A day at Norris

Tuesday August 16, 2011
Bridge Bay Campground
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

 

Today was Carrie’s final day with us and she wanted to go up
to the Norris Geyser Basin Trail.
But she also wanted
chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast.

So here they are, a couple of empty plates
(notice, not David’s)
on the STURDY table
and Carrie engaging in a family
favorite activity, watching what’s going on
with the neighbors.  :-)

 

 

Here’s a shot of the campground for
those of you thinking you might
way to boon dock at Bridge Bay in Yellowstone.

 

 

And then we were off toward the Lake Yellowstone
Hotel which we had wanted to see
and was on our way.
It was built in 1891
and is huge.  East and west wings.
It’s the same vintage as our farm house
and is the same color our house was for years.

Sign over the door says Yellowstone Hotel.
Name on the maps is Lake Hotel.
Sign in the yard in front says
Lake Yellowstone Hotel.

Wonder what that’s about??

 

 

The lake view

 

 

 

When we first entered the hotel, Carrie
turned to me and said
“You are going to like this, listen”.
And she was right.  There was a flute
maker playing the Native American Flute
in the lobby.  His flutes were beautiful
and very unusually shaped.  Some were made
out of flooring from both Mammoth Lodge
and the Lake Hotel taken
during their 1956 & 1919 renovations respectively. 
He said it had been very difficult to obtain the wood.

 

I like playing the Native American Flute and
would love to have one of his but
I already have 5 flutes in different keys and the full time
budget wouldn’t allow the expenditure of $325
for the one I would have chosen to buy.
One of the only benefits of those working days
was being able to to do these sorts of things.

 

 

Here are some other shots from inside the hotel
Just click the pictures to make them larger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then went to visit the lodge.
More in our former price range before we were
driving our home with us.

 

 

Nice porch and chairs for relaxing on

 

overlooking the lake

 

 

 

Very relaxing atmosphere.
Maybe too relaxing,
is he nodding off??

 

 

Lake Village is quite close to Bridge Bay,
probably 5 miles or less.
But Norris is past Canyon Village
a total of about 28 miles from Lake so
we had to get on our way.

 

Lake Village to Canyon Village means crossing through
Hayden Valley.  The river and you know who are
always there.  Not quite so close to the car this time.

 

 

First stop at Norris was the bookstore
(isn’t it cute)
to get my National Park Passport book stamped.
Forgot to do that at Old Faithful.  :-(
Just like a kid, I love seeing all the stamps!!

 

 

The museum at Norris is very interesting.
There is one room on each side and you walk
through the middle to get to the trails.

 

 

For those of you who are totally tired
of looking at geysers, skip to the end from here.
Or stick around, Norris looks like
another world.

 

 

Here’s a shot to show the boardwalk trail.

 

 

Norris is one of the most active earthquake areas
in the park, has many acidic geysers, which are rare in the
rest of the world and is home to Steamboat Geyser, the tallest active
geyser in the world.
In a comment to an earlier blog Nancy Mills
demonstrated an amazing memory when
she remembered from their trip in 2001
that Yellowstone park sits on top of
the caldera of its own volcano.
Yellowstone Caldera.
A fact I knew but had forgotten to mention.

 

I’ll just let Norris show itself off in a few of the 500+
pictures we took.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s all folks,
plane back to Baltimore tomorrow,
no more geysers, no more buffalo.

 

 

But NO, that’s not QUITE all.
On the road back through the Hayden Valley
to Winnona……..

 

…. here he is almost in our shadow.

 

You don’t suppose he’ll show up on the runway tomorrow do you??