Yellowstone Day 2

The temperature dropped below freezing the previous night and we slept with the windows open, which meant I slept like a log and Court was about two steps above miserable. But it was MY birthday! Woohoo! We started off the day with coffee on the porch of Lake Lodge and then headed out to look at some geysers and go hiking around West Thumb/Old Faithful.

Birthday man chillin on the front porch of the lodge

The view from the porch
......well, we aren't always there, but the lake is.

West Thumb thermal springs....and a Coulwood Middle School Catamount!

Isn't that a cool looking, burning hot pool?

See how hot it is!
Ranger Rick who led our tour group was fond of saying that "dying in a thermal pool is a long, agonizing death. It could take days and you would feel every bit of it."
Morbid Fellow.
Nice guy, though.

Death pit
.....uh, I mean, hot spring, with Yellowstone Lake in the background.

Lookin' hot.....
haha. Get it? It's a thermal pool!

The Ricktastic Ranger!
If I had a quarter for every time this guy mentioned the "thermophilic bacterial communities" that change the colors of the hot springs I could've played the slots in Reno all night tonight. (Instead, I'm writing this blog after losing five whole dollars and calling it quits.)

 So, after spending some time gazing at hot stuff in West Thumb, we headed out to take our first back-country hiking trail. Unfortunately, that trail was closed due to Grizzly Bear activity. Not wanting to be mauled to death by a 600 pound, hungry, carnivorous animal, we opted to skip the hike and head straight to Old Faithful.

"Is it wrong that I really just want to hold a bear in my arms and cuddle it?"-Court
(Yes.)

The crowd of entertainment-starved tourists in cutoffs waiting for Old Faithful to blow up for their viewing pleasure 

Two cool cats waiting for Old Faithful and getting their picture taken by a pair of Russian tourists who did not know what "just press the circular button" meant.
Nice folks though.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!

After that excitement, Court and I jumped on our getaway bikes to find another back country trail not populated by bears.

Instead we found this little guy!
(Yellow-bellied Marmot)

At the end of the eventual hike to some waterfall I don't remember the name of.

Some waterfall I don't remember the name of.

Well, during day two we saw more geysers than I knew existed and got to hike a good bit. Court was still upset that she hadn't seen a cuddly Grizzly.........until later.