005-18-2026, Monday, Yellowstone National Park

This morning, the temperature was in the 40s but felt colder due to the wind. The drive to West Yellowstone was beautiful, and there were not many cars. 

We started out our morning seeing a Pine Marten playing in and out of the recycling bins in front of the RV Park Office. He was adorable. 

As we were getting ready to turn at the West Thumb and Old Faithful intersection, we had to stop along with a few other cars because two Elk were crossing the road. One had a tracker around her neck.

Our first stop was Old Faithful. I remember seeing it when I came through here on a band trip in high school. Barry remembered seeing it when his family drove to New Brunswick, Canada, for vacation. We checked out the next expected time for it to do its thing, which was in about an hour. I went into the gift shop to get my passport stamps and stickers. 

We got a great viewing spot and waited for Old Faithful to go off. The wind was so cold, but we were not going to miss it. She was right on time, 1:03 PM, and you could hear the roar of the crowd. So cool to see it. Just like I remember it from High School.

Now that we've got that out of the way, onto West Yellowstone. We arrived around 2:30 PM, found the hardware store, Westmart Do It Center, and Barry got the hose part he needed, plus a few other things. 

There were a few shops we wanted to go into. One in particular was Seldom Seen Knives. Barry ended up buying a beautiful knife. The company that makes the knives hires veterans and trains them to make the knives. 

Across the street was an old Union Pacific Railroad station that is now a museum. We didn’t have time to visit because we needed to eat and head back. We had a few stops we wanted to make on the way. 

We ate at Yellowstone Beer Company. We made Happy Hour, so appetizers were $2.00 off. Those who know me know how much I love fried okra. It was one of the appetizers, so of course I had to order that. It was so yummy. Barry bought a T-shirt and I a fleece. Their prices were very reasonable. Most prices at the visitor centers were very high, more so than in any other National Park. You didn’t see many people purchase T-shirts or sweatshirts. 

On the way back, we saw a small herd of Buffalo along a portion of the Madison River. It’s the river you follow along this route. We didn’t see any calves as we did in the Grand Tetons. We learned from my app that some of the rivers flowing through the geyser areas are not as cold as you might think. It recommends stopping and walking to the river to stick your hand in to see, so we did. It was not as cold as we thought. One of the interesting facts we have learned from this app. 

The next stop was at Midway Geyser Basin. This is Yellowstone’s largest hot spring. The colors were incredible. You take the boardwalk in a giant loop and walk past the Excelsior Geyser, Grand Prismatic Spring, Opal Pool, and the Turquoise Pool. There are streams that flow into The Madison River from the spring and pools. The colors of these streams are a beautiful rust. I could not get over the different colors in this area, just amazing. 

Yellowstone Beer Company

The three photos below explain the origins of the Yellowstone Beer Co. from the old school gym. Pretty darn amazing what they have done with it. They also kept the original scoreboard. You will have to blow up the photo to read it. 

They added the upstairs for larger parties. There is also an air hockey game.

They kept the original gym floor and scoreboard. You can see the
scoreboard on the right side of the back wall. 

The Madison River Area

What'cha doin' back there?

Where we stopped to feel the
temperature of the water.

Midway Geyser Basin Area

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