The day began bright and sunny, a contrast from previous days, although we arose late enough that
breakfast was delayed, and we had to purchase our lunch before departing.  Driving back north,
we stopped at the mud volcanoes across from Sulphur Caldron (Which we discovered had a Ph of
around 1.5) and visited that area extensively before heading down to Yellowstone Canyon, where
we planned to take the Uncle Tom's Trail.  
  That trail proved to be roughly 300 metal steps down into the gorge, which was a beautiful 
and scenic trip down, but a hellacious trip upwards, due to the thin atmosphere.  After stopping
back in the car to empty the camera's contents onto the laptop, get a drink of water, and catch
our breathes, which took some time.
  After that, we followed the South Rim trail to Artist's point.  The trailed featured magnificent
glimpses of the canyon, which culminated in Artist's Point, which gave a complete view of the
river up to the lower falls.  This trip was relatively relaxed, although much of the trail seemed
mere feet from falling into the canyon below.  As before, my mother remarked about the absence of
people on the trails.  It appears most visitors only saw what was immediately accessible by car.
  We returned to Canyon Lodge up the road for our lunch and some shopping.  The local chipmunk
came out to beg for crumbs, and we noted how it was a smaller variety than we'd seen, with
black and white stripes, similiar to those we encountered earlier in the Grand Tetons.  After 
lunch, we departed to the Norris Geyser basin, which we had passed in earlier days on our way
to Old Faithful, but hadn't had time to visit.
  Norris Geyser basin had an excellent selection of geysers, at least equal to the Old Faithful area,
including some notables such as Pearl Geyser and the Steamboat Geyser.  The weather was sunny
and beautiful when we arrived, but as we began the second half of our tour there, a sizable snowstorm
loomed in the west.  We concluded our tour and drove back east, dodging the storm and returning
to our hotel by 5:30 pm.
  Our dinner appointments were at 8:15 pm, so we had plenty of time for hot showers and relaxation.
After sorting through the 50+ pictures we'd taken and taking a long, hot shower, we headed 
down to the piano room, where, at long last, I finished "Crime and Punishment" after intermittant
reading over 2 years, and decided that I didn't care for Merlots very much (Although the one
I was presented with was absolutely black.)
  After dinner, we retired to our rooms, and discovered that along with a Gideon's Bible, we had
a Jackson Hole phonebook.  Given the fact we couldn't find one in Jackson, and were 100 miles 
north of Jackson, we found this darkly humorous.