巴士之旅（5）：一步一景

我们在黄石公园的中心，走在长长的木板路上。远远的，是烟雾缭绕中的蓝天白云。一块块分割出来的水田，显露出硫磺缤纷的色彩，倒映着亦红亦蓝的天宇。一步一景，一步一回头，我们醉了，呆了，全然在时间中凝固了。

我们痴痴地观赏着，忘却了导游关照的时限。看一眼，再多看一眼，眼睛成了幸福的宠儿，当然耳朵也有耳朵福，聆听着冒泡的水声与泥声。拖后腿的人很多，我们不是最后的那个。一车都是中了邪术的游客，互相制约着，在如梦似真的景色中挪动着。。。导游真通人性，没有指责，没有抱怨，连迟到唱歌的规则也忘了。

接着观看了老忠实泉，每隔九十分钟，依然喷出冲天的泉水，只是比起十年前小多了，只有那时一半的高度。同车的有二十年前去过的，据说那时是需要穿雨衣的，不然会被淋得浑身透湿。

依依不舍地，终于离开了黄石公园，来到了大提顿国家公园。我们在Jackson Lake Lodge吃午餐，这是一座非常漂亮的建筑，前面是大提顿最大的Jackson湖，湖的彼岸是气吞天地的雪山。这是仙境，又是地狱，到处都是游客，根本找不到坐下来吃的地方。大家又迟到了，这一次却不是我们之过，导游没有料到排队这么长，而且服务的速度非常之慢。

回头的路很长，我们经过了Jackson Hole，一个山区中的富镇。又逗留了Idaho瀑布城，也算是蛮有特色的一个人工瀑布。

儿子的记叙

Today was our second day of Yellowstone National Park. Today mostly saw Yosemite’s volcanic features. We started off with an area with numerous hot springs, mudpots, and geysers. The hot springs looked really nice and comfortable in Yosemite’s chilling weather, but they reeked of sulfur and had a temperature of over 150 degrees Fahrenheit. More interesting were the mudpots, which contained hot muddy water and contained many furious bubbles. Finally there were the geysers. Most of the geysers were not erupting when we looked at them, so they looked like hot springs, but there was one that was erupting. It looked like a fountain, except it was spewing out boiling water. We then moved onto the Old Faithful Geyser. The eruption time was predicted to be within 3 minutes, and the eruption was quite large. The only drawback would be that the eruption was quite small compared to ones decades ago. After the Old Faithful Geyser, we moved south to take a peek at the Grand Tetons before driving back west towards California. We ended up at Idaho for the night.

女儿的分析

Grand Teton vs. Yellowstone National Park

Name of National Park	Good	Bad
Grand Teton	Great lodges! Elk migration area Scenic view Lots of activities	Long lines for food
Yellowstone National Park	Opportunities to watch mudpots/geysers/hot springs Lots of wildlife	Volcano (do I need to say anything else?)

Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Park are in relatively the same area. Yellowstone is more famous. Therefore it’s better, right? Don’t be too sure. Grand Teton has great lodges and is full of scenic mountains. (Unfortunately, the lines for food are impossibly long.) The mountains are picturesque because there are no foothills to block it. They just jut up from the ground. Plus, there are tons of activities to do: hiking, fishing, horseback riding… you name it. Yellowstone National Park is a volcanic hotspot. The lava underground makes it full of mudpots, geyers, hotsprings, and geysers. Mudpots are really hotsprings that are full of mud. The problem with Yellowstone is that its major attractions are all powered by a volcano that it overdue for an explosion. You can’t so much as go on a 5-mile hike because of the hazards constantly shifting across the ground. Hotspring water can even be acidic. And who wants to step through a bubbling mudpot? So, you can decide which one is better to visit.