When I grow up...

I want to be a National Park Ranger at Yellowstone!!! I want to live here. Hmm, think there are any Naval Air Stations nearby? The girls and I sure enjoyed ourselves today, although nothing went according to plan.

Like I stated last night, we were going to get up early and head out in search of a few more animals we had not yet seen. Yeah, right. Not going to happen when Mom stays up until o’dark early. We did manage to get rolling around 8:30, poptarts in hand.

We didn’t see anything new, and I managed to take a wrong turn at one point so we weren’t headed in the direction we thought we were. (I elected to skip my morning coffee in favor of leaving a few minutes earlier – bad choice. The lack of caffeine in my system was not good.) So, instead of heading back to the trailer for lunch we found ourselves at the “Artists Paint Pots.”

Ever since landing here, Katelynn has asked to see the mud pots. This is where the hot steam is escaping the earth in the middle of mud. So the mud boils and burbles. This action is highly dependent upon the time of year and how much moisture has been received. Too much or too little rain/snow will alter a mud pot, making it a steam vent or a hot spring.

So, the zoo unloaded, in the hopes of catching sight of some bubbling mud. What a sight we must have been: Hailey wearing her jacket over her jammies (I hadn’t dressed her, as originally we were only going to be out for an hour or so) seated in the front seat of our double jogging stroller, Beth with bed-head, sauntering ahead of the rest of us, Emily in a long, pink, velour skirt, Katelynn in her too big jacket, and Mom in her Easy Spirit slip-on shoes. I did not know that this outing was going to be an actual hike! Sometimes my stubborn-streak is actually a blessing, today it came in handy.

We casually walked the 1/3 mile to the mud pots, talking about the burned trunks of trees around us, and the dense new growth that was Katelynn’s age or younger. When we came out of the trees and into the clearing where the mud pots were, we elected to head counter clockwise around the small springs and geysers. No mud yet, but we did find a steep hill with tree trunks laid down for stairs. Yeah right! There is no way I could have gotten the stroller up that, so we back-tracked and headed clockwise on the path.

We still had to hike up the hill – the path was a large loop, but it was more manageable this direction. And soon, we found the mud. All across the path. As we stood there laughing at our predicament, a couple of climbers passed us, shaking their heads. Well, my stubborn streak was in full swing, and eager to pick a fight since I was missing my body’s usual morning intake of coffee. There was no way I was going to let a little mud get in the way of me seeing more mud up on the hillside. I didn’t want to see just any old mud lying lazily on a path. I wanted to see mud jumping and blorping. So, the three walkers tiptoed over a fallen tree limb on the side of the path while I pushed Hailey and the stroller around the driest part I could find, using only the strollers front wheel.

We made it, with only a few drops of mud on Beth’s shoes and definitely enjoyed the view. It was gorgeous to look down and see the geyser and springs laid out before us. It felt so good to be standing in the warm sun after triumphing over the earth. ☺ Then we found the mud pots.

How funny it was to see mud jumping, bubbling, gurgling, blorping and bursting in front of us. The girls were impressed with how far the mud pots could spew little droplets of mud. It was definitely worth the hike. We still had to make it down the tree trunk stairs that I had avoided earlier, but bopping the stroller down those stairs was much easier than trying to drag it up them would have been.

Eventually, we were able to see some large and very active mud pots in another area of the park. I still can hear them blorp and spurt. We sure had some giggles.

We did get to see Old Faithful again today. What a difference a day makes! It was stunning to see the geyser erupt in the brilliant sunlight. I set my camera up to take 3 photos each time I pressed down the button, so I ended up with over 50 pictures of the eruption. It will be fun to see which ones will make it into the scrapbook. Maybe I should just make a flipbook of Old Faithful.

We visited a few more hot springs, and took a brief jaunt out to the “Grand Canyon of Yellowstone”, but everyone was pretty tired by this time, and a few grumbles were heard from the back seats of the truck. So we headed back to the trailer for dinner and some preliminary packing.

It looks like we’ll have about an 8 hour drive tomorrow, so the girls and I are hoping to get hitched up and be rolling before 8am. One problem with that initial plan is that I have somehow managed to run completely out of propane tonight. I was sitting in bed, catching up on a few friends blogs when I realized that I kept hearing a click or clunk about once a minute. Oh oh. I check the light for the hot water heater in the bathroom – it was glowing red. Usually, it is only lit for a brief minute as the burner in the hot water heater is lit. With it continually on, I knew something was not right. So out to the front of the trailer I go with the lantern. Once I had the propane tanks exposed, the problem was pretty evident. The propane indicator was on red – both tanks were empty.

Even in my stupidity, the Lord is watching over me. I have already showered for the night, probably using the last of the hot water, and we have a small electric heater for the girls end of the trailer while I use the electric blanket in my bed. We won’t be cold. However, I can’t leave my electrical hookup because when we are on the road, the refrigerator runs on propane. Since I really don’t want the food to spoil while I drive, I need to find propane before we go too far tomorrow morning. I have to laugh at the Lord’s provision. I REALLY needed a shower to wash the sulphur smell out of my skin and hair. If I had waited until morning, there would have been no propane left to heat the water and I really would have been out of sorts.