Day 23

Day 23: Rain or Shine

We woke this morning to the sound of rolling thunder in the distance and some menacing clouds to go with it. Our neighbors, apparently med school grads on their way to begin their residencies in Seattle, gave us some leftover eggs and bacon, bringing our morning back up to neutral at least. We skedaddled before the rain arrived, praying that our tent would remain dry in our absence throughout the day. We drove North from Madison, where our campsite is, towards Norris and eventually Mammoth Hot Springs. When we got to Mammoth Hot Springs, the rain let up, so we got out to look around at the terrace hot springs. We were so close to the famous North entrance so we drove down there to see the fancy stone entrance gate. Since the weather was staying nice we continued to Yellowstone River Grand Canyon and its immense waterfalls—Lower and Upper Yellowstone Falls (very creatively named). We saw a really nice rainbow go over the canyon and waterfall. After a short hike (we’ve been slacking off for a few days on hiking), we rewarded ourselves with some crackers and Cheese Whizz, overpriced Cheese Whizz, that is. Although this is a terrible food for you it is just one of those snacks that is gross and yummy at the same time.

After taking a quick glimpse of Upper Falls, we drove a very long ways in search of Moose (Meese?). Our gas-guzzling was in vain. Though it was only a half gas-guzzling because, thank God, we have a hybrid. We returned to Canyon Village and did laundry and took showers. We sat for a long time as a storm went on and the power even went out. Then we sat there even longer because I took the change into the shower room with me so we couldn’t start drying our clothes until I was out of my (really long shower, Katie adds ) Starving, we returned to our campsite and cooked up some black beans and rice in the rain. Then the rain stopped for a little bit just as we were finishing eating. We called it a night.