Every one was tired from the previous day's drive and we all took our time to wake up and get ready. We were 11 adults, a 3 year old sweetie and Rishi. Every one else except us had driven from Denver, CO. So that was Ajay, Indira my old friends, their 3 year old daughter whom I met for the first time, their friend Veronica and her parents, Veronica's friend Keshav and his wife Kalindy. Quite a mix up - but we all gelled up pretty well and it was great fun.
When I stepped outside the cabin in the morning... I was amazed by the location and the beauty of the surroundings. A pretty lake about 100 meters from the cabin and mountains all around! No wonder it felt like driving to the middle of nowhere at night.
It was a beautiful day and past 12 by the time we left the cabin and headed for the west entrance. As we neared Yellowstone we stopped for pictures at the entrance...with so many of us taking family pics, group pics and individual ones easily took us 20-25 minutes.
As soon as we enter the Yellowstone I realized its a different world altogether. The road runs beside the Madison river and mountains run on both sides. The scenery is unlike any. We were all eager to spot some wildlife. Our next halt was in the Madison meadows as someone spotted a Bison. It was quite far. As we moved ahead we could see some sort of steam going up in the air on our right. That was our first stop and first experience of a geyser and a hot spring. It was a beautiful open ground with steam coming off the ground from geysers and vents. Taking the boardwalk we could see a couple of hot springs and fountain - Paint Pot geyser.
As this was our first experience of both a hot spring and a geyser we were quite in awe. We moved ahead to Old faithful, stopped for pizza at the café there and headed to see the Old Faithful geyser. At that time I did not know that it erupts every 90 minutes. Luckily we only has to wait about 10 minutes. It is so majestic and beautiful that one would lose all interest in man made fountains. No wonder it is one of the main attractions of Yellowstone!
Our next destination of the day was West Thumb and the drive to west thumb is lovely! You may be lucky to spot Lotuses in a pond right next to the road. When we reached west thumb parking we had no idea that we were going to be spell bound by the beauty of the Yellowstone lake. It was an amazingly clear day with sparkling blue water. A small group of ducks added to the beauty. There are several small geysers and hot springs in West Thumb but one of them had us intrigued. We also spotted some wildlife.
It was already getting dark and we decided to head back to the cabin. When we neared the mid way basin we halted to see grand prismatic but because it was dark already we could barely make out any colors.
At that time I did not realize that it was the iconic spring I has seen in pictures of the Park and I had to see it else Yellowstone trip would not seem complete to me. Once back at the cabin I did a little research for best viewing point for Grand Prismatic - Fairy falls trail and climb up a hill.
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