DAY 17 - More Yellowstone

Here is a tale about the problems of ageing.

Yesterday I decided it was time to cut my toenails.  After my morning shower I rummaged in my toilet bag for the scissors.  No joy!  Back in the tent I turned out every pocket in my rucksack.  Still no joy.  I then removed everything from my toilet bag and returned all items one by one.  Still no scissors so I resigned myself to the loss of the first item on this trip.  As we are staying at a campsite in the Yellowstone National Park facilities are somewhat basic and lack showers.  Today we went to see Old Faithful, the major tourist honeypot in the area and a place equipped with showers that people can use (for a fee).  I duly packed my day bag with a change of clothes, towel and toilet bag.  Having paid the $3.45 fee for a shower I returned to the van and collected my stuff.  Back at the shower hut I found that I’d left my toilet bag in the van.  Back to the van I trudged, found the bag and returned to the showers.  Opening said bag to extract shaving implements the first thing to come to hand was the NAIL SCISSORS.  Excited by this piece of good fortune I enjoyed a shower, dried myself and decided that it might be a good idea to spray my feet with deodorant before putting my boots back on.  This seemed such a good idea that I did the job and got dressed.  So now, the scissors have been found but my toenails still need to be cut.

Apart from this we didn’t do much except see loads of geysers, heaps of wild animals and enjoy several walks and a stiff climb to overlook the Prismatic Lake.  I now have the perfect bison photo but we need to see an elk to photo tomorrow.  I’ve actually seen Old Faithful erupt three times.

Two observations about Old Faithful.  Why were so many people walking around holding their nose?  If you go to a geyser area you expect it to smell a bit, don’t you.  I overhead two guys meeting at the junction of one of the boardworks.

“What’s up there Man?  Anything good?”

“Nah, just more of the same!”

Back at camp I was on cooking duties and produced beefburgers (my own recipe) fried potatoes and green beans.  Seemed to be appreciated by all.  God knows what I’ll do next time as I’m running out of options.