We decide to venture into the madness that is Old Faithful Village on Sunday. We had tried to stop there on our tour the day before and quickly gave up due to the extreme number of people. After about 15 minutes of searching we were able to find a spot to park the truck. It wasn’t close, but it was shady, which was actually the more desirable of those two adjectives. We walked up with the masses lining the most notoriously consistent geyser and found a spot to sit while we waited. Our timing was impeccable and it erupted, as scheduled about 3 minutes after we had claimed our spots. The funny thing about this trip is the attention we are paying to these “tourist” destinations. In the past, I would have seen the amount of people huddled around and bolted. For some reason though, I feel the need to show Anna these ‘cliche’ things. As if there’s a check list of things everyone must experience given the chance, no matter how over done or over populated. There’s a handful of these destinations on the trip though. I feel like they are more required visits. I am still trying to figure out why I feel so inclined to take her to these places. Perhaps I will figure it out later.

After the eruption, we ventured into the famous Yellowstone lodge and waited in a line that was far to long for some ice cream and then we returned to our car and headed back  to camp.

After Old Faithful we visited the West Thumb geyser basin – which was a new one for me. We had kind of done the whole paint pots and geysers thing but both of us had funny moments – Anna found a gopher and I was quite taken by an old tree that had been taken over by swallows. Most interesting to me was how no one else seemed to notice these things but us. We had a nice little time though, watching the critters while all others wandered around us.

My Brother Jake, and his wife Crystal and their (way to adorable) daughter Betty joined us for an evening walk, lake side. To my embarrassment, I have to admit it took me 3 days to realize our campsite was literally 100 yards from the shoreline. Jake showed up and discovered this fact almost instantly. A lot can be said about how observant I am, but perhaps, I need to be looking first. The lake was lovely and still and we found an actual real-life-Stand-By-Me-blood-sucking-leach in the water… a first for me. We have tiny little leaches in the black hills but I’d never actually seen the real deal before. We did a little poking and pointing and then let it on its way. It did effect our attitude towards the water for the rest or visit, however. After our walk we found a lovely little restaurant for some dinner and then our visitors headed back up north.
All in all the day was pretty low key – only a little driving, but it was just what we needed. A wonderful way to wrap up the weekend in the super volcano.