Brian

Mammoth Hot Springs is a far drive north from the west entrance to the park at West Yellowstone, Montana.  We drove and drove and got stuck in traffic jams and by the time we got there, we didn’t have much time to see it.  Mammoth has a thriving community of hotels, restaurants, and shops as well as a resident elk herd that beds down in the middle of the intersection, along with its own signs and rangers to watch over it.

The springs were huge, so I guess that’s why their name is Mammoth, and there are boardwalks all over the place.  We walked around a little of it and climbed to the top of one plateau, but there’s a lot to see there.  All the thermal stuff is so interesting in Yellowstone.

While we were visiting Yellowstone, we went into the park each day, but had to get Brian back early for his theater call times.  There is more driving from place to place in YNP than we anticipated, so we spent a lot of time traveling each day and then didn’t have much time to see stuff once we got there.  Especially when there were daily traffic jams due to bison near the road.  So we did a “power tour” and tried to see the high points, or what we could get to easily.

It was an overcast day but still warm and quite windy when we walked around the basin.  We saw the mud pots and some geysers going off.  Scott and I walked this area on May 1 during our quick jaunt after dropping off Brian and the pots were more liquid and bubbling like crazy.  The sign said they are more active in spring than the rest of the year and it was true.  They were much thicker and more like bubbling mud in July.  Interesting.  Also there were more people.

We hiked straight down on the North Rim to the Brink of the Lower Falls.  The trail takes you right to where the water rushes over and it was awesome and powerful!

Scott took a picture of me gazing into the water because I love all things water and moving water is the best!  I suggested we take a US tour of all the famous waterfalls in the country so I could bask in the views, but Scott didn’t take the bait.  (I was organizing photos recently and found that we actually have quite a few photos of me that look similar to this. 😉 )

After all this awesome viewing we had to climb the trail straight back up.  It’s a higher elevation than our mountain home.  Brian was breathing normally, Scott was huffing some, and I had to keep stopping because I thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest.  No, I am not in as good a shape as when Scott and I did all that hiking three years ago.  Pity, because that was a steep trail!

Monday, May 1 was the big day for Brian to leave for his summer job at the Playmill Theatre in West Yellowstone, MT.  He packed up his stuff and said it felt like he was leaving for a mission again with all the packing up of suitcases.  We left at 5:30 am to hit the road north and when we got up near Yellowstone, this is what it looked like outside the windshield.  

Yes, it was snowing.  Scott and I did not bring winter coats because we were driving our sedan and space was at a premium so that Brian could get all his stuff in the car.  Hmm.  We got to town with a minimum of skidding and sliding and found it a quaint, little gateway town to Yellowstone National Park.  Most of the establishments aren’t open for the season yet, but we had a lovely lunch at the Red Lotus next door to the theater.  We found the guys’ apartment and got all his stuff carried up.  Here’s Home Sweet Home for the next 4 months.

Up the stairs and in the door is the kitchen and great room, then turn left and the long part facing the camera with the white double doors is the bunkhouse for the single guys in the cast.

The kitchen has 2 refrigerators and an awesome avocado stove.  Everything a guy needs.  We left him to get all moved in and unpacked and wished him good luck on his new experience as a paid actor.  (Love the sound of getting paid for his acting.  Yes!)

Since Scott loves an adventure, he said, “Should we just drive into the park a ways since we’re all the way up here?”  I’m ALWAYS up for adventure, so I said, “Sure!!”  When we went to Zion in February we bought an NPS year pass since we knew we’d be up in Yellowstone and maybe other places this year, so we just drove in and did not pay the $25 fee.  Awesome!

Did I mention it was cold and snowing?  Yeah.  The snowing had become intermittent by then but it was still dang cold when the wind blew, which seemed to be pretty constantly.  We walked the boardwalk in the Lower Geyser Basin and saw a hot spring and bubbling mud pots.  If you look carefully on the right of the picture below you’ll see some mud bubbling up.  I had to take lots of photos of Scott to get one that actually showed it because the cold made the steam pretty impenetrable.We continued along the boardwalk and found some warmth when we were between two fumaroles giving off steam, one on each side of the boardwalk.  It was like a lovely sauna in the freezing air.

That’s me in my sweater trying to pretend my ears and nose aren’t about to fall off from frostbite.  Then we drove and drove to Old Faithful.  Along the way we saw many elk and bison so that was fun, although seeing bison isn’t the thrill it used to be now that I can see them from my front window every day of the year.  Just sayin’.

By the time we got to Old Faithful, the sky had cleared and it was a beautiful day, but the temperature hadn’t gone up.  We sat there shivering waiting for the geyser to erupt and it was just as awesome as we remembered from when we were kids, which is the last time each of us have been to Yellowstone.  Then we headed for home.  It was a long drive back and poor Scott drove all of it except about 30 minutes because that was all I could do.  We got home late but we’re ready for our big trip back to see Brian and the park in July.

Our trip to So Cal had to include some time at the beach.  Of course!  But there was fog that just wouldn’t burn off and it was COLD.  I started out bravely in my swimsuit, but after a while I added my coverup, then Scott’s sweatshirt.  None of us were going in the freezing water, but Brian wandered the beach and found some cool tide pools.

After a couple of hours enjoying the pounding surf at Salt Creek and watching the surfers in wetsuits, we called it a day and headed back to the hotel.