Trail Blazer Day 4

An Adventures by Disney Trip to Wyoming

July 12, 2006

Breakfast today was in the restaurant at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge. Christy suggested that we have the buffet because the service can be a little leisurely. The buffet had eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, pastries, cereals, granola, yogurt and fruit. Antoinette joined us again today. Nikki ordered biscuits and gravy because she didn't want a whole buffet breakfast. It took 45 minutes to get them (I guess you could call that leisurely).

We met in the lobby at 9:00 am and were introduced to Lee who was our guide from Xanterra Parks and Resorts. Lee took us over to Old Faithful so we could catch the eruption.

After that we spent the remainder of the morning going around the Upper Geyser Basin looking at the thermal features there. Lee explained to us that since this was a public area we could not stop people from joining our group and listening to what he was telling us.

He had great information about the wildlife, the thermal features and the history of Yellowstone Park. I have been to Yellowstone in the past but learned so much by being with someone who has the kind of knowledge that Lee has that I can't imagine doing it without someone like Lee or Chris.

We got back to the Snow Lodge around 12:15 and there was a buffet lunch waiting for us of cold fried chicken, sandwiches, salads, chips, cookies and drinks. We ate on the patio of the Snow Lodge.

After lunch we all boarded the motor coach and rode over to the Paint Pots area to see the thermal features there as well. Lee gave us narration on the ride over and then all around the area as well.

When we got back to the Snow Lodge we had free time until 6:00 pm so Regan, Kelsie, Nikki and I headed out so the girls could do some shopping. We got over to the gift shop and cafeteria by Old Faithful just as the rain hit. It rained and hailed for about 20 or 30 minute, just long enough for the Kelsie to pick out what she wanted.

Then we headed over to the Old Faithful Inn to take a look at it. It is a beautiful old hotel and it is undergoing a restoration that is making it even more beautiful. There is another gift shop in the hotel so We had to stop and look around there too. Regan found what she wanted and we found something for Nikki's parents. It was interesting that all the gift shops sell different merchandise. Very different from Disney.

While we were in the shop it started raining so we sat in the lobby and rested for a while before we decided we had to purchase rain ponchos so we could get back to the Snow Lodge to get ready for the evening.

When we got back to the room Regan took a shower and Kelsie watched Pirates of the Caribbean on the portable DVD player while Nikki and I read.

At 6:00 the kids were gathering in the meeting room with the Adventure Guides and the adults got to go to dinner at the dining room in the Old Faithful Inn. There were three reservation times and two tables booked at each time. We were assigned our times by the Guides. We met Kim, George, Antoinette, Stephanie, and Susie in the lobby of the Snow Lodge and walked over to our dinner reservation at 6:15. We asked if we could be seated at one table instead of two separate tables.

We ordered two each of the appetizers and then shared them around the table. There were buffalo wings, shrimp cocktail, hummus spread and baked brie. We also had our choice of soup or salad and I had a delicious onion cream soup and Nikki had salad. (I can't remember what everyone else had.) For dinner I had baked chicken breast and Nikki had Roast Pork. Nikki's dessert was Yellowstone Caldera (a hot lava cake) and I had lemon sorbet. We all shared our food around the table and had a great night.

After dinner we met back with the kids and the counselors at the Snow Lodge for a group activity. We walked over to Old Faithful for a scavenger hunt. We were all given a compass and rope and directions that would lead us to clues that we used to get our final answer. The kids decided that it should be a contest of kids against adults so we divided up into four teams of adults and two teams of kids. Antoinette, Stephanie, Nikki and I were a team and we took second place. Adult teams took the first three places and the last one and the kids took fourth and fifth place.

By this time it was pretty late. We walked back to the Snow Lodge through the Old Faithful Inn and Chris pointed out some of the restoration that is taking place in the Inn.