Yellowstone National Park

         Today we had a full day in Yellowstone National Park and boy, do you need more than one day to see all the beauty of this place.  We decided that since we only had a day we would go directly to Old Faithful.  Along the way we stopped at a number of pullouts.  The first one being the 45th parallel that is half way between the equator and the North Pole.

This was a great beginning to Yellowstone.  We were still over an hour away from Old Faithful, but already very impressed.

Along the way we also saw some wildlife at the side of the road and some of the thermal vents that are dotted throughout the park.

We arrived at Old Faithful just in time to watch it erupt.  It was perfect timing and James was amazed at the geyser.  We then ended up having lunch at the lodge near the geyser.  After lunch we were able to see the geyser erupt again.  We then took a short hike around Old Faithful and saw some of the pools that were bubbling from the sulfur dioxide gas.

They had a really nice exhibit hall with lots of hand-on activities for James to do.  He learned a lot about how geysers worked, but I think he also enjoyed pushing the buttons just as much.

We are now on our way back to California.  We are stopping in Twin Falls, Idaho tomorrow and then Winnemucca, Nevada for our last leg.