For our northern friends who have already seen too much white stuff this year, please feel free to skip these pictures. But for our Florida friends, enjoy the snow pictures, without having to actually be in sub-freezing temperatures!
The forecast for Friday night called for the rain to turn into snow, and the temperatures to drop, so we decided to take down our tent and set up camp in the car. In a Mini Cooper. I guess it worked. Both kids slept, at any rate, and it was warmer than it would have been in the tent.
Waking up Saturday morning, the car thermometer read 27 degrees, and there was 3 inches of snow to brush off before we could go warm up with some hot breakfast.
Most of the roads were closed, so we were stuck on our side of the park, in the lake area. We settled in at a restaurant for a long breakfast and multiple pots of tea until we warmed up enough to hit the trails. We did not pack very well for snow, and were basically wearing all of our layers and trying not to get our feet too wet.
The West Thumb basin, with the lake and it's hot springs and geysers was amazingly beautiful covered with the layer of snow and frost. And the kids were super excited to finally be back in snow, and definitely enjoyed their snowball fight! Miriam says that the cold nights were well worth the fun.
By the afternoon, the roads had cleared up enough that we could drive over the mountain pass (across the Continental Divide). Back at the Old Faithful area, we saw the geyser erupt a few more times, and had a chance to participate in a watercolor painting workshop. The art center offers free classes, complete with supplies, a couple times every day, with some wonderful volunteer artists teaching in a lovely workshop set up with views of the geysers.
We finished the day with a hike to Fairy Falls, a beautiful 5 mile hike (during which we made enough noise to scare the bears away!).
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