Day 5-Yellowstone

It got COLD last night! I didn’t need a jacket at bedtime outside, but by 2am it was freezing. So I was up early packing for the next leg of our trip, Yellowstone! Today we are hiking through Biscuit Basin (the geyser walkway) to Old Faithful Lodge and geyser, and more. So after a great breakfast of hot oatmeal with all the fixings, fresh fruit, and cowboy coffee, we packed our lunches (I chose cold leftover pesto pasta), packed our stuff back into the bus and took off by 8:30am—Dave was proud of our efficiency and said as much. We stopped at the Continental Divide for a picture. Most of the passengers thought it was fun to put one foot on the Atlantic side, and the other foot on the Pacific side/

While I was tempted to skip the walk and head straight for internet access at the lodge, I opted to do both and happy I did. Got some great pics and talked to an older couple from Maryland who drove to Yellowstone for their annual vacation. They remember Mendocino and a trip with their kids tidepooling—which while I was standing in direct sun at Yellowstone, made me wish for home and summer fog.

In the late afternoon we headed for our new group campsite. On the way we saw a family of black bears across the road and there was park traffic control to keep people away. Did a little shopping and set up camp. All of these camps have been mile-plus walks to the showers, but one can manage sponge baths and swim in the lake to stay relatively less smelly. A change of clothes does wonders on that score. I set up my tent and everyone left to go to the lake, so I took advantage of the quiet and took a short nap, to be woken (of course) by the loud German girls coming back from their swim. After dinner (vegetable red sauce and penne pasta with fresh grated romano cheese) I walked to Grant Village and paid $4 for my first official shower in 4 days. It was worth every penny--unlimited shower time--no feeding the meter like in Yosemite. On the way back I saw some young elk, who were honking and grazing their way through the area, and I passed several of our group taking a photo hike to the lake for sunset.

At campfire I was treated to some Blue Moon beers while chatting with our resident 40-year old history grad student/teacher from Chico about the legacies of the various presidents. He doesn’t like traveling much, but was here to please his Bulgarian significant other, who is a history teacher both at the college and several online companies (World History of course). I couldn’t think of a better choice of vacation for them. I delegated fire duty to the psychology prof who has been up to the end each night, read a little bit, and prepared for another cold cold night that starts with shirt sleeves temps at 11pm and is about 40 degrees by 3am.