thursday morning we set no alarms, made no plans, and just took it easy.  I was able to piddle around the camper and fix some things the rough roads had knocked loose.  Found a great hardware store that was super helpful in getting me what I needed.  The boys road their bikes.  Played Mario Kart.  We cleaned a little.  It felt very much like a Saturday.

West Yellowstone is not a thriving metropolis.  The grocery store is really non-existent.  Imagine Armageddon has taken place and you walk into a grocery store to get your bare necessities only to find it has been wiped clean.  No bread.  $10 chicken.  $5 milk.  It was no bueno.

It is good to have family!  When we began planning this trip, we asked my in-laws and my parents if they wanted to join us at any part of the trip.  My mom and stepdad chose Yellowstone.  After bailing us out at the supermarket where they were staying, they rolled in around 1PM and we took off to Yellowstone.

Maps are a poor representation of what you are about to experience.  Yellowstone is HUGE.  I got a glimpse of this driving in on Wednesday.  It is very big.  Very very very big.  Its hard to comprehend its size when you see a little square box up in the upper left hand corner of Wyoming.  And within that little square box you have the wildest of geological changes.  One moment your in a canyon with a river, then a valley with grass as far as you can see and buffalo grazing.  Then you are up into a pine forest.  Then you have steam all around you.  Such wild diversity.

Yes, Old Faithful is faithful – and very cool.  You worry that the blind are leading the blind.  You see a crowd gathered (very large crowd) around the circle of Old Faithful.  Maybe they are mistaken.  Maybe no one has actually looked to see when the next eruption will be.  Because you wait, and wait, and wait.  You have some teasers of abundant steam.  Then nothing.  Finally, when the steady plume of steam has lulled you to boredom – BOOM!  Old Faithful proves its worthiness of a must see.  I hate I can’t figure out how to upload video onto a WordPress site.

In only half a day you can see things that will amaze you.  Mud pots.  Crystal blue springs. Geysers.  At one point, we were looking one direction at a geyser.  Then Wyatt noticed something making a bunch of racket behind us and we got to see Jet Geyser show off for us.

The sun, for some reason, is different here.  71 degrees doesn’t feel like 71 unless you are in the shade or have a breeze.  Its dry.  No humidity.  But the sun is intense.  Many times I feel its in the 80s.  Not sure why.  Maybe we’re closer to the sun.

Route/Itinerary: Yosemite National Park.  West Entrance to Old Faithful.

• Fountain Paint Pot
• Firehole Canyon Drive
• Old Faithful