The Upper Geyser Basin.

     We had just enough time to take our first walk into the Upper Geyser Basin; here's a map of just the lower half. I added a couple of arrows to show, at the upper arrow, where Old Faithful sits, with the Visitor's Center to it's south, and at the lower arrow, where our cabin was located. We cut between the General Store and the service station, crossed the street, and were in the Basin.

     We walked behind Old Faithful, crossed the bridge over the Firehole River, and took a right at the intersection, towards Giantess and Aurum Geysers. Here are two views of Doublet Pool:

   
     Our guide and inspiration getting ready to turn right at the Lion Group and head northwest.

   
     A Killdeer, who has apparently adapted to having his little paws really, really warm. (Do birds have paws?)

     Just off the boardwalk, in the grass. It looks like... like... something scary.

     Sawmill Geyser (http://tinyurl.com/nhv2foa). We were very fortunate to see it erupt...

     ...and when it did it made a LOT of steam and smell. I think she's getting ready to hold her nose.

Sundown.

     From the bridge over the Firehole River.

    Near Crested Pool.

   

     Old Faithful, Monday, 25Aug14, 6:45 P.M.

Tuesday, August 26th.

     We got up early Tuesday morning and, after a picture of Sandi coming out of our cabin, headed right for the basin.

     It's about seven A.M. and the fog is just lifting.

     Looking back on the visitor's center...

     ...and your humble photographer waving.

     Do you remember my "bright, blue skies and fat, white clouds" description? Here you are.

Observation Point.

  I'm going to post this map again...

     ...and courtesy of Google Earth, a satellite photo of some of the same area, with my arrows added. At 1, our cabin; at 2, the visitor's center; at 3, Old Faithful; and at 4, where we're headed this morning, Observation Point (see the map above).

     Walking up to Observation Point, a meadow,

     a wildflower,

     and a Mule Deer.

   
     Gathering.

     Waiting.

     A different look.

Solitary.

     I guess they call they call it Solitary because it's out here on the loop by itself.

     You see a lot of warning signs.

     Waiting.

     I asked a guy if I could take a self-portrait (I know, I know, it's called a selfie); I emailed him the picture when we got home. He was from Bergen County, New Jersey.

Beehive.

     Sandi brought along  the walkie-talkies her family uses at their cabins in Canada, as she had discovered in her research that "geyser-gazers"--that breed of professional geek that has become obsessed with geysers and their behavior-- carried them tuned to channel 4.5 and would talk to one another as they sat and waited for signs (or indicators) that a particular geyser was getting ready to erupt. We were out at Solitary when her walkie-talkie squawked that Beehive http://tinyurl.com/4o5pt9  looked ready to go. As it typically erupts quite sporadically, we wanted to see it; let's just say we walked down there at a brisk pace.

     Waiting.

     Oohing and ahhing.

     Here's a YouTube video somebody uploaded March '08, although by the way the onlookers are dressed and the quality of the light at 8:15 PM, I'm guessing it was most likely taken sometime in July. Note at 28 seconds the announcement of the event by walkie-talkie.