There is so much to see in Yellowstone. We were thinking a week would be enough time but every turn in the road there is another beautiful landscape to explore. Our goal for the day was to see Old Faithful. The weather has turned a little cool. We had lunch at Old Faithful Inn and then waited over one hour for Old Faithful to display its splendor. We were not disappointed. At least I was not. Jim remembers that it used to spray much higher into the air. It is still an awesome sight but I have to admit I was rather uncomfortable with the cold wind blowing. There was a 1959 earthquake in the area and that changed some water flow. The earthquake also damaged Old Faithful Inn but it has been restored. Old Faithful Inn was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987. Everywhere we go we see evidence of the 1988 fire that threatened Old Faithful Inn. The forest is naturally reseeding itself; the forest service also planted many seedlings after the fire. The seedlings are about 4 to 6 feet high, but not many large trees left in the burned area. The burned trees lay on the forest floor to decay.

At Custer State Park forest they stack the dead trees into teepee shaped piles to decay and then they are burned in the winter when spreading fire is not a big threat. Different approaches.

On this trip we also explored Firehole Creek, Firehole Canyon and Firehole Lake. Awesome! This area is a giant geyser field so we spent most of our day walking the boardwalk to view all the pools. On one of the overlooks we saw an Osprey nest with babies. Our return trip to the RV was delayed 30 minutes by a herd of buffalo crossing the road. Anytime there are animals on the road there are traffic jams. We are staying 7 miles from West Yellowstone at Lionshead RV Park. They offer 2 free days with 5 paid days and free WIFI. In West Yellowstone the rates are much higher. We found $45 to $65 per night and an extra fee for WIFI and no weekly rates.