'Don't eat yellow snow'... but what about yellowstone?

Yellowstone has certainly been a different experience than the other parks along our path. So many people, so much more touristy, and such odd things to see. It truly is a geological marvel - and apparently the cap of a giant volcano with potential to destroy half the world! Gives a whole new thrill to the old routine of tapping in a tent stake.
Our intentions of munching pb&j's near Tower Falls were temporarily dashed by the barricades announcing that the trail had been dangerously washed out and, thus, closed to the public. Not so easily bowing to disappointment, we struck up conversation with a pair of German men who seemed to know their way down the trail. They claimed that the trail to the falls gets closed every year, and the 4 of us scoffed at the warning signs, clambered over the obstruction, and enjoyed the trail and falls as a happy respite of relative solitude. The men left us alone to lunch in the spray and teeter along the dangerously steep trail of rain-induced waning widths. Quite pleasant.
We waited and watched Old Faithful - and she was courteously punctual. The Grand Prismatic Spring was truly a spectacle - such coloring of the goopy landscape as to make us feel like mites playing in paint. From a distance, onlookers seemed to be enveloped in blue smoke rising continuously from the focal point of the spring. Look at the photos - you'll see what we mean.
We might desire less commercial activity in a park, but the car took full advantage of such a populous place as to have an oil change. Hopefully that will get us back to peach country without incident. We also took a gander 'round the Old Faithful Inn - a truly remarkable building made of sooo much unfinished wood. It comes straight from a boy's imagination - like the grandest fort of summer labor and equally enchanting.
For our last night in Wyoming, we headed East to Cody to watch the season's opening rodeo! Before we settled into the stands with sticky cotton candy and a great view of the action, we milled around town and had buffalo for dinner at Irma, Buffalo Bill's hotel.
Tomorrow we head to Montana - Big Sky here we come!