Gentle viewer -- While in Yellowstone, I discovered that it didn't make sense to record things simply in static images because I often ran into situations where there were sounds and motion needed to make a scene whole. So, I took massive advantage of the video feature on my camera and made many short (and the occasional not too short) film clips. The film clips have thumbnails that are much smaller but should play as videos easily if your browser is properly configured.

It was our last day at Teton Village, so we got started a little bit earlier than we had before and prepared for the ride to Yellowstone and soon after we entered Yellowstone, we were at the Continental Divide where I walked to the sign and posed with the sign and then Suzanne left the car and as I posed at the sign Suzanne came and together Suzanne and I posed with the continental divide sign after which Ben posed with the continental divide sign. As a result of all of this, we not only understand how water flows but we ourselves could be water flowing from this spot. Next we went to the visitors center and while I was talking to the ranger, the cell phone rang and Suzanne had a nice conversation with Jane in Spain before we headed off to our first stop where we saw a trailhead marker for a hike to an overlook of Yellowstone Lake and still being in Tetons mode we followed the trail until Ben and I paused where we were to cross a street and waited for Suzanne and then we paused again to let Suzanne catch up and for us to decide that this trail was not attractive enough to complete and in fact to realize that we had missed the attraction (which was the West Thumb Geyser Basin). Once back at the parking lot, we saw our first bubbling pool and recorded its bubbling. Next we read the warning and recorded the trail we would be following and came across our first geyser -- the seismograph pool which goes at 167 degrees as shown by this sign. Next was the BlueBell pool before we learned about thermal gardens and saw one with the massive, clear and beautiful Yellowstone River as the backdrop for the lakeside spring to which these birds seemed oblivious This geyser at the lake has a wonderful story -- the person who found it remarked that you could catch a fish and cook it by putting it into the geyser which is appropriately named the Lakeside Geyser. As we were watching this, we saw kayakers go by which suggested that the lake wasn't too warm though we did agree that paying attention to this sign which would preserve sights like this was important as we came upon fishing core and this beautiful pool (of very hot water) known as Black Pool. The colors flowing out to the lake were very impressive as we later learned they represented various bacteria in areas cool enough to support such life and the pools that came along continued to impress us as we came to Abyss Pool which seemed inviting and Twin Geyser which consisted of 2 parts and then we were on to this beauty that we identified as Blue funnel Spring as we took one more picture. The next geyser bubbled and made a gurgling noise as did the geyser after where I forgot to turn off the video and so recorded an artistic collection of images. Ledge Spring was quite impressive as were the Thumb Paintpots which were our last thermal activity at this sight before I recorded an overview of the whole site and we got back into the car to drive on to the Lake area but our ride was interrupted by this bison by the side of the road who slowed down traffic until our turns (mine and Ben) came to take many pictures getting closer and closer

and then drive on to the Lake Lodge where we went in inspected the menu and Suzanne had her salad as Ben had his fried chicken and this vegetarian chili was designed to make my self portrait happy as Ben uncovered his chicken for all to see including these bison who walked past the window as we were eating. but before we dug into the cookie that would be dessert.

Getting back on the road, our progress was again delayed by this bison sharing the road with us and so we stopped in the Hayden pasture to watch bison make their way across a stream

and then saw the herd

as we obeyed the caution sign though we kept taking more pictures

and this one rolling in the mud before we stopped at a sequence of mud volcanoes and made a video for the first before moving tot he second and creating a video recording the details of mud volcanoes and the sulfur cauldron and a final mud volcano with its video where Suzanne and Ben read the signs and then we came across bison trying to keep cool by rolling in the sand as part of the herd and saw a coyote across the stream. After a few pictures of Suzanne and Ben we observed another warning about bison read the map and scientific explanation for the mud volcanoes and began the trail along the fallen lodgepole pines to this explanation of mud geysers so that when we saw our first we were ready to capture it in video and after the explanation of the churning cauldron we took these videos and at the black dragon's cauldron this video before sour lake presented itself and we had this explanation of a grizzly fumarole before we saw it. Next we learned about mud volcanoes took a picture and made this video and at Dragon's Mouth Spring this was the image and this the video before we drove onto into another traffic jam where we stopped with crowds along one shore to catch this image of a wolf on the opposite shore.

Our next stop was at the Yellowstone Falls where we parked to catch a view of the upper brink of the falls and read the story of the falls (and grand canyon of the Yellowstone) before looking down at the Falls and recording their motion and as we walked away from the crowds this is what we saw and these scenes lead to these dynamics as this scene lead to these before we took some more pictures as Ben settled into a comfortable spot and as the falls passed, we surveyed the scene and watched the falls in motion as we watched the falls and looked up to where our walk had started as Ben and David posed then Suzanne posed and Ben and David looking to the falls and the crowds with Ben sitting up the hill as we watched the crowd and Suzanne's view of it.

Next we drove on to the Canyon Visitors Center and read the rationale for Yellowstone and saw this map that gave a clear view of the volcanic region before my battery died and was replaced.

A kindly ranger sent us off to Inspiration Point from which the shifting ground gave an excellent view of the canyon

and Ben and Suzanne and Suzanne and I posed for pictures against this backdrop

before we took final pictures and made our way to see this massive glacial boulder along the road

Our next view of the canyon came from Lookout Point where we could see the falls at a distance and learn how falls are made before focusing in and making this movie and having the views in static and dynamic convince us to walk down the trail to improve to these views and have these family photos taken by these gentlemen as I took their picture. After a final view of the falls and the river making the canyon we started back up the steep trail where Ben found this face in the rock and picked its nose which I zoomed on before finding this fallen tree with signs of bug activity on its skin. ON the drive to Old Faithful, we passed this coyote in a field and this deer by the side of the road before getting to our room where the meshing in the window blocked getting a picture of the most famous geyser that we looked out on. After cleaning ourselves, we made our way to the lobby where we admired the ceiling and the balconies while Ben noticed when the next eruption would be and we made our way into the line for dinner where Ben and Suzanne studied the menu as I ordered my Yellowstone Sunrise and Suzanne her Morning Glory while the bread and salad came and Ben ate from the buffet as we had some bread and wine from this inexpensive bottle (#21 for $17) with this cork to accompany Suzanne's salmon and my corn cakes with beans and rice. Ben got bread pudding for dessert along with his meal. As he studied the dessert menu Suzanne and I ate his bread pudding and he took these pictures of the bread the drink menu from both sides and me and then his brownie sundae arrived for dessert so that we could take this final food picture and Suzanne could have a cup of coffee before we called it a meal and made our way to the signage that defined Old Faithful but discovered that in the dark all that we could capture of the actual eruption was the shoulder of the person in front of us.