10 Year Trip: Wednesday

On Wednesday, we took the two hour scenic drive to Yellowstone.  We were greeted with several warnings, like this flier we received as we pulled into the park:

I'm not gonna lie, it really got my hopes up that we'd be seeing some serious wildlife.

But first, a stop at West Thumb. 

Yellowstone Lake

These are geysers along Yellowstone Lake.   Not spew into the air geysers like Old Faithful, but bubble up over the ground geysers.  And really, pretty amazing.

Geothermal Activity on the shore of Yellowstone Lake

Looks really inviting, right?

After West Thumb, we headed to see Old Faithful.  I mean, when in Yellowstone, right?

But before we set eyes on Old Faithful, something incredible happened:

That's right!  A pair of buffalo, just meandering around the Old Faithful area.  

This is me being really excited.  

And feeling, somehow, really accomplished:

And this is Jordan getting super close to take a picture:

(And promptly being yelled at by Yellowstone Rangers.  They take that whole gorging thing very seriously.)

So we moved on.  But not before snapping this awesome pic:

Ahhhh, a dream realized.  It was the highlight of my day.  So far.

We then moved on to what was the main attraction for most people (you know, everyone who isn't obsessing over wildlife):

Really, it was pretty amazing.  And the skies and the mountains.  Just surreal.

I will say, though, that Yogi Bear totally had me messed up.  I pictured Old Faithful to be in the middle of a desert-like plain, with a small rope around this small hole in the ground.  The magnitude of the actual geyser is pretty incredible, and for all of the pictures I'd seen, somehow I'd missed the awe and wonder of Yellowstone National Park.

After Old Faithful did her thing (right on time, of course!), we walked around the geyser basin and saw many, many more geysers.  We also found really cool looking "bacterial mats":

I'm a texture person, so I just really wanted to reach down and feel them.  But alas:

Illiterate Buffalo.

We left Old Faithful after a leisurely afternoon coffee and muffin and headed to the Grand Prismatic.  This geyser is a lot like the ones at West Thumb but it is enormous.  It produces so much steam that most days you can't even see the water bubbling up, but the weather was in our favor on this particular day and it was just warm enough to get a glimpse at the beauty and depth of the geothermal thingamajig.

Jordan's standing in front of one of the "smaller" geysers near the Grand Prismatic to give a little perspective.  It was so majestic and so grand.  I kept thinking about 1 Corinthians 2:9 "No eye has seen, no ear has heard what God has planned for those who are in Christ."  I mean, I could not have imagined the beauty and the creativity of God's hands, even after having seen pictures.  Standing there, looking at a mere glimpse of his infinite creativity and might, I was struck with how very, very true it is that His mind is so much more.  More creative.  More magnificent.  More spectacular.  More capable.  

As if the day wasn't awesome enough as it was, on the way out of the Grand Prismatic parking lot, we came across a Buffalo Jam.  Yes, that means we sat in our cars and waited while some buffalo mamas took their little ones on a field trip down the main road.

We were close enough to touch them, but intelligence won over and I actually got a bit scared.

 We drove back to the Tetons for dinner and watched the sun go down over Jackson Lake as we enjoyed a meal at Signal Mountain Lodge.  Not a bad way to spend a day.  Maybe one of the best days in recollectable history, really.