Geysers and Sulphur Pots

Do you like the smell of rotten eggs? Of course not! You would not be my friend if you did! I was not prepared for the smell of a great deal of the tourist sights in Yellowstone National Park. I knew about the geysers and the hot springs. The boiling mud pots and the steam rising off of the pools...I knew about it all, except for that smell!

I did NOT realize the Yellowstone sits on top of the world's largest volcanic caldera. No wonder it is so hot and active there! Duh! Did I not see "Dante's Peak", the corniest  disaster movie since "Earthquake"? The two skinny dipping tourists jump into the hot spring for a rendezvous i the wideness, one of them says, "Ew! What's that smell?" Then suddenly the water starts to boil and they are deep-fried in a pool of acidic water. Well, not me mister! I stayed on the board walks that the nice Rangers built for us. There are signs everywhere telling you to say on the walkways and not to touch the water. The ground is unstable, stay off! I saw a few people who did not believe these signs would have anything to do with them. Kryptonians? Maybe!

Pretty big sign, and self-explanatory! My cute father-in-law missed this one and had to turn around with his little doggie.

Some of the pools are so blue because the silica in the sand is so white.

 Prehistoric looking!

 I minded! I did see a little boy stick his fingers in the water.

Let's see. Boiling...acid...what don't you get?

The Master and I are steaming hot!!

 Boiling mud!

This is a video of the boiling mud. Pretty cool (in a "neat-o" kind of way)!

And here is the grand Geyser of them all..."Old Faithful"! I was like a little kid waiting to see this guy! I had heard about him my whole life. What I learned is that he teases his audience with steam and bursts of water for about 20 minutes before he blows his top! The crowd grew restless and the people waaay down on the end started the wave! It was so funny! I stood there watching this amazing American icon while hearing Japanese, Taiwanese, French, German, Korean, Norwegian, Aussies,  and Brits. It was like being at Disney land, for Pete's sake!

I wanted to stay and see it again! It was so beautiful! But Old Faithful only goes off once every 90 minutes or so, and it was late in the afternoon. I hope we can go again someday. Even with the smell, it is a wonderful place. I can see why old Teddy loved it so much! (It only smells bad around the hot spots too, in case you were wondering!)