Yellowstone, Part II

Around lunchtime, we pulled into the Old Faithful area to see the most famous geyser in the world. As we learned later at the ranger-led talk, Old Faithful isn't the biggest or most powerful geyser, but it is consistent, letting off pent-up steam about every 90 minutes.

We lucked out enough to see it blow twice - once within 10 minutes of our arrival, and again after we finished our lunch at the beautiful and historic Old Faithful Inn.

In the Old Faithful visitor's center, the children let the ranger inspect their junior ranger guides, and took their Junior Ranger oath, and received their badges.

Besides the steaminess associated with being atop a deep-underground Super Volcano, Yellowstone features some stunning vistas. With only one day to explore, we saw just a bit, but what we saw was beautiful.

Here, we have a meadow of wildflowers in front of green, forested hills and mountains.

Our last big stop of the day was at Tower Falls, where we took a short walk from the parking lot to see this steep waterfall.

Stace took Cora and Johnny down a short hiking path, where they got another look at the river. Cora was very excited about hiking.

Magnificent!