Joe had read (and heard from friends) that Old Faithful was super crowded, so we got up early, packed a lunch and were out before 7 to head back to Yellowstone. It was cold – 45 degrees, but warmed up very fast and we were out of sweatshirts by 10am. We are so glad we went early! We had front row seats to the geyser and it was not too crazy. We went back later in the day to visit the general store and it was insane! We couldn’t even get through the parking lot… so we left.
Besides Old Faithful, we spent the day exploring the southwest loop out to West Thumb. More geothermals, waterfalls, lakes, the Continental Divide and beautiful scenery as we drove around. The only place we didn’t hit was the Grand Prasmatic Spring. By the time we got there, it was just as crazy as Old Faithful so we decided to skip and head in early again tomorrow. We stopped in the small town West Yellowstone just outside the gate and checked out some shops and had ice cream. Back at our campsite the kids played mini golf, I did a ton of laundry and Jonathan made his famous campfire dump cake!
Campfire Dump Cake Recipe
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 can of fruit pie filling (we have used cherry and strawberry for the chocolate recipe)
1 can of coke
1 stick of butter
1) Line dutch oven with tin foil (makes clean up so much easier)
2) Mix cake mix, soda and fruit together
3) Cut up butter and lay on top
4) Cover and top with hot ash/coals (off flame)
5) Cook 40-45 minutes
6) Serve hot with ice cream
*can also be made with vanilla cake mix – sub out coke with sprite and use any fruit (peaches, apples, blueberry, etc.)
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