Day 4 Yellowstone National Park

We wake up to the sound of rain on the roof of our tent - good thing we put the rain cover on! Fortunately it only lasts a few minutes. After a short talk with the ranger where he tells us that there's a bear that's been hanging around our campsite for the last week, we head out to the Yellowstone General Store for some breakfast. Unfortunately we arrive after breakfast is over so we get lunch instead. We somehow manage to time it exactly right and walk up to Old Faithful a minute or two before it um.... shoots? blows? erupts? geyses? Anyway, we see it happen - pretty exciting - and then we head out to the trail that our server from the night before suggested, the mystic falls trail. The trail starts just past the midway geyser basin where we see some really pretty turquoise and deep blue sulphur pools. Before setting out on the trail we read the bear warning sign which advises "stand your ground if a bear charges most are false charges" - very comforting. It also suggest playing dead if a bear attacks - so basically you're just screwed. Undaunted we head up the trail which winds up a mountain to where you get a really great view of the park and the falls below. Afterwards we have worked up quite a sweat and decide to head over to firehole river where you can swim in a certain section. The water is surprisingly warm although the area is pretty crowded - perhaps the two are related? We have a nice leisurely swim and then head out of the park to the town of West Yellowstone for some groceries to prepare our meal for the evening. As we have absolutely no cooking utensils our options are limited - we decide on sausage and a bell pepper to cook over the campfire as well as a can of soup with a pull-top that we can cook in the can. The sky keeps threatening to rain so before starting our campfire we ask the ranger if he thinks it will rain. His response "It hasn't rained nothing to spit at in a looong time, we drier now than we were in the fire of 99" Okay then. It sprinkles a little bit but we cook our meal without too much problem - it's surprisingly good for something cooked with absolutely no utensils. Right after we finish up the thunder starts, the sky crackles every now and then with a flash of lightning. The rangers come by and let us know that there's a bear at the other end of the campsite and that if we see it we should let them know. Ten minutes go by and the storm seems to be getting closer, sleeping in he car is looking like a better and better option. More rangers drive by - the bear is now between two tents at the end of the road. We head down in the car to see if we can see anything. No luck, but it starts to rain and the lightning is getting closer, it sounds like it's right on top of us. Maybe we'll just hang out in the car for a bit. We cruise around the park for a little while in the car until the storm passes. A few minutes go by and the rain stops, we get back to our campsite and as Marc steps out of the car our neighbor asks "Deed you ear zer ees a bear een ze campground" Ahhh a Frenchie.