This is a series in which I describe a typical Tuesday during our travels. This will give you an idea of what we do on an average day – sometimes exciting and sometimes mundane.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016: Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, USA

7:13am – wake up naturally, as it’s getting bright out and is still really cold (41 degrees!). We can see our breath as we walk to the bathroom about 1/4 mile away. We heat up some water over the campstove and eat a quick breakfast of oatmeal and coffee.

8:17am – leave the campground and drive to Old Faithful.

9:16am – arrive at Old Faithful and call my dad. We got bad news – a family friend passed away last night. I talk to my dad for a little while while Jon uses the big camera to take pictures of the moon.

9:45am – visit the Old Faithful Lodge and check the board to see what time the next eruption is scheduled to occur. It’s scheduled for about 10:30am, so we head outside and get seats toward the front of the viewing area. We sit and watch the steam coming out of Old Faithful and the crowds arrive.

The schedule of geyser predictions. They were fairly close, but nature is hard to estimate! This prediction for Old Faithful was for 10:31am, but it actually erupted at 10:26am.

10:24am – Old Faithful erupts! This was a rather short and quick eruption – it only lasted about 90 seconds. It was slightly underwhelming for both of us.

10:39am – visit the Old Faithful Inn. It’s beautiful inside – constructed of large wooden beams and railings. We go back to the car to have a quick snack of granola bars and orange juice. Then we walk back and get seats to watch Old Faithful erupt again.

11:28am – Old Faithful erupts again! This was a little longer and larger and a bit more exciting.

Old Faithful erupting

11:35am – we start walking a short loop on the boardwalk to view some of the other geysers, hot spots, and fumeroles. There’s one called the Chinese Spring that was really little and cute – it is my favorite so far!

12:20pm – we finish our walk around the area and go back to Old Faithful Inn, into the bar. We each get a drink – I got a Pinot Gris and Jon got a Manhattan. We fill out a few postcards while there.

1:22pm – we drive to a picnic area a few miles away. It’s a quiet area with a dozen picnic tables scattered among some trees, overlooking a meadow. We eat some of the bean and corn dip that I made with tortilla chips for lunch.

1:56pm – arrive at the parking lot for the Grand Prismatic Spring. It’s really crowded! We walk the boardwalk around to see the hot spots, including the largest and most colorful: Grand Prismatic Spring. It’s really crowded and hard to walk on the boardwalk with all of the people trying to get pictures.

Grand Prismatic Spring – full of colors and bubbling liquids

2:48pm – leave the area and drive back to our campsite.

4:05pm – I lay down in the tent and listen to a couple of history podcasts while relaxing and napping. Jon leaves to buy more ice and then, back at camp, repacks our coolers with the new ice.

5:40pm – I go to the shower house at the front of the campground and take a shower. Jon splits some wood and starts to cook some rice that we can eat for dinner. It’s challenging to make over the fire since the directions call for changes of temperature, which is hard to regulate over flames. Jon manages and it turns out good.

7:11pm – I assemble burritos and wrap in tin foil. We put them in the fire pit, around the edges on the coals.

8:07pm – the burritos are ready to eat! We have burritos and Spanish rice for dinner. Jon eats a small pecan pie for his dessert.

Jon’s little pecan pie for dessert!

8:45pm – walk to the bathroom to get ready for bed. Lay in bed under the covers, since it’s starting to get cold again. Jon reads on his Kindle for a while and I listen to another podcast before falling asleep.