[Geysers] 7/25 Giantess

[Donnie Grisso]

Betty and I just returned home from a fabulous 18 day trip to the park. Since I saw very little posted on the list serve I thought I would give my details of the 7/25 Giantess eruption. On our last full day in the park, Betty and I had had a great day. We saw Oblong twice ( 10:09 and 14:47). About 3 minutes into the 14:47 Oblong, the Beehive indicator was called at 14:50. Hoping for a long indicator we hoofed it to the hill and just made it as Beehive erupted at 15:03. We also saw Depression at 10:57 and Aurum at 11:31. I also saw my 10th consecutive 1 burst Grand ( is that some sort of record ? ) at 14:19. My luck was so bad at Grand and the 1 bursts that Mary Beth asked me jokingly if I would mind staying away? Mary Beth, I'm gone now and hope the current Grands are doing better.     
   
  Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. Having already had a great day, and preparing to head for home the following morning, Betty and I decided to try to catch Aurum one last time. After about 45 minutes, Kitt Barger called us to meet her and the boys at the cafeteria for dinner. It was around 18:10. As we were walking in, we were standing directly in front of the Giantess sign when Betty decided to take one last look at Aurum. All of a sudden we heard this loud "swoosh" and loud thumps and realized the entire Giantess pool was lifting. Talk about excitement!!!!!! I immediately called "Giantess, Giantess " on the radio. I was so excited, I forgot to call the time but it was 18:15. The VC asked "Can you repeat that?". Betty got on the radio and said "G-I-A-N-T-E-S-S!!!" I then said something like "massive overflow at Giantess." Paul Strasser mistook this for "Mastiff overflow at Giant ". It didn't take long for everyone to figure it out as all the gazers converged
 on the hill in a hurry. Kitt got there first and could still hear and feel the thumps.The first pause was at 18:42, and the second series started at 18:51. At 19:18, we had the cool "train roar" as Giantess converted from water to steam. This lasted a good 15 minutes. Scott Bryan said on a scale of 1 to 10, this Giantess was only a 4, but standing in front of it when it erupted was a 15 for me. Twice in the past, I had walked off the hill only minutes before Giantess erupted, so it was like the geyser gods were saying, "Donnie, this one is for you." At 22:49 we had the initial Vault. There were enough flashlights that it was like seeing it in the daylight. The duration was 25 minutes. What a day!!!!!!!!!
   
  In 18 years of geyser gazing, it is hard to believe that in a 2 day period, we saw one of the all time great Giants ( 7/23 ) from the beginning and then got to call the start of the 7/25 Giantess. ( not to mention the 7/13 Giant which I also saw from the beginning in the monkey cage ) If this is all a dream, I do not want to wake up!!!!!!
   
  Thanks to all our geyser gazing friends who made this a truly memorable trip. The geysers are great, but the geyser gazers are truly special. We both already miss everyone and can't wait for next summer. Until next time............
   
  Donnie and Betty Grisso
      
   
   
   
   
   
   


 			
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