Some video footage of the Old Faithful area of Yellowstone National Park, from our visit in 2023. See the accompanying blog post for lots of photos.
exploring
Attractions and other places we visit.
Yellowstone Old Faithful area
We continue our tour of Yellowstone National Park with the popular Old Faithful area:
Old Faithful Visitor Education Center:
Old Faithful General Store:
Old Faithful Inn:
We had dinner at the Old Faithful Inn dining room, another reservation-only restaurant:
Beverage menu:
Dinner menu:
Appetizers:
Mains:
Dessert menu:
Dessert:
Old Faithful Post Office, where we mailed a Grand Prismatic Spring postcard to Mom:
Old Faithful geyser:
On another day:
A bison wandering through near the geyser:
Looking back at the inn from Old Faithful geyser basin:
Hiking around the geyser basin; there’s more to the Old Faithful area than that popular geyser:
The Black Sand Basin is also nearby:
See also a video from this area.
Video: Yellowstone Grant area
Some video footage of the Grant area of Yellowstone National Park, from our visit in 2023. See the accompanying blog post for lots of photos.
Yellowstone Grant area
I mentioned yesterday that we spent two weeks in Yellowstone National Park. Starting from the Lake area, we next turn to the Grant Village and West Thumb area:
Grant Visitor Center:
West Thumb Park Store:
We had dinner at the Grant Village Restaurant, one of the restaurants that require reservations:
The menu:
Beverages:
Appetizers:
Mains:
We saved room for dessert:
After the restaurant, we walked around the West Thumb Geyser Basin:
Next, a video from clips captured with my 360 camera of this area. Tomorrow, the famous Old Faithful area.
Yellowstone Lake area
We spent two weeks in Yellowstone National Park (staying at the Fishing Bridge RV Park), going out and exploring the park pretty much every day. So I’m going to post about each area of the park for the next week or so, moving clockwise around the park, rather than following our activities in chronological order. That should make these posts a useful resource for people planning to visit the park, but only have time for one or two areas.
Here’s a map of Yellowstone (click to go to the interactive maps on the NPS site):
A PDF edition (best viewed in light mode; there’s a toggle in the upper-right corner of the web page):
Since we were staying at Fishing Bridge, let’s start with the Yellowstone Lake area. Here’s a map of that area:
On our first day we stopped by the nearby Fishing Bridge Visitor Center, one of the smaller visitor centers:
The Fishing Bridge:
Yellowstone Lake:
We took a drive out east to Sylvan Lake:
Back to the Lake Butte overlook above Yellowstone Lake:
Lake cabins:
Lake lodge:
Lake Village General Store:
Lake Yellowstone Hotel:
A pelican on the lake:
Fishing Bridge General Store:
Fishing Bridge gas station:
A bison on a hill by the Fishing Bridge, and a couple of tourons — tourist morons, too close to the bison:
Bison strolling down the center of the road:
Tomorrow, we head south to West Thumb and Grant Village.
Snake River whitewater rafting
While staying in Alpine, Wyoming, we did a whitewater rafting experience on the Snake River. My first time.
The rafting trip was between West Table Boat Ramp and Sheep Gulch Boat Ramp:
A nice thing about staying at Alpine Valley RV Resort was a van to take us to the starting point, instead of having to go all the way to Jackson. We had the van to ourselves:
Everyone else arrived by bus from Jackson:
Boats:
Jenn with a life vest:
Ready to go:
On the river:
Selfie:
Swimming stop:
Our guide:
Pulling people back in:
GIFs:
Beaver den:
A slo-mo video of going over some rapids:
Professional pictures; Jenn and I are at the back:
Finishing:
Us afterwards:
Grand Teton National Park
We visited Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on three days while staying in Alpine, about an hour south of the park.
Passing through Jackson with its antler arches:
A stop at the National Elk Refuge visitor center just north of Jackson (where we didn’t see any live elk):
Entering Grand Teton National Park:
Park map:
Craig Thomas Discovery & Visitor Center:
Colter Bay Visitor Center:
Mormon Row, and the iconic barn:
Bison:
Rockefeller Parkway Visitor Information Station:
Flagg Ranch:
Jackson Lake dam:
Jenny Lake:
A scenic national park.
Craters of the Moon National Monument
A first for us: we visited Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho with our coach on a travel day. We parked our coach at the visitor center, unhooked our truck, and drove around the park, plus walked around a bit.
Visitor center:
Relief map; the red circle lights show the moving magma hot spot that is currently under Yellowstone:
Old lava:
Crater:
Snow in the crater:
Baseball: Ferry to Seattle, Mariners team store
We took the fast ferry from Bremerton to Seattle, Washington, to go to the Mariners team store, and walk a little around the city.
Lumen Field for feetball:
T-Mobile Park baseball field:
Mariners Team Store:
Pioneer Square and environs:
MOD Pizza for dinner:
Skylight for underground area:
Line for ferry:
Glimpse of stadiums:
Baseball: Seattle Mariners vs Chicago White Sox
We took Mom to a Seattle Mariners baseball game.
Jenn’s game summary:
The Mariners lost 4-3 in 11. They had the lead most of the game until Sewald blew the save and went into extra innings. Saucedo really blew it then. J.P. Crawford led with a home run on the first pitch. It was “Salute to the Negro Leagues” day so they wore Steelheads uniforms and everything had a retro vibe, which was cool. The roof was closed, so it was not the best day for baseball, but it’s still a beautiful ballpark. Sat in the Club level, but couldn’t park in the connecting lot—$60 to park two blocks away.
T-Mobile Park:
Jenn with a picture of her hero, Cal Raleigh:
View from the club level:
Media booths:
Pizza:
Mariner Moose:
Play ball!
Salute to the Negro Leagues Day:
Closed roof:
Home run!
Home run trident:
Line for food (fairly fast moving):
Fish and chips:
Retro sailboat race:
Selfie:
Panorama:
