Overnight I had heard what I assumed were either Coyotes or Wolves howling in the distance. I contemplated going to the bathroom in the dark in the early mornings and decided it wasn’t worth it it after all these thoughts about grizzlies. We woke up to some small sections of our tent being a bit wet from the rain overnight. It was continuing to rain outside and quite cool. We decided we would head out straight to Old Faithful visitor centre about 30 min drive away and have breakfast somewhere there instead in a sheltered picnic area instead of hanging out to have breakfast at our site that didn’t have a covered area anywhere. For some reason the US National Parks we have visited so far do not seem to have any covered picnic areas which are very common in Canada. So when it rains it is a very miserable experience. Although it wasn’t quite raining at the time we decided we would just get going as we heard the Old Faithful area can get quite busy.
After a bit more driving then we had expected, and past construction which thankfully wasn’t happening in the rain and it being a Sunday, we arrived to the large complex of the Old Faithful visitor area. It was pouring rain, and the parking areas were very spread out to accommodate hundreds of cars. There wasn’t any covered picnic shelters anywhere so we decided we would have to buy some breakfast as everyone was starving and hangry. We walked in the rain from one building to another, finding out a lot the cafeterias were not open until lunch. We eventually made it to a lodge where they had a “bake shop” selling croissants and muffins. It was quite busy but it had a nice window and it was nice to get out of the pouring rain. Despite the weather the place was quite busy. We didn’t know there were actual lodges at the Old Faithful area. It would have been a nice place to stay right by the geysers, especially on a rainy day like today to be able to just retreat to your room to dry up.
We then walked out in the pouring rain to stand there for about 15 min to watch old faithful erupt. It was neat, but surrounded by crowds in the pouring rain and overcast sky made it a bit underwhelming. We went back to the visitor centre and did some indoor activities while I went out to the van to make food for the kids in the pouring rain as the small breakfast from the bake shop was not enough. The back hatch of the van worked quite well for me to be able to boil water in the back of the van in the parking lot without having to stand in the rain. As I was standing there several cars drove by asking if I was leaving. Even though it didn’t seem like much of a parking spot, people were lined up ready to take it.
The kids got their junior ranger books and Toby and Ryo were determined to complete theirs this time as Mia was the only one now who had a Grand Teton badge. It was neat to learn how they are able to predict the next eruption of the various geysers. We met another family from Japan who had flown from Japan to visit for a short period of time.
The kids attended a ranger program learning about the lynx and bobcat in the park. Because there are more than 4 million visitors every summer to the area they could only touch the fur of the animals using the back of their hand or otherwise the fur apparently gets damaged from everyone’s hand oils.
We went in and out of the visitor centre in between short hikes in the rain around the old faithful geyser. We saw very neat hot springs that looked like bubbling cauldrons. The water is so hot and sometimes acidic It can be quite dangerous and everyone is reminded to stay on the boardwalk. We decided we would come back on a sunny day to enjoy the area more and complete all of the hikes. We focused more on doing the indoor activities at the visitor centre but ended up there long enough that we saw the old faithful erupt three times (currently it happens every 90 min). Seeing it from a different angle than the morning eruption and away from the crowds for the third eruption did help and it was quite impressive.
After a long day at the visitor centre area we drove back. It was still raining. Entering our campground we came across a sheltered picnic area between the park gas station/car mechanic shop and a park convenience store and made dinner there. We had to get some gas which was $4.70 a gallon (yikes!). We were paying mostly $3.70 to $4.00 or so our whole trip, but there wasn’t much you could do about it.
We drove by a picnic area to see if there would be any sheltered tables and sure enough there was no shelter at all. Just a bunch of picnic tables out in the elements. Sheltered picnic areas are not a thing it seems. We got back to our rainy camp site, and the kids worked on their school work in the tent while I did the dishes and tidied up the van. It continued to rain and after another meal of almond butter banana sandwich I did the dishes again and finished catching up on our blog from the past few days in the van while the kids fell asleep in the tent. It continued to rain and camping in the rain is pretty miserable (especially without a picnic shelter) but we all made the best of it. What’s surprised us though was the lack of mosquitoes since the badlands. They have basically been non-existent since.
The forecast is calling for more rain tomorrow (supposedly remnants of Hurricane Hilary hitting California) so we plan to spend the morning at another visitor centre near by.
With all this rain we were glad we were spending more than a few nights in Yellowstone, but after 3 nights at Grant Village we will be heading further North into the park to Canyon land.Right now on our site we have had zero cell reception with AT&T but should be getting reception at our next campground. We did briefly get WIFI at the old faithful lodge but not long enough to do much other than check the weather forecast. We are quite behind on uploading our blog from the past week so are hoping to be able to catch up whenever we have internet again.
Trip Around The World 
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