Good Morning Yellowstone as we woke up to a brightly sunny but chilly 26 degrees (-3° Centigrade) morning. I left Georgia with the Air Conditioning in full blast, but slept last night with the heating in our hotel room whirring all night, comfortable enough to feel warm and fuzzy inside the comforter for a good night sleep. We were told by the hotel receptionist that it snowed here last Monday. Saw proof of that as we saw some snow on the ground in the month of June for first time in life, though we saw them aplenty on top of the snow clad mountains.
Not sure where from the name Yellowstone came, though I saw no yellow colored stone here, same as there is a place named Bandra in Mumbai which has no "Bandar" (monkey) living there. Places owe their names to strange things. But later we saw golden yellow stones near the hot springs and geysers sputtering all over the park, that's perhaps where the term "Yellowstone" emanated.As the day proceeded, it turned out to be bit warmer, the temperature climbing up to a not too bad 65 degrees. The lined up trees ladened on both sides of the road in gorgeous morning sun reflected on the blue lake water kissing their feet, creating another set of colorful, symmetrical and mysterious parallel universe underwater. The far hills covered in pine trees foliage seemed like a bunch of tall beauties in bluish white caps wearing light green lipsticks. A string of long trees looked like tall, pretty girls wearing embroidery of various greenish hue weaved together on a Sambalpuri saree. What a enthralling sight it was !!!
Standing on the various lookout points inside the Yellowstone Park enroute to "Old Faithful Geyser" we listened to the soothing music of a silvery, gurgling mountain spring spiraling downhill. It seemed as if the stars took a day off from their night duty to dance on the surface of the bubbling blue spring water. A canopy of trees were shedding the spring from both sides, as a lover wraps his strong, protective arms across his beloved. Pretty leaves were falling into the arms of the gurgling mountain spring, somersaulting, dancing and drifting away to someone's arms of in some distant, unknown fairyland, same as a moth falls for the flame, draws into it to knowingly to get burnt. Unwillingly, I was murmuring a stanza from the epic Odia song from the movie "MANA AKASHA" (1974) -
"RE BANA JHARANA,
NAACHI NAACHI JAANA.
E MORA MAINA,
DHARAA DIANA."
Transliterated
O Forest Spring,
Don't go dancing.
O my dear Myena
Always keep escaping.
As we drove further, I kept the windows of our car open to listen to the sound of music from the nature, the chirping of birds and gurgling of the pristine mountain streams. Suddenly we saw white smokes on the horizon, looking like dozens of funeral pyres as can be seen from a distance at the cremation grounds of Puri's Swargadwar (Gateway to Heaven) or Varanasi's Manikarnika Ghat. They were nothing but the Sulphur laden fumes skyrocketing from the myriads of big and small hot springs and geysers sprinkled all around the Yellowstone Park. It was so tempting to stop by to take a peek at them, but we procrastinated our plan to see them later as we stayed faithful towards our drive to the Old Faithful.
Standing on the various lookout points inside the Yellowstone Park enroute to "Old Faithful Geyser" we listened to the soothing music of a silvery, gurgling mountain spring spiraling downhill. It seemed as if the stars took a day off from their night duty to dance on the surface of the bubbling blue spring water. A canopy of trees were shedding the spring from both sides, as a lover wraps his strong, protective arms across his beloved. Pretty leaves were falling into the arms of the gurgling mountain spring, somersaulting, dancing and drifting away to someone's arms of in some distant, unknown fairyland, same as a moth falls for the flame, draws into it to knowingly to get burnt. Unwillingly, I was murmuring a stanza from the epic Odia song from the movie "MANA AKASHA" (1974) -
"RE BANA JHARANA,
NAACHI NAACHI JAANA.
E MORA MAINA,
DHARAA DIANA."
Transliterated
O Forest Spring,
Don't go dancing.
O my dear Myena
Always keep escaping.
As we drove further, I kept the windows of our car open to listen to the sound of music from the nature, the chirping of birds and gurgling of the pristine mountain streams. Suddenly we saw white smokes on the horizon, looking like dozens of funeral pyres as can be seen from a distance at the cremation grounds of Puri's Swargadwar (Gateway to Heaven) or Varanasi's Manikarnika Ghat. They were nothing but the Sulphur laden fumes skyrocketing from the myriads of big and small hot springs and geysers sprinkled all around the Yellowstone Park. It was so tempting to stop by to take a peek at them, but we procrastinated our plan to see them later as we stayed faithful towards our drive to the Old Faithful.
It turned into a gorgeous sunny day with light wind making the weather enjoyably salubrious when we reached the Old Faithful Geyser. Even if it was middle of the week, the parking lots were jam packed like sardines with tourist vehicles. We could see cars from all over the United States, from as far as Massachusetts and Florida. Luckily we found a spot at the right time to view the Geyser erupt. And erupt it did with smoke filled hot water shooting upto 30-40 feet up in the air with hundreds tourists surrounding it taking snaps and videos. Many put their kids on their shoulders so that they could take a peek at the awesome spectacular view. No trip to Yellowstone is complete without a visit to Old Faithful Geyser. More later....
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