Yellowstone!!
Finally, we had made it to the "greatest of all US National parks" as they say at least here.
We drove through beautiful scenery and stopped at Mammoth springs. Several buildings
constitute a small village of hotels, visitor center and employee housing. To our great excitement a herd of Elk was grazing on the lawns in front of the houses. Then we drove on to our campsite at Norris. The following day we spent relaxing at the campsite, playing games, cooking, reading and obviously school. After a short period of "forms" (a Steiner school specific subject) which Kate had taken on, she moved into a geography period.
Finally, we had made it to the "greatest of all US National parks" as they say at least here.
We drove through beautiful scenery and stopped at Mammoth springs. Several buildings
constitute a small village of hotels, visitor center and employee housing. To our great excitement a herd of Elk was grazing on the lawns in front of the houses. Then we drove on to our campsite at Norris. The following day we spent relaxing at the campsite, playing games, cooking, reading and obviously school. After a short period of "forms" (a Steiner school specific subject) which Kate had taken on, she moved into a geography period.
I had gotten a nice cold and in the morning we were "waken up" by three huge bison grazing just on the other side of the little river in front of our campsite. A great excitement for everybody. We decided to visit the close by geyser bassin by bicycle. We had our first 40 minute wait for a geyser to erupt without satisfaction, but still found the steaming landscape quite fascinating. The kids enjoyed themselves in playing in the high grass.
The following night it snowed again and since the whether was not very good we decided to make it a shopping and museum day and went to the little town at the West entrance.
As a weekend treat, we went off to have breakfast at the famous Old Faithful Inn, next to the most famous geyser of the same name. We had read that this was the biggest wood building in the world (with a 25 m high hall) and was of very good quality. Unfortunately, it was closed for renovation since a few days and we had to settle for the somewhat less glamorous Snow Lodge Inn. Nevertheless, we saw a couple of erruptions of the Old Faithful which different from most of the other geysers are very predictable (every 90 minutes). Then we went for a walk to visit a number of great geysers, hot springs and steam vents. Unfortunately, we had (as it never happens) underestimated the distances and had a bit of a hard time getting back.
As a weekend treat, we went off to have breakfast at the famous Old Faithful Inn, next to the most famous geyser of the same name. We had read that this was the biggest wood building in the world (with a 25 m high hall) and was of very good quality. Unfortunately, it was closed for renovation since a few days and we had to settle for the somewhat less glamorous Snow Lodge Inn. Nevertheless, we saw a couple of erruptions of the Old Faithful which different from most of the other geysers are very predictable (every 90 minutes). Then we went for a walk to visit a number of great geysers, hot springs and steam vents. Unfortunately, we had (as it never happens) underestimated the distances and had a bit of a hard time getting back.
