Tour of Yellowstone Lower Loop

Today we took a guided tour of Yellowstone's Lower Loop on a gray SeeYellowstone.com bus with our tour guide, Amy. Here's our bus.

The Sapphire Pool, located in the Biscuit Basin, did not become a geyser until the 1959 earthquake. By 1968, the pool had doubled in size due to the powerful eruptions but was no longer a true geyser. Sapphire still boils violently and has an occasional surge.

Accompanying us today on our tour were co-workers Sharon, Jordan and Lauren.

While eating our lunch on the deck of the Old Faithful Inn, we watched Old Faithful's eruption.

More views of Yellowstone National Park...

Snow banks were still to be found sporadically around the park.

The bet was that this water was very cold.

Lake Yellowstone...what a view!

Lake Yellowstone Hotel was preparing to open for its season Memorial Day weekend.

Get a whiff of sulphur at the Mud Volcano Area.

Watch the smoke emit from Dragon's Mouth Spring.

Just one of the beautiful canyons of Yellowstone...

Take a look at the Lower Falls of Yellowstone.

We were really there.

Gibbons Fall was still rolling along.

Watch a video compilation of today's tour below.

For more pictures, click here .

To be continued...

YNP: West Yellowstone to Mammoth Hot Springs

Today we entered Yellowstone National Park and headed for Mammoth Hot Springs in the northwest corner of the park.

Marlon hates it when Doug doesn't wait for him to pose.

These guys don't seem concerned about posing.

Enjoy a little scenery.

Wildlife is found abundantly in May at Yellowstone.

Snow lingers on mountaintops for much, and sometimes all, of the summer.

Gibbon River pitches over the eroded rim of an old volcanic caldera to form Gibbon Falls.

Marlon moves a boulder which was blocking the road. A doctor somewhere may soon be asking him to cough...

Beryl Springs water maintains a temperature just a few degrees below boiling.

The Norris Geyser Basin is one of the park's most colorful and dramatic geothermal areas.

A family in the midst of their whirlwind global bicycling tour...

The drive to Mammoth Hot Springs has a few twists and turns...

and a lot of wild animals if you are lucky.

A dormant hot spring cone...

Some of the Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces...

Enjoy more of the landscape of Yellowstone.

These trees are so scared, they are petrified.

On the way back from Mammoth Hot Springs, we happened to spot this busy beaver.

No one will be able to resist taking pictures of the baby bison.

One last statuesque pose before we leave the park...

Take a look at our short video of our visit below.

For more pictures, click here .

To be continued...

First Day Working at the Yellowstone IMAX Theatre

Today we worked our first official shift of our new Workamper job at Yellowstone IMAX Theatre.

Marlon models his long-sleeved uniform shirt, which will soon be replaced with his short-sleeved polo shirt. Oh...and he also takes a quick nap.

The rest of the family is very impressed.

For more pictures, click here .

To be continued...

Hebgen Lake and Earthquake Lake, Montana

Just a block from the RV, we have this view.

Today we headed toward Hebgen Lake. Hebgen Lake is best known for the magnitude 7.5 earthquake which occurred nearby in 1959 which formed our other destination today, Earthquake Lake, nearby.

The earthquake, which had a final death toll of 28, holds the record for the most severe earthquake of the Rocky Mountains.

Read all about the quake at my favorite resource, wikipedia, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1959_Yellowstone_earthquake .

For now, enjoy the scenery.

Just outside the border of the Gallatin National Forest, where Hebgen Lake and Earthquake Lake are located, we found this group of bighorn sheep.

They couldn't decide which side of the road they wanted to be on.

A bird nested atop this pole. What type of bird? You tell us...

In Montana, watch out for buffalo crossings.

None were crossing but plenty were around.

30 minutes after washing the Santa Fe, it began to hail.

Here's a BRIEF video of some of what we saw today.

For more pictures, click here .

To be continued...