Day Five: Multistate Adventure

Casey and I woke up...lazy. Not sore or exhausted or anything, just lazy. So we nixed the original plan (hiking the Grand Canyon) in favour of something a little less ambitious. So sue us. Regardless, we'd seen the canyon from above. That was all we needed, you know?

Right. We're hideously lazy, we really are.

Since it was our last full day in Yellowstone, we did something awesome: we went on a two-for-the-price of one hike. We saw the Grand Prismatic Pool and the Fairy Falls.

Being the lazy fools that we were, we complained (quietly and amongst ourselves) about the short trek from the parking lot to the lookout for the Grand Prismatic. Keep in mind, that when I call it a lookout, I'm both being generous, and severely underselling it. That "lookout" is actually the side of a mountain, littered with fallen trees that serve double duty as hiker-helpers and benches. Casey and my aunt climbed up higher than I did (Casey for the picture, my aunt for fun), but you don't have to get very high to get the most spectacular view.

For those not in the know (and keep in mind that my pictures will not lessen your status), the Grand Prismatic Pool is this roughly 300-foot hot spring. It's this deep, vibrant blue-purple in the middle that extends out into the clearest, most flawless blue and then yellow, and then orange. When it's sunny out, it's so bright and gorgeous and bizarre. The steam coming off of it is either turquoise or orange, and it's one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

After a while, I hiked down to perch on a tree and read. Let me tell you that going down the side of that mountain was tricky business. It's all loose dirt and rock and dangerous and awesome.

When my people came back down, we "hiked" to the Fairy Falls. I say hike, but really, it's little more than a long (1.something mile) walk down a gravelly path through a forest. We did more complaining (the best part of anything, really), but when we got to the Falls, we couldn't complain about a thing. At all. Ever.

It's two hundred feet of sheer gorgeous. And it does a neat job of cooling you off. It's absolutely ridiculous how pretty it is.

After our trek, we drove to Montana for showers in a laundromat and pizza. If you're ever in West Yellowstone, MT, then get pizza at Rocky Mountain Pizza Co. on Canyon Street. Best. Ever. Plus, they have huckleberry Italian soda. Be still, my heart!

On the drive back to our campsite, we saw several animals of the baby variety. Be aware that there are few things in this world as adorable as a baby bison.

Also of note, Wyoming doesn't understand nighttime. It was ten o'clock, and there was still plenty of light on the horizon. Of course, when it gets dark, it gets dark, but still. Casey and I carried on and on about the sky. It was great.

I wonder how deep this is. I think it's pretty deep.

My picture absolutely does not do it justice.

ROCK KING!

The Pool, up close!

Distance sign thing in the laundromat.
Honolulu is a million miles away (it says so).

Quick story behind the last photo: Casey loves guns. She absolutely adores them (and crossbows). So does her boyfriend. We went into this tourist store, and Casey saw this huge glass case, full of replicas. She went to take a picture with her cell phone to send to her boyfriend, and the guy behind the counter laughed and said that she couldn't take a picture with that. We were contrite and felt bad before he asked if either of us had a camera. Lucky us, I totally did. Clearly. He handed her one of the guns and told her to put on a hat. He even told her how to pose.

New best friend? I think so!