A Long Weekend in Yellowstone Area

The first thing that comes to my mind as I am trying to write about my first Yellowstone trip is the geyser. People flock to see the old faithful billow smoke and water at regular intervals ignoring other geysers, which erupt without predictable pattern. The effect of the geysers were so deep in my mind that today while coming to office I saw a sprinkler from a distance and momentarily thought that it was a geyser!
It is quite amazing to think that the major portion of the park is a caldera. The geysers and the other geological wonders are nothing but the residuals of the major volcanic eruption that occurred millions of years ago. It is a quite astonishing view to see waters bubbling almost everywhere throughout the area of midway geyser basin to the mammoth hot springs.
Visit the official website of the park at : http://www.nps.gov/yell/
A little bit about my trip logistics if helps someone making a trip to Yellowstone from California.

Day 1:
I took a morning flight from San Jose to Salt Lake City on Saturday, July 1st, 2006. I reached Salt Lake City around 1PM and rented a car from the airport. I took I-15 N to drive via Pocatello and Idaho Falls to reach west Yellowstone in Montana. I found that Idaho was mostly barren land and ranches around. The lunch break at Perkins restaurant was nice with their delicious Santa Fe mini chimis. It was about 5 hours driving since the speed limit was 75mph at many places.
I stayed in Yellowstone Inn, which is a family owned cabin. The room was very clean and everything was made of varnished wood. There was a microwave and fridge in the room as well. It was just blocks away from the west entrance of Yellowstone.
By the time I freshened up and all it was close to 8PM. However, it being summer, there was light till 9:30PM around that area.
I drove inside the park and stopped at the fountain geyser area. The mudpots, bacteria mats and geysers at the backdrop of sunset were amazing.

I will write more about my trip soon, I gotta go now. In the mean time check out the park map as i will be using some of the area names from here: