Tag Archives: Grand Prismatic SPring

Guest Interview – Weston Liam Pickwell, Age 6

I’m interested to see how this interview goes.  If my hunch is correct, you’ll see a clear dichotomy between Wyatt, and my very verbose 6 year old.  Hope my fingers can keep up.

Weston, would you like to tell me a little bit about your trip?

Hmmmm….. well, I liked seeing the bears.  Um…. I liked seeing the sequoias, the tall trees, and the Grizzly Giant.  I liked Yellowstone because I liked the campground, and it was clean, and I liked the geysers, fumaroles, and mudpots.  Um…. I liked staying in a camper. Um… and…umm… well… I liked…. seeeeing the faces of Mt. Rushmore.

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What did you think about all of the driving we had to do?

Um…..  It was fun when we got to watch movies and play on our iPods.  And um… we liked um…. well I liked seeing a whole bunch of flags on Mount Rushmore.  About riding in the truck…  Oh yeah…. well I did like going to McDonalds one time, I think… and um… we got a toy Minion.

What was your least favorite part about riding in the truck?

I think it was waiting 15-20 minutes for iPods.  Why did you have to wait?  We were acting crazy.

Was there was there anything fun about driving that far?

I already told you!  The iPods!

Do you have any thoughts about the scenery you saw?

Um… it was pretty, but we have no idea if way out there there are more sequoias.  The scenery was high and pretty.  And um… I think I saw a canyon with a road in the middle with rocks in it that looked like they were from Lion King.  I think it was in Arches.

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What did you think about Yosemite?

It was interesting with all of the squirrels.  They wanted to get fed so they got just like one inch away.  Well, they walked up to a lady and she shot them with a water bottle.  Then another squirrel came.  We weren’t supposed to feed the squirrels or they could get relocated somewhere else or killed.  I think in the Badlands, what we saw was a chipmunk.

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Tell me about your experience in Zion NP.  How was that?

I think it was quite burning up in there but it was a little fun.  We stayed at Zion River Resort and it was clean and I think it had a pool.  We even had a ‘smores’agbord.  And we swam in the virgin river.  And we even hiked the narrows.  What was that like?  Well, it was a little tricky.  We went like 5 miles through water, like, kinda a current, like tiny water falls that made the current.  Well, there was patches of land that we could go on.  We ate cold pizza for lunch and cookies.

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What was your top 5 National Parks?

1. YosemiteIMG_5485

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2. YellowstoneFullSizeRender 124 FullSizeRender 104

3. ZionFullSizeRender 172 FullSizeRender 177

4. Rocky MountainIMG_6506 IMG_6508

5. SequoiaIMG_5541 IMG_5526

What were your 5 top experiences?

1. See the giant sequoias and the Grizzly Giant

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2. Seeing the geysers and hot springs

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3. Swimming in the Virgin River

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4. The Jeep Ride in Moab

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5. The ATV in the hail storm

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Why don’t you tell everyone what it is like to live in a camper for 6 weeks.

Well, when you live it in theres not much room.  For the kids, they can play in their beds with stuffed animals and they can come to life.  When you live in a camper on a trip, you have to drive like 100 miles or something to get to your campground.  And it is like 50 miles to get to a state.  And if you are going to skip a state, you have to drive 1000 miles, maybe.  I liked playing the Ranger game with Wyatt.

What was your favorite state?

Wyoming because we got to go to a cowboy thing.

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Anything you would like to add?

Yeah, there was this Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone and the highest it exploded was like 300 feet.  We didn’t get to see it, but it was the highest.  That’s all!

Repetition is Good

This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls. – John Muir What I learned, Day 10: FullSizeRender 140 We miss Lifepoint!  It was great to wake up this morning and stream in the service.  What a great message for my boys to hear! IMG_0412 My wife shouldn’t accidentally send me pictures if she doesn’t want them publicly disclosed.  That’s actually something she is learning.  I already knew that. IMG_0401 IMG_0403 IMG_0407 Some things bear repeating.  Boys wanted to fish again.  So far that is the thing they say is their favorite.  Still didn’t catch anything.  And untangled two gnarly knots. FullSizeRender 137 FullSizeRender 139 FullSizeRender 138 IMG_5247 There are colors that exist that are too intense to describe.  None of these pictures have filters.  The bottom pictures is the Grand Prismatic Spring.  What amazes me is this actually exists on planet earth.  What is even more amazing is that you see it at every turn. We took a short drive on a side road and saw several more springs and geysers.  All with the same blue hue. FullSizeRender 135 IMG_5260 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZNTAUEoh2A Don’t sit downwind.  The screams you hear in the video are everyone getting wet.  We wanted to see Old Faithful one last time.  She was predicted at 2:18 and arrived right on time.  Lasted about 4 mins 10 sec.  In the background you can see Old Faithful Inn.  Would love to stay their one night in the future.  BEAUTIFUL building! Another thing I learned, or maybe it is something everyone else will learn when they read this, is that I can alter the schedule and go off the spreadsheet.  We are pulling out a day early tomorrow to hit one day in the Tetons.  We were looking at our route to Yosemite and it added too much time to the driving.  Instead we’ll just make a day of it! Route/Itinerary: Yosemite National Park.  West Entrance, Madison, Old Faithful

  • Fishing the Madison River
  • Midway Geyser Basin
  • Firehole Lake Drive
  • Old Faithful