Yellowstone Adventure 2017 - Day 22

  Today I planned to travel outside of the park. Got up early for breakfast and then church services. Our sunday's services were on the second floor of the old faithful inn overlooking old faithful. While we were singing "God of the universe", old faithful went off. It was great to see God's workmanship while we were worshipping Him. After services I headed to Big Springs and the Johnny Sack cabin. I was hoping I could get there before tourists showed up as I wanted to see if the moose would show up. I got there around 10am and walked around the spring to the cabin. It was sure peaceful but after a few minutes a lot of tourists showed up and I figured the moose would stay away. But I got to mess with the springs and to walk through the cabin again. I also had a nice conversation with the couple overseeing the cabin.
   After leaving the springs I decided to head to Virginia City for lunch along the Madison River. The day was great for a drive and the highway that runs along the Madison River and between two mountain ranges made the drive very beautiful. There were many many fisherman trying their luck in the Madison. I stopped and watched a few and watched the river roll.
  After an hour I reached the town of Ennis. I went through the town and headed to Virginia City, but decided to stop on my return to do some antiquing.  I decided to eat my lunch on an overlook heading to Virginia City. It was a great spot that overlooked the town of Ennis and the Madison River and the mountains in the background. I listened to the Cubs on the radio as I ate and enjoyed the view. After lunch I headed down the road and over the mountain. I reached Virginia City after about ten minutes. The place was packed but I managed to find a parking space on the street. I walked up and down the streets looking at old history and some shops. There was a place that sold home made knives. They were pretty cool but pricey. After walking I decided I needed some ice cream. They had a shop that made ice cream from scratch and it was very good.
   I headed down the road to Nevada City and looked around a little. That is the place that had the hotel with the two story out house. A unique site for sure.  The whole area came into existence because of gold mining and you can still see a lot of evidence of that mining throughout the area. The tailings make up several hills and you can see a lot of old mining equipment just lying around.
  I headed back to Ennis and got some cheap gas, at least cheaper than Yellowstone. I also stopped at a car wash and attempted to get the bugs off the front of my car.
   I then headed back to the park but decided to go through the 1959 earthquake area called Quake Lake. I uploaded several pictures of what happened that night in 1959 and how the area changed forever. Basically the area had a River running through it with many areas for tourists to camp. Then at night a major earthquake hit and a pretty good chunk of a mountain came down on top of tourists and damned up the river forming a lake that drowned many tourists also. They have set up a lot of signs explaining what went on that night and the results. A lot of memorials and reminders to those traveling through. It is a pretty erie area for sure.
  It was a pretty uneventful drive back to the dorm. Got back in time for dinner. I go on night shifts tomorrow so at least I get to sleep in.  Well that is about it. Take care and keep praying for each other.