Day 1- Friday, June 24, 1994
We woke up at 4:20 this morning. Our flight is 101 Northwest Airlines to Minneapolis/St. Paul. We boarded an A320 at Newark around 6:25. At the airport, I saw the Phoenix Suns plane. We took off at 6:51, and ran into some turbulence. Breakfast consisted of a bagel with cream cheese, a banana, and orange juice. We landed at 8:19. Our connection (scheduled for 9:15) did not board until 9:55 because of a broken lavatory door. Take off was at 10:19. The two passengers in front of me are very rude. Scenery that we saw included Lake Sacajawea and Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the Badlands. We landed at 11:21. Great Falls airport is nice, clean, and small. After we picked up the rental car, we started driving and driving. After passing several airbases, we crossed the Yellowstone River. We passed some Wind Turbine plants and stopped at a Dairy Queen for a snack. Just before we reached the town, we saw a car go off the road and hit a tree. The driver had fallen asleep at the wheel. Everyone was ok, but the car was not in such great shape. After taking care of that, we arrived at the hotel. We checked in and went to town to buy food for lunches. For dinner, we went to Ranch Kitchen. I enjoyed a salad, mashed potatoes, salmon, and vegetables. After dinner, we decided to try and climb the hill behind our hotel. It was covered with volcanic talus, and I slipped. My hand landed on a cactus; one spine went right through my finger. We returned to the hotel and went to sleep.

Day 2- Saturday, June 25
My hand stung when I woke up. We went to breakfast at Bear Country; it was good. We also stopped to get some stuff for my hand. Once inside Yellowstone, we saw several elk. We stopped at the Hot Springs visitor center and went for a walk. Kent, my brother, without a camera, is attempting to draw the entire trip. We stopped at North Twin Lake and ate lunch. We drove on to Norris Geyser field, and went on a 1-½ mile walk around it. One of the geysers, Echinus Geyser, erupted while we were there. Continuing on, we saw more elk and bison, and soon stopped at Old Faithful. It is interesting to see all of the different ways geysers erupt. We drove on to that night's hotel, where we would stay for 3 nights. After dinner, we took a walk and went to bed.

Day 3- Sunday, June 26
I slept well. Breakfast was good. This first activity of the day was a hike to Fairy Falls, and was marvelous. Some trees along the trail fell because of a strong wind, which also blew up dust and obstructed our view of the mountains. We then drove to an area we had seen from the trail, the Excelsior Geyser crater. After that, we drove on to another geyser area. It had fumor holes (some very loud), and bubbling mud pots. The best part was that we say six geysers erupt during the walk. We then drove on to the Old Faithful visitor center, where I got a hat. Continuing on, we stopped at an overlook, but the view was mostly obstructed because of the blowing dust. We stopped at a store, where the power was out, before going to the hotel, also powerless because of the wind. The lodge was without power as well, limiting us to cold meals.

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