Me and about 200 others watching. The cold adds to the eruptions I think. I wish I had spent more time in this part of the park, not 3-4 hours(half of that wasted even).

This area was one of my favorites of the park. Not that I probably explored that well, my screwed up decision making and all. It's the basin right next to Old Faithful. Biscuit maybe? That one little geyser kept on blasting away there and was fun to watch.

Same spot just looking left. Water bubbling in there.

Japanese lady off the trail staring into one of the holes. It blew up right after this and she was rushed to the hospital. Just kidding.

Winter wonderland, dotted with areas of summer. I'd like to smack myself for not spending more time in here. That and coming during a cloudy snow storm. Snow covered roads in there add to the time it takes to get anywhere, especially with people driving stupidly slow on the stuff and not using the turn outs made for them. This and the next morning made me realize juts how dumb I was for not coming during a more clear skies period, even if cold. I think of the day and the night shots I could have gotten around here. Hell night shots was the main reason I wanted to be here. The headaches by afternoon were hands down the biggest killer to that idea. I wanted nothing to do with anything by then. Hell that reminds me of the other big issue that came from the Gardiner Helltel. I screwed up my neck at some point in the night the last night there. I'm sure it had something to do with that damn camera bag always pulling down on either shoulder and my neck. I woke up and couldn't hardly figure out how to lift my head out of bed. Any motion it killed. I've had that whole deal before, so it was nothing real new, just didn't help matters at all, especially the killer headache that wouldn't quit. I finally got out of bed and it hurt to even breathe in. Hell it's a week after that and I can still feel that kink in my neck. That neck issue went through the day and into the night and just seemed to make the trip worse for some reason(shock).

Steam, but at least it did not smell like sulfur. It was nice actually, as it was warmer in here.

I'm now at the Grand Prismatic spring area, at the spring next to it. Other than huge plumes of steam this area was a let down. You really couldn't even see the big Grand Prismatic spring. I wanted to see that more than anything. I figured it would be covered in steam but even so thought you'd see more of it somewhere along it. I never realized it was so dead even with the boardwalk. At least the one to its east was down some. That is the one above.

The ground between the two springs. A person could stand there and get all sorts of compositions as the steam plumes move over you and change the lighting.

Same spot without the steam moving over you. Grand Prismatic spring is over there in the distance.

I drove around a bit, but my head was really killing me by now and getting really old. The neck pain was not great, but was nothing compared to the never ending headache. The only thought I had was how great a hot bath in the West Yellowstone Days Inn I now had booked would be. That was the plan around 5pm. I get to my room, open the bathroom door ready to start up the tub.....there was no tub!!!!!!!!!!! I about fell over laughing. "Just about". This nice motel, indoor pool with a huge slide and all, and no tub. Just a shower with a flat floor and curtain. I even walked out of there and looked around for the tub. I never found it. So not cool at this point. My headache was getting to me enough that I feared it knocking me out or something while waiting on Old Faithful earlier. It felt like head cramping more than anything. Just didn't feel right or good. I remember standing there thinking how embarrassing it would be to fall over with 200 people standing there. It seemed quite possible at the time though. I wanted to yell "go off!!!" so bad. So yeah, no hot bath sucked bad. But hey, this motel/trip had more up its sleeve yet anyway. I get some food and then chill on the bed the rest of the evening. I fall asleep at 10 or so with a planned wake up time around 5....and a plan to just go home. I wanted away from any elevation and down near corn again. I thought it might help get rid of the damn headaches. So to sleep I fell. 2 hours later...beep beep beep. Damn phone! Freaking battery in my cell phone was low and the thing was beeping. No noisy people and now my phone wakes me up. Back to sleep I went, but the fun wasn't over. Another 2 hours later I'm woken by louder beeping. I open my eyes to blinding flashes too! The flipping fire alarm was going off in my room! I just started laughing. Burn me up, I don't care. It soon stopped. No clue why that went off. I actually had that happen in Broken Bow less than a month ago, thanks to the furnace that time.

It's now the morning on the 13th and I'm home bound! Screw this place and its headaches. I wanted out of here so bad by now. Sad part is, is that now is when I should have been arriving...preferably with the knowledge I now had of the place.

I didn't want to come in here and shoot first, but I couldn't pass up the first real morning ops. So I drove south towards Old Faithful, which was not on the way home and which would make my trip home that much harder. Sun wasn't up yet so stopping down the lens gave me some longer shutter blur shots.

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