Hitchhikers and Hot Water

We reached Old Faithful Village in time to catch an eruption of Grand Geyser - something I've always wanted to see.

This clip is of the geyser's encore performance - it started up again during the applause after the 'feature presentation.' The 120 degree geyser erupts for 9 - 16 minutes every 6 - 15 hours, sending water up to 200 feet into the sky. Grand is especially spectacular as it erupts simultaneously with Vent and Turban geysers (also visible in the video). A rainbow often appears in the steam. Grand was named by members of the 1871 Hayden Expedition.
On our way into the park though West Yellowstone, we stopped to get ice cream and met some Taiwanese park employees. We ran into them again as we were entering the park - they were standing near the entrance station with a 'need a ride to Old Faithful' sign. Of course we had to give them a ride and Jeff talked their arms off trying to remember his Chinese. They mentioned that they hadn't seen much of the park because it was hard to get rides, so we stopped to show them Grand Prismatic - the world's largest hot spring - a big rainbow puddle. When we reached Old Faithful they presented us with 'the best instant noodles in the world' and invited us to their dorm room for a traditional Taiwanese hot pot dinner.
Maybe it's Jeff's growing up next to David and his family from Taiwan, maybe it's our having spent 6 months teaching English in Taiwan, but we feel a certain affection for the Taiwanese.