Monday, May 1 was the big day for Brian to leave for his summer job at the Playmill Theatre in West Yellowstone, MT. He packed up his stuff and said it felt like he was leaving for a mission again with all the packing up of suitcases. We left at 5:30 am to hit the road north and when we got up near Yellowstone, this is what it looked like outside the windshield. 
Yes, it was snowing. Scott and I did not bring winter coats because we were driving our sedan and space was at a premium so that Brian could get all his stuff in the car. Hmm. We got to town with a minimum of skidding and sliding and found it a quaint, little gateway town to Yellowstone National Park. Most of the establishments aren’t open for the season yet, but we had a lovely lunch at the Red Lotus next door to the theater. We found the guys’ apartment and got all his stuff carried up. Here’s Home Sweet Home for the next 4 months.
Up the stairs and in the door is the kitchen and great room, then turn left and the long part facing the camera with the white double doors is the bunkhouse for the single guys in the cast.
The kitchen has 2 refrigerators and an awesome avocado stove. Everything a guy needs. We left him to get all moved in and unpacked and wished him good luck on his new experience as a paid actor. (Love the sound of getting paid for his acting. Yes!)
Since Scott loves an adventure, he said, “Should we just drive into the park a ways since we’re all the way up here?” I’m ALWAYS up for adventure, so I said, “Sure!!” When we went to Zion in February we bought an NPS year pass since we knew we’d be up in Yellowstone and maybe other places this year, so we just drove in and did not pay the $25 fee. Awesome!
Did I mention it was cold and snowing? Yeah. The snowing had become intermittent by then but it was still dang cold when the wind blew, which seemed to be pretty constantly. We walked the boardwalk in the Lower Geyser Basin and saw a hot spring and bubbling mud pots. If you look carefully on the right of the picture below you’ll see some mud bubbling up. I had to take lots of photos of Scott to get one that actually showed it because the cold made the steam pretty impenetrable.
We continued along the boardwalk and found some warmth when we were between two fumaroles giving off steam, one on each side of the boardwalk. It was like a lovely sauna in the freezing air.
That’s me in my sweater trying to pretend my ears and nose aren’t about to fall off from frostbite. Then we drove and drove to Old Faithful. Along the way we saw many elk and bison so that was fun, although seeing bison isn’t the thrill it used to be now that I can see them from my front window every day of the year. Just sayin’.
By the time we got to Old Faithful, the sky had cleared and it was a beautiful day, but the temperature hadn’t gone up. We sat there shivering waiting for the geyser to erupt and it was just as awesome as we remembered from when we were kids, which is the last time each of us have been to Yellowstone. Then we headed for home. It was a long drive back and poor Scott drove all of it except about 30 minutes because that was all I could do. We got home late but we’re ready for our big trip back to see Brian and the park in July.
