Yellowstone National Park Part 4

The last and final day in Yellowstone National Park was spent searching for an amazingly beautiful colored pool called Morning Glory Pool. I had been looking for this pool since we arrived in Yellowstone and was determined to see it before leaving the park.

After a few short minutes on my computer, I found that it was on a path off the Old Faithful trail and about a mile and a half away from the Old Faithful visitor center. So, we packed ourselves up, checked out of the lovely Stagecoach Inn and made our way back to Old Faithful.

Along the trail we got to see other lesser known pools and geyser. We first came up on Grotto Geyser.



Geologists think that hundreds or thousands of years ago, Grotto Geyser was formed due to dead or dying trees. Overtime, the geyser deposited layers and layers of siliceous sinter (silica) over the branches and stumps. The eruptions are only about 15 to 40 feet in height and last about 50 minutes to 24 hours.



Next up was Giant Geyser. When this geyser is active, it is one of the largest ones in the world. The geyser's eruptions used to be as high at 250 to 300 feet. But recent eruptions have ranged from 200 to 250 feet. Giant Geyser is a cone-type geyser with eruptions lasting from an hour to an hour and can expel more than a million gallons of water.



We weren't lucky enough to see the Giant Geyser erupt, but we did get to see the eruption of the Grand Geyser. The Grand Geyser is the world's tallest predictable geyser with eruptions lasting from 9 to 12 minutes and can reach up to 180 feet in height.



After passing many other springs and pools, we finally made it to Morning Glory Pool.



Morning Glory Pool used to be a similar color to the Heart Spring above, but after years of being thought of as a natural wishing well and being subjected to literally tons of trash, coins and other litter, the pool's bacteria has changed, making it different colors. Every year the park has to clean out the tons of rocks, trash and coins to help reset the pool. Because of the garbage, the temperature of the pool changes.



The colors were no where near what they're supposed to be when we visited the park but it was still beautiful.

Yellowstone National Park was amazing in every aspect. For the future, I plan to visit for a week or so to take it all in and enjoy more of the sites Yellowstone has to offer. Hopefully, I'll even be able to see my first wild bear!

Yellowstone National Park Part 3

The few days I spent in Yellowstone National Park was spent cramming in a ton of things I'd rather experience more slowly. But for the short amount of time we had in the park, we sure took advantage of.

The remainder of our second day in the park was spent walking through the various viewpoints of the famous Lower Falls and lesser heard of Upper Falls, Norris Basin and making wrong turns, leading us to even cooler things.

Canyon Village was up next after our lovely hike to Wraith Falls. I finally started seeing signs of the massive amounts of snow Yellowstone gets every year and on the side of the roads were piles and piles of it. Some mounds were taller than me! Many of the signs had been cleared of the snow, just so you could know what you were looking at.



The various viewpoints in this particular area show views of Lower falls. The Yellowstone River plunges 308 feet over these falls. A littel bit downstream, the rocks have weakened and geysers can be seen spouting into the river. The falling water onto these weakened rocks continue to shape these canyons and deepen the gorge. It's been two years since I've seen this but I can remember standing at the viewpoint and watching the falls. All of the sudden the waterfall gets five times louder and the water volume going over increases significantly and it sounds like I'm standing right under it. I don't know what caused it, but for the moment that it happened, I was transfixed.



The canyon is anywhere from 800 to 1200 feet deep and 1500 to 4000 feet wide. It's about 24 miles long and the upper 2.5 miles are the most colorful because of the hot spring activity in the area. The activity alters the lava rock, which allows the colors from various iron compounds to show up.



Upper falls are not quite as magnificent as Lower falls, standing at only 109 feet, but it's still a waterfall and I was going to see it!



After visiting the waterfalls, our plan was to head to Norris Basin, but instead we took the wrong turn. Usually making a wrong turn is frustrating and a time waster, but lucky for us, it wasn't.





I don't even know where we were after looking on the maps but we probably drove for about 30 minutes before realizing we were not where we were supposed to be. It didn't matter, with views like this, who would care?

We came across sulfur caldron and mud volcano. I was too big on Sulfur Caldron because it stunk, as I'm sure you can understand why.



Sulfur Caldron sits on the edge of one of the most active parts of the volcano in Yellowstone National Park. Sulfur gasses rise up here filling the pool with sulfuric acid. There are actually living, thriving microorganisms that live in these pools called thermoacidophiles. These microorganisms love these acidic environments and enjoy the heat.

Mud Volcano was really nothing interesting to see. It looked and smelled a lot like sulfur caldron.



The cool part about this area was Dragon's Mouth Spring. It was named in 1912 by an unknown park visitor because of the way the water splashes out of the cave. The sound it makes also makes me think of a dragon when it spits fire. The noise comes from the steam and water smashing into the walls on the inside of the caves. Sometimes the water could surge out far enough to hit the boardwalk.



We finally got going in the right direction towards toward Norris Basin.



Norris Basin held tons of different springs and geysers throughout the area.







The temperatures of the different pools allow for different types of bacteria and and algae to grow. Depending on the type that is grown is dependent upon the color the shows up in the water.

My second day in Yellowstone National Park was eventful and full of beautiful scenery. We almost saw a bear but it eluded us, as we were just a few minutes to late, feet upon feet of snow, gorgeous plunging waterfalls and beautifully colored springs and geysers.

Yellowstone National Park Part 2

Our second day in Yellowstone was jam packed with more amazing sites and I'll forever remember the sound of Lower falls, the flight of the first wild eagle I saw and getting lost, just to find extraordinary views of snowy hills. The previous day had been spent going from geyser to geyser and experiencing the magnificent and powerful explosions of each one.

The day started off with quite a surprise when we drove up on this steaming mountain, called Roaring Mountain. I had done some research about the park before we visited but I had not heard anything about this place. The fumaroles release thermal activity, resulting in loud hissing and roaring, which is where the name of the mountain come from. It was a good thing we arrived in the morning. Since it was about 50 or so degrees, the steam was very noticeable and made for some pretty amazing pictures. When we headed back later on that evening, when it was warmer, the steam was barely noticeable.



On our way to Mammoth Hot Springs, I heard a familiar noise and insisted we stop at the next pull-over. It was a waterfall (which we all know I'm nuts about)! Rustic Falls is within viewing distance of the road and fairly nice at about 47 feet. The falls can go dry in the summer, so I was a happy camper getting it see it from all of the recent snow melt (all the waterfalls here were magnificent due to the massive amounts of snow melt).



We finally made it to Mammoth Hot Springs after stopping a few times to take some pictures of all the great views. I could probably write a whole post on Mammoth Hot Springs by itself. The many different features here are produced by hot water, cracks and limestone. Water from the nearby Norris Basin flows through faults, heats up and comes out through the cracks. The water flowing over the limestone turns it several different beautiful colors and can start and stop at any time. Several time, parts of the park have dried up and the limestone turns back to white.



Canary Spring (pictured above) gets its name from the bright yellow color of the limestone. The types of bacteria found in the water are the reason for specific colors of the limestone.





Minerva Terrace was my favorite part of Mammoth Hot Springs. In the 1900's, the terrace was completely dry but started back up again in the 1950's. Because the activity of the area is constantly changing, Minerva Terrace would sometimes get so active that the boardwalks would be covered with mounds of travertine (the limestone deposited by hot springs). The park has now put in higher, movable boardwalks so it doesn't keep happening in times of high activity.



Liberty Cap is a 37 foot, dormant hot spring cone. It was created due to a hot spring that continuously ran for years and stayed in one spot.



After viewing the many spectacular views of mammoth hot springs and taking a nice lunch at the local restaurant there, we went for a nice half mile hike up to Wraith Waterfall.



The hike up to the falls was easy, although much different than the hikes back home because in Yellowstone, you're at a much higher altitude. This makes it harder to breathe because the air is so thin.

We ended up doing so much on this day that there is no way I could fit it all into one post, otherwise it would be infinite scrolling! So stay tuned for my next installment my trip to Yellowstone National Park on day 2.

Yellowstone National Park Part 1

In honor of national park week, I'm doing a series of posts on national parks I have visited. Today's post will be on Yellowstone National Park. As an extreme lover of all things nature and scenery, national parks hold a special place in my life. Yellowstone National Park has been my favorite park so far (though I've only visited a very small portion of parks).



Yellowstone National Park has much to offer during your visit and a lot can be seen in the first few days if you visit the figure eight road (The Grand Loop ) through the park. As you go through the park and take everything in, you can definitely see why this was the named the first national park in the US.



Through this road, you can visit Roaring Mountain, Norris Geyser, Mammoth Hot Springs, Canyon Village (where you can see the lower and upper falls), Sulphur Caldron, mud volcano, Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic Spring, Morning glory pool and so much more.

On our way, we made a stay over in Salt Lake City since we were driving in from Las Vegas. Lucky for us, we ran into a group of folks that had just come from the park and told us the south entrance (where we were headed) was still closed due to the amount of snow build up. I came to visit in May and I'm from the south which makes the concept of snow is hard to grasp, so to hear that there was still so much snow was kind of a shock. Plans were rearranged and we decided to go to the west entrance.

This turned out to be a perfect choice because we ended up staying at this awesomely cute hotel called the Stagecoach Inn. The lobby is full of the animals that walk the park and the rooms are spacious and comfortable. It was by far the coolest hotel I've stayed in before.



After checking-in, we immediately took off to the entrance of the park. I was so excited and couldn't wait to see what the road ahead held. Within minutes of driving, I had already seen my first elk and buffalo. It was mind blowing to just think how these animals rule the area and go about as they please.



I'm not too sure what I was thinking at this moment, seeing as how there are more injuries per year due to bison attacks than any other wild animal in Yellowstone. People tend to loose their cautious nature when it comes to these animals because it looks like they won't hurt you and that their slow. Bison can run up to 30 mph and reach up to 2,000 pounds. But you have to admit, it's a pretty cool picture. Buffalo are also the number one reason for traffic jams in the park, which we experienced several times throughout our few days there.



Our first stop on our Yellowstone adventure was Old Faithful. We pulled into the parking lot just as one of the eruptions began and couldn't make it over fast enough to see the whole. We got to wait around until the next eruption, which gave us time to learn about Old Faithful and exactly what it is. Old Faithful is a geyser and was the first to receive its name in the park. General Washburn gave it the name because of its predictable nature. The geyser erupts every 60-90 minutes depending on the duration of the eruption. The height of the eruption averages at about 130 feet and can release anywhere from 3,700 to 8,400 gallons of water.



Next stop was Midway Geyser Basin. This is where the Grand Prismatic Spring is located among other beautiful geysers.





It was difficult to see the spring because the weather was still a bit chilly and the water is very hot, so there was a lot of steam. There were so many different colors in the water due to the bacteria. The ground was covered in colors of reds, yellows and oranges.



We spent the rest of the day walking around some of the trails we happened to come across and watching the geysers going off.

Kona Coffee

The best part of visiting Kona, was getting to tour the Mountain Thunder coffee farm. Mountain Thunder is a family run, organic coffee farm in the hills of Kona, Hawaii.



Kona coffee is some of the most expensive coffee in the world and is grown organically. Once you try the coffee and see the extensive process of creating it, you'll understand why it's so expensive. The coffee is absolutely amazing and the best coffee I have ever tried in my life. Normal coffee usually gives an after taste and after a while that after taste does not taste too well. Kona coffee has a refreshing taste that doesn't leave any kind of after taste.



The coffee trees are grown in higher altitude mountains and take longer to mature than normal coffee beans. That is what gives the coffee its different taste. After the cherries are matured and ripe, they turn a nice red color. Then, farmers go through the fields and begin handpicking the ripened cherries from each tree. Some farmers can pick off a few hundred pounds of beans a day! The bean inside the cherry is much stronger in caffeine than the actual coffee when it is brewed. I tried one on our nature walk and was bright eyed and bushy tailed for hours afterwards.



Another type of coffee the farm produces is called Peaberry coffee. The coffee is made from undeveloped coffee beans. When a cherry doesn't develop all of the way, the bean still continues to grow inside the cherry and creates an egg shaped coffee bean. The taste is said to have a very intense flavor and is extremely rare. Less than 4% of the crops that are picked grow peaberries. Like all of their coffee, it is a high quality coffee once produced.



Each product made by Mountain Thunder goes through rigorous quality testing and are tested several times a week internally and externally. Each machine used by the company allows the company to use the highest quality coffee beans that are produced by the farm. There are hardly any imperfect beans used when making and sorting the coffee beans, which you can definitely tell when drinking this delicious coffee.



While I didn't purchase any of the coffee myself, it is well worth the price. The coffee takes more months to mature than regular coffee, it's handpicked, goes through extensive quality sorting and testing and then sealed with care.

Photo of the Week: Innsbruck, Austria

Innsbruck is a small but gorgeous town in Austria. Our group just did a couple of hours stop over in the town and I wish we'd had more time. While there, we visited Swarovski and some other small shops. We came on a Sunday and the majority of shops were closed, but walking around the town was nice. There was also a carriage ride you could take around. For lunch, I stopped at Der Backer Ruetz and had a delicious fresh made sandwich.

Photo of the Week: The Lion of Lucerne

The Lion of Lucerne was a brief but welcome stop for our group while we were on our way to Mt. Pilatus. It was my first time hearing of this monument and the story behind it. While the story is rather depressing, it speaks of bravery and courage of the Swiss Army.

During the early 17th century, a regiment of Swiss mercenaries served as part of the Royal Household of France. In October 1789, King Louis XVI was forced from the Palace of Versailles to the Tuileries Palace in Paris. In August 1792 revolutionaries attacked the palace. Fighting broke out and the Swiss began running low on ammunition. The army was overwhelmed by the mass amount of revolutionaries and many Swiss mercenaries lost their lives.

During the fight, more than 600 mercenaries were killed and even more were murdered afterwards in the massacres that followed. A note written by the King has survived, which had ordered the Swiss to retire and return to their barracks, but the Swiss only followed the orders after their position was no longer needed. They had stayed to protect the King at all costs, which costs them over 700 hundred lives of the Swiss army.

Written above the lion is Helvetiorum Fidei ac Virtuti which means "To the Loyalty and Bravery of the Swiss." The inscription below lists the names of the officers and the numbers of men who died and survived. Only about 350 men survived.

Venice in 7 Hours

First of all seven hours is NOT enough time to explore Venice thoroughly. But that is all the time we had in the city built on water and we packed in as much as we could.

Second of all, Venice is extremely crowded during season, which may seem like a "duh, of course" observation for most. I had heard that it was crowded and there would be a lot of people there, but it's different when you actually see it.

I would suggest going in the shoulder season or off season if you're looking when to go to Venice. I visited in August 2013; not only was it teeming with people but it was sweltering hot with high humidity. While these may seem like negatives, it did not take away from how much fun I had while there.

My visit was with a tour group for other people my age and the small group I hung out with enjoyed ourselves, getting "lost" in the city (you can't really get lost because there are signs that point you in the direction you need to get to), exploring the touristy areas and holding pigeons.

Here is my guide to how I spent my seven short hours in Italy.

Vecchia Murano Glass Factory



While I'm sure the tour group gets nice commission for anything that the group purchases, the Vecchia Murano Glass Factory is actually pretty interesting. They started us off by showing us a glass blowing demonstration and a worker there fashioned a rearing horse right in front of us in about ten minutes. It was amazing how much detail he got into the piece of art in such a short time.

After the short demonstration, we got to walk around the huge store. Almost everything is made of glass, which is my nightmare because I'm extremely accident prone, but I managed to make it out without breaking anything! A small and insignificant triumph for most people, but I assure you, it's no small triumph for me.

Anyways, the store held all kinds of trinkets, from jewelry to masquerade masks to kitchen ware and glass made animals. There was no shortage. I managed to escape the store only purchasing a beautiful necklace for my mother. Watch out for the sales people; they are very persuasive (as most are, but people tend to get more easily trapped when they are on vacation).

Walk through the City with a Guide



While I would probably recommend this for a good bit of cities, I'm not sure I would recommend it for this one for the only reason that there are so many people and you can barely hear what the guide is saying.

After the glass factory, we were met by a sweet lady that was going to guide us around the city and point out the major sites and give us background information on everything. Headsets and maps were passed around to everyone in our group and we set off.

I liked this because the guide spoke through a microphone, which we could listen through our headsets. Had I been able to hear our guide, I may have actually enjoyed this walk more. The headset piece wouldn't stay stay in my ear and the volume didn't go up hardly at all, so I couldn't hear a word of what she was saying. I tried to stay as close to her as I could but ended up constantly falling behind, wanting to take pictures of what she was showing us. It's also very loud in the city due to all of the tourists but when we got to the less crowded areas, hearing the guide wasn't an issue.



If you plan to do a walk through of the city with a guide, stay close, ask questions, try to be in a small group and strike up a conversation with the guide. You'll be amazed at what you can learn from them.

Doges Palace

I'm sad to say that while I did go inside and got to see some amazing art, we only got about 30 minutes to walk through the palace. Which meant we pretty much walked at a steady pace the entire way through the palace because it's HUGE and we ended up not stopping very much to enjoy the history of it.



My advice if you want to spend some time in here, don't spend time walking through the gorgeous alleyways of Venice, unless you plan to spend more than one day there. Use your short time to walk through and learn all about the history of the Palace. If I ever go back to Venice, I will probably spend a quarter of my day in the place.

It's astounding how big and amazing this palace is and I am glad I just got the opportunity to visit it.

Gelato Stop!



Gelato is a must in Italy. Don't be stupid like me and only order one flavor the entire time (ahem, chocolate). Ask for recommendations from the seller of the gelato. My friends did and the orange flavor the guy recommended was amazing compared to my plain old chocolate (which mostly just tasted like ice cream from back home).

Gondola Ride

This was an added bonus for us while we were there and the reason we only got thirty minutes at Doges. The gondola ride was very nice. While we weren't serenaded in any way by our guide (super bummer), we got to float along through the canals and see what a sinking city looks like.



Taking the Gondola ride was also a nice break from the sweltering humidity and sun since most of the ride was in the shade. It cost about $25 per person because we added champagne to the ride, but you can do it cheaper than we did; we just decided we wanted to try and be classy.

St. Mark's Campanile



At the end of the day, our group enjoyed a trip to the top of St. Mark's Campanile. It was discounted for our group since we had so many people going up and it only cost $5 per person. It's usually $8 per person but the views are well worth it.

You can see all of St. Mark's Square and much of the city. The breeze up there is a sweet relief from the heat as well.





We stayed up at the top for as long as we could and shuffled our way to the line waiting for the elevator back down.



I really didn't want to leave. Much of the city was unexplored and we just had too little time there. When I go back, I will be spending time re-exploring Doges Palace, visiting St. Mark's Basilica (which is said to make you richer by just walking in because of all the gold you breath in) and getting "lost" throughout the city and exploring the shops.

Venice is a gorgeous city with many different sites to explore that require your attention. Take the time the city deserves to be explored and learn about the history of what's there. I wish I had the time and one day I will go back to visit again and explore all of the places I missed.