Tuesdays with Gramma: Coming Home from Washington

I was reminded again recently to "get with it" and post on my blog. It's so much easier to post if I keep up but I also want to include my summer pictures, so once again I'll try.

As you both know, Dad and I took Chase home with us from Washington - what a fun kid to take on a trip. He's up for anything and doesn't even complain with Grampa spends three hours at a museum that it took him only an hour to go through.

Our first stop was Leavenworth, Washington - a neat little Bavarian town. We actually just stopped for lunch and walked around a little. It was so hot - they have "misters" above some of the sidewalks to keep people cool. We sat under one while we had ice cream.

Then off to Yellowstone. We came in through the north gate and almost the first wildlife we saw were these elk sitting in front of the medical clinic. They must be rather tame because you had to go up the steps right next to where the big male was lying.

Mammoth Hot Springs - there was a lava-something flowing down these hills and it would solidify along the way. It smells pretty bad but very interesting. Lots of unusual things in Yellowstone.

Quick stop for some snacks - there were trees in this area that showed this was a favorite spot for the bears. Lots of claw marks and "bear hair" on several trees but don't worry, we didn't see any bears. - YET

I forget what these were called - thermal pools, I think. They were beautiful. My pictures didn't capture how colorful they were. Lots of steam coming off them. These were some of Chase's favorite pools. He had studied Yellowstone and it's natural phenomenon in science so he was just a wealth of information - I was amazed and rather proud of how much he had retained about thermal pools and geysers and all that and the differences between each of them.

We only had to wait about 15 minutes for Old Faithful to "blow" and we had almost front row seats. This is my favorite sight at Yellowstone and I was as excited to see it as I was the first time. Absolutely amazing. One of the rangers gave a short little talk about geysers in general and Old Faithful in particular a few minutes before it went off.