Day 1- Got to Lake Hotel where the class was going to meet with just enough time to stop in at the bathroom. It was a long ride down with all of the bison being in Hayden and all of the tourists stopping to stare at the bison. We started off with a brief introduction of ourselves and why we took the class. "Hi, my name is Jessi. I'm the Research Librarian here and I've cataloged most if not all of the articles that Lisa [Morgan, the class instructor] has written  about the geology of the Lake and I'd like to understand some of them." But it's true. I'm a geology dunce and I'd really like to learn more about what's going on in the park so when people ask me questions, I can at least give a basic answer. Not necessarily patrons but family, friends, etc. Also, I'm tired of feeling left out of geological conversations. Okay, so I've not gotten into, nor listened to many geological conversations, but everybody here can speak about it better than I can and I'd like to be able to throw out at least a basic fact or two. Kind of like when Joey got the "V" volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Shouldn't life always be like TV? 
We got a brief overview of what we'd be learning. I had worked a ten hour day and then driven two hours to get to Lake so I was really embarrassed but I was having a LOT of trouble staying awake and was desperately relieved when Lisa ended the class for the night. Went over to Pat's (who graciously allowed me to stay at her place for the evening), had a glass of wine with she and fisheries Carrie (I can't remember her last name to my everlasting regret. One day I will learn how to remember people's names, this I vow!) and then went and tucked myself into bed.
Some random facts I learned:
The average altitude of Yellowstone lake is 7733 feet.
bathymetry- underwater topography
The oldest tuff in Yellowstone is Ridge Tuff
The Mammoth Travertine ranges from about 410-150 thousand years old