Yellowstone, Day 2

Tuesday, July 3

Our second day at Yellowstone also involved meeting up with someone--one of Ted's good buddies from his deployment!  Barclay, or "Potsie" (his call sign), and his wife were visiting family in Montana, so he and Ted had arranged to meet up so we could meet each other's families.  (Well, he is a newlywed, so we met his sweet and beautiful wife Natalie!)  Amazingly, once again, even though we had no cell or internet connections, God allowed us to meet up without prior arrangements!  We had a leisurely morning at our camp site, then took a picnic lunch with us and made our way north to Mammoth Springs.  (Flagg Ranch, where our trailer was, is at the very southern entrance of the park, so it takes awhile to get anywhere!)

We made a little side trip through the Firehole Lake Drive area, where Charis and I got out and walked a ways with Ted puttering along the road.  Then at lunchtime we were at Mammoth Hot Springs for our picnic with Barclay and Natalie.  We enjoyed visiting and then seeing the Mammoth area before parting ways.  The friendship between Ted and Barclay was a huge answer to prayers, both mine and Natalie's, as we had prayed for our husbands to have close Christian fellowship during their year overseas.  We look forward to being in touch with this couple in years to come and seeing how God blesses them!

Charis and I explored the Artists Paint Pots area on our own, which was good in that it was 1/3 of a mile walk one way, so it took us awhile, and the little ones never would have made it.  But not so good in that Ted was stuck in the Suburban with some crabby kids!!  He deserves a medal. :-)  Then we drove by the canyon area and took a quick look at the Upper and Lower Falls, with the intent to come back and explore them more fully the next day when we had more energy.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day; view the whole album here.

Tedro & Potsie

Arden and Tobin at Mammoth Hot Springs

Charis & Kenna at Orange Mound (or something like that)

Lucan and Kenna join Ted and me with Barclay and Natalie

Charis and I at the Artists Paint Pots area

Overlooking the Lower Falls from a distance

Upper Falls

Dragon's Breath Cauldron at the Mud Pots area