With events from the campground now over with we get up the next morning in high spirits about our day. We had a whole park to explore and two people who had never been there before. 

With the morning light slowly coming into play I made my way out on the path behind our campsite with Lylah. She had total freedom on the other side of the fence and quickly realized that there were chipmunks to chase. In high spirits of wanting to play and totally excited for adventure she takes off after them. The day was a nice cool 40 degrees when I got up and with the sun slowly climbing up and the clouds disappearing the temperature was getting a little warmer. She and I just walked around and checked out the scenery. We were in Yellowstone after all and we finally got a break from the craziness that had been happening for days. For Lylah I am sure this was a nice break from the normal everyday routine of driving everywhere and being in a truck all day. 

After an hour we finally came back to the truck and warmed up. Dad and K were enjoying some coffee and when I got in my seat with Lylah we took off towards the town. The first matter of business was getting the window fixed. We go to the hardware store and get the supplies he needs and in a matter of 20 minutes, the window is being held up by paracord. Feeling better about the situation we all felt our spirits go up from the solution. Our stuff was safe and Lylah had security for when we had to leave her in the car. 

Once that was completed we went and picked up our bibs. If you signed up early you got a t-shirt and a water container to take with you on the race. Happy about the shirts we finally made our way to the coffee shop and talked about the race. K was doing the 5k which was later this evening and we were interested to hear her feedback since that was part of our course as well. Excited that we may have finally put the worst behind us we got to the coffee shop and got some caffeinating in our bodies. We had a full day of exploring to do. Going to the gate we enter the park and immediately we run into what I call, Bison Traffic. Everyone and their mother pulls over, slows down, stops, and takes photos when bison are out at this park. It's literally a beacon for people and they all make their way towards them to take photos. After thirty minutes we get through the traffic and make our way to Ol Faithful so my dad can see it in action. 

Now today was mostly about my Dad and K got to see the sites I knew were important. I had seen them all already and more but I wanted them to enjoy their stay and see everything I could so with me navigating we made our way to Ol Faithful. Asking around I knew that we had some time before we it went off so I let my dad and K go into the shop to get some souvenirs. Knowing that it could be a minute I settled with Lylah and let her take in the sights and do some small training in the big crowd we were in. Opportunities like this don't come often for us. 

Once they were out of the shop we got our seat up front and watched as Ol Faithful goes off. Even Lylah got to enjoy it. It was my second time seeing it and it was just as wonderful the second time as the first time. 

When ol faithful was done we continued on our journey. During this time we did one small hike, got to see one new area, and made our way to the springs up towards the North corner of the park. ONce we got to see Mammoth Springs we decided the best thing to do was head back to the race area. K had to do her race and we were excited for her to do the run. 

Arriving at the parking area my Dad and I sat as she went to do her race. They had the announcements over the radio so we listened as they rambled about their new protocols because of covid. That they would send out our medals, nobody could wait for you at the end of the race, and so on. We listened as people were being announced and finally we heard K be announced and saw her run to the car. She opened the door and had a medal around her neck. Apparently, all those covid restrictions were bull...of course. So we smiled a small smile and listened as she gave us an idea of what the first three miles were like. From what we gathered, flat, a little rocky but easy for the course. 

Satisified we decided to go ahead and go and get dinner and turn in early. My dad and I had to be up early for our race since it started at 6:45....yea 6:45 a.m 

With our thoughts on early bedtime and knowing that we were all satisfied from the day's events, we turned in for the night. Little did we know that this race was going to kick our asses....literally