Speed Tour of Yellowstone National Park

 Our next stop was Virginia City, Montana (which I wrote about last year). One morning, Jan dragged me out of bed early enough to get this photo

and for us to set out on a day trip to Yellowstone National Park and its surreal geothermal landscape.

We waited with the crowd for Old Faithful

then headed on south around the Grand Loop. Much of the park is at pretty high altitude. Here we are going over the pass south of Old Faithful.

More geothermal features.

We didn't see a lot of wildlife on this trip, although Damien was thrilled to see a couple bison. Here's the first one we saw.

We had planned to have supper on our way home at McDonald's in West Yellowstone, figuring it probably would be about the most economical place to eat in this very touristy town. Well, I now know that even McDonald's has inflated prices in places like this. Even Damien, who is 13, scaled back his order. He said the prices made him lose his appetite. Now, he has never voiced any such concern before, but the shock of seeing his favorite value menu sandwich priced 87% higher than he is accustomed to had an effect on him. He only had two, instead of his intended three!