Day 3 Part 2

The geysers get all the press at Yellowstone, but one of the park's iconic sites is the Grand Prismatic Hot Spring. There isn't as much pressure building here, so instead of a steam vent or a geyser we get this bubbling lake of clear blue water that spills over on to the surrounding rocks. The micro-organisms in the lake turn it the unreal shade of blue, and then as the water cools over the rocks and combines with the sediment, you get brilliant shades of yellow, red, and orange. It's pretty amazing to see.

The coolest thing about the spring is we pulled up during a mild squall that was rolling through, with the air temp dropping into the low 50's with a wind chill. We were kind of cold walking up to the spring, but once we got to the part of the boardwalk next to the spring, the steam coming off the lake warmed us up. Like an outdoor sauna. Zach even requested we double back so we could go through the steam again (even though his glasses fogged).

Zach participated in a Junior Ranger program. Now, I think it's a good program, as the kid gets a patch at the end and a park ranger holds an impromptu ceremony (in Zach's case, under a dead buffalo's head). But this also was the cause of several meltdowns in the car as Zach struggled to finish the tasks as we drove from site to site. So I personally remain skeptical on the use of the Junior Rangers. They should hand out clipboards with it, at least.

At Mammoth we took in the legendary Travertine Terraces, but first shot the boys sitting in front of apparently tame elk that wander the station, most of them eating while laying down much like my mother's fat dog. Wait, I mean full dog.

The terraces are cool because the hot springs that feed them cause this weird terracing effect (hence their name). So in addition to the cool colors, we get natural landscape architecture.

Our plan for tomorrow... little to no driving. We hope to get in a short hike in Grand Teton NP, let the boys swim some, maybe get back in time to watch a bit of Ireland-Spain (nothing like watching the Irish fight a hopeless battle... pretty much the story of their existence).