05-23-2026 Saturday, West Thumb, Grant Village, and Old Faithful

West Thumb and Grant Village are only thirty minutes south of Fishing Bridge. Before we drove down, I wanted to stop at the Fishing Bridge Visitor Center again to take photos of the bird displays. I didn’t the other day and have no idea why. I mainly wanted to see the Sandhill Crane and the Great Blue Heron. These are the two birds I saw in a meadow the other day. We have seen a Great Blue Heron by our pond at home, but we have no idea how big they really are. I took photos of the other bird displays since I was there and love bird watching. The photos below are through glass displays so you will see reflections even though I tried to position myself around it. 

Sandhill Crane

Great Blue Heron

The next stop was West Thumb. The visitor center is one of the last remaining old ranger stations. The gentleman who was working today has been working this one for years. He loves it. While I was getting my passport books stamped, he asked if we had been to Old Faithful yet. I said we had, and he asked if I went to the desk and asked for the hidden stamp. I have never heard of a hidden stamp. It’s a stamp that is one of the originals and is kept behind the counter. Only the people who work there can stamp your book. Barry gave me a look like, "Really, we have to go back for a stamp," and I responded, "Of course." 

West Thumb Geyser Basin has a boardwalk all around it. It’s only about a half-mile, but we probably spent about an hour stopping at all the different areas and taking pictures. This area is right next to Yellowstone Lake. A few of the gysers are right on the lake edge. The ponds here are a brilliant turquoise. I selected the photos below to share, which was challenging.

This one sits in Yellowstone Lake.

Grant Visitor Center was our next stop, just down the road. There is a beautiful fireplace in the front, but unfortunately, there was no fire burning. This is the visitor center that has displays about the 1983 fire. I didn’t take any photos because they wouldn't have done them any justice. We spent about an hour going through and reading the displays. Throughout the park, you can still see damage from the fire. There was not much else to see here. Still too early in the season, so the restaurant and store are not open yet. 

Now on our way to Old Faithful. It was a nice drive, and the buffalo were all out. This is our last day 

here, so the drive was enjoyable. Barry dropped me off in front of the visitor center. Once inside, I saw that “Old Faithful” was about the spout, so everyone was out there. This was great because I didn’t have 

to fight the crowd, and the person behind the desk took their time stamping all my books. I have three...

Well, that is it for the Yellowstone part of this trip. I would have loved to see more wolves and a moose, but that means we have to come back. We did a great job of seeing most of what we wanted and more. If you are going to Yellowstone, I recommend at least five days. We did seven days and felt we saw almost everything. 

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