巴士之旅（5）：一步一景

我們在黃石公園的中心，走在長長的木板路上。遠遠的，是煙霧繚繞中的藍天白雲。一塊塊分割出來的水田，顯露出硫磺繽紛的色彩，倒映著亦紅亦藍的天宇。一步一景，一步一回頭，我們醉了，呆了，全然在時間中凝固了。

我們癡癡地觀賞著，忘卻了導遊關照的時限。看一眼，再多看一眼，眼睛成了幸福的寵兒，當然耳朵也有耳朵福，聆聽著冒泡的水聲與泥聲。拖後腿的人很多，我們不是最後的那個。一車都是中了邪術的遊客，互相製約著，在如夢似真的景色中挪動著。。。導遊真通人性，沒有指責，沒有抱怨，連遲到唱歌的規則也忘了。

接著觀看了老忠實泉，每隔九十分鍾，依然噴出衝天的泉水，隻是比起十年前小多了，隻有那時一半的高度。同車的有二十年前去過的，據說那時是需要穿雨衣的，不然會被淋得渾身透濕。

依依不舍地，終於離開了黃石公園，來到了大提頓國家公園。我們在Jackson Lake Lodge吃午餐，這是一座非常漂亮的建築，前麵是大提頓最大的Jackson湖，湖的彼岸是氣吞天地的雪山。這是仙境，又是地獄，到處都是遊客，根本找不到坐下來吃的地方。大家又遲到了，這一次卻不是我們之過，導遊沒有料到排隊這麽長，而且服務的速度非常之慢。

回頭的路很長，我們經過了Jackson Hole，一個山區中的富鎮。又逗留了Idaho瀑布城，也算是蠻有特色的一個人工瀑布。

兒子的記敘

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.

女兒的分析

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.