Geysers in Yellowstone

8/1/16

Dear B-,

How have you been doing? I hope it hasn't been too hot this week!

Yesterday, I arrived in Yellowstone. It's my first visit here. I entered the park through the entrance at West Yellowstone, Montana. Many years ago, a train used to take some visitors to the park. The train went through West Yellowstone. Can you imagine what it would be like to ride a train for many hours to get to the park?

After entering the park, I went south toward Old Faithful, the famous geyser. There is actually a lot of geothermal (heat inside the earth) activity in the park. There are many geysers, fumeroles (holes near a volcano where steam comes from), mud pots (hot springs filled with boiling mud) and hot springs. The best geothermal sight was definitely Old Faithful. It was impressive, even though it didn't erupt when it was predicted to. Old Faithful was nine minutes late!

hot springs

This is actually a mud pot, you just can't see the boiling mud

hot springs

Old Faithful

I look forward to seeing you in about a week and a half. I hope you will get a chance to do a couple more fun things before school starts.

Your teacher,

Elaina

P.S. I just read an interesting fact. Two-thirds of the world's geysers are in Yellowstone!

First Letter

Before leaving, I wrote a letter to each of my students. Here is one of them:

7/27/16

Dear H-,

I hope your journey to Africa goes well. How has everything been going?

While you are on your trip, I will be going on my summer vacation too. On Thursday, I will be going on a road trip. I am not exactly sure where I will be going yet, but my main destination will be Yellowstone National Park. That is the park where the Old Faithful geyser is. Have you heard of Old Faithful before?

Maybe you can look for pictures of it on the computer. I am really excited about my trip!

I will see you in 2 weeks when we both get back. Remember that while you are gone, we will be writing letters. As always, I will respond to your letters. Your calendar shows my expectations for your letters and extra practice. I hope you have a great two weeks, and I will see you when you get back.

I look forward to getting your letters!

Your teacher,

Elaina