A Weekend Of Firsts

My apologies to anyone who may have checked here last week and found nothing new. My resolve to update this weekly hit a bit of a snag and I missed last week, but I am back now with renewed resolve. On we go........

Back when I was in college, for awhile my brother and I were roommates. This created some rather interesting moments as we are very different people, but if we had not been roommates, I'm not sure if a couple of my national park adventures would have ever happened. This includes my first visit to world's first national park.

My brother and I shared the apartment with two other guys, one of whom got engaged during the school year. We got along very well with Dave and his betrothed, Jeanine, and when they set the date they asked me if I would be willing to take pictures at their wedding. They had seen many of my photos and rather liked them, as I recall, and thought it would be nice to have someone they liked and trusted do the photography. I was rather hesitant at first because I had never done any wedding photography, but since they were friends, I told them I would be glad to do it. I knew it would be a good experience, though I did feel a bit of pressure because this was a major event in their lives and my experience had been mainly landscapes rather than people. As it turned out, one of their parents (I do not remember who's at this point) decided there was no way that an amateur could be trusted with such important photos, so they hired a professional. Still, I promised that I would be there anyway and still take photos. 

They had planned an August wedding that would take place up in Idaho. As their big day approached and my brother and I made plans to head up to Idaho Falls, my brother decided that he had to have a car. I do not recall precisely why this was the case, but he was dead set on getting one for our trip. We spent a little time looking around for cars, with him settling on a blue GEO Metro. I am pretty sure that price was the primary factor in his decision, but there was one small irregularity in his choice, namely that the car had a manual transmission and my brother had no idea how to drive a stick. I knew that I could teach him if I needed to, but by the time he had purchased the car, we only had days before the wedding. As a result, I became the designated driver of my brother's new car.

The wedding was on a Saturday morning as I recall, and Dave had generously offered us a place to stay in Idaho Friday night, so we headed out Friday afternoon. Saturday morning and the wedding were both beautiful, with perfect weather for photos outside in a very pretty location. My first attempt at wedding photography also because my first experience being an amateur photographer seen as an interloper by a professional. This guy was anything but welcoming, and in the days before digital photography, the whole process was much more involved and somewhat technical from what I could see. He had all this fancy equipment and here I was with my fully manual Fuji, clearly no competition but still treated as if I was somehow treading on his hallowed ground. I ended up staying out of his way, trying to get the more candid moments that happened when the pro was busy posing and setting up his shots. I like to think that I took some very nice photos that day because the photo that Dave and Jeanine hung on the wall of their apartment was one that I had taken. I still have some prints somewhere, though I gave them a set as well as all the negatives.

After the wedding, the families had arranged a luncheon and Dave and Jeanine both invited us to stay, but my brother and I felt a bit like we were in the way as far as their families were concerned, so we thanked them for their kindness and decided that we would head back. As we were getting ready to go, realizing how close we were to Yellowstone, I told my brother that it would be a shame to be so close and not take the opportunity to go. I told him I would cover the gas and the entrance fee, so he decided that it might be fun to see a place we had only ever seen on TV (Disney anyone?). So rather than head back to Provo, we set off for Yellowstone National Park.

Now, on a map, Yellowstone looks much closer to Idaho Falls than it really is in travel time. We also thought that the drive would be a bit more scenic, but it seemed at the time that it was not very interesting until we got close to Island Park. It also seemed to take forever, probably just because we were growing more excited the further we travelled. We finally arrived in West Yellowstone, where we grabbed something to eat as we drove, and approached the entrance station. I do not recall what the entrance fee was at the time, probably something like $15, but imagine my surprise when we got to the gate to pay and the ranger gave us a map and welcomed us to Yellowstone, but did not ask for a fee. He explained that it was a free fee day, and I could not believe that our last-minute decision to visit coincided with the one day of the year (at that time) the park was free. We could not believe our luck.

The drive from the West Entrance was pretty amazing. We saw some wildlife, including bison and a fox that was just standing in the road as we approached, but took off once we got a bit too close. We stopped at a couple of the thermal features along the way, but our goal was , of course, Old Faithful. We knew we had very limited time since we both had to be back in Provo by Monday, so we knew we had to see the most iconic feature first, even if we saw little else. As we drove toward Old Faithful, I remember running into a small snow storm in the higher elevations on the way; just enough to be surprised to see snow in August, but not enough to cause any real problems driving.

I still remember how amazed I was to see Old Faithful. Here was something we had heard about, seen on TV, and read about since we were both kids. I still remember seeing the Disney show on TV about Yellowstone; the one with the bears begging at cars and people fishing off Fishing Bridge. It seemed somewhat unreal to me that I was actually standing there watching the geyser with my own eyes. I was finally seeing something I had never seriously thought I would see and it was everything that I could have hoped for. I fell in love with Yellowstone at that moment. We even waited around to see Old Faithful erupt again before we realized it was getting late and we had to decide what we were going to do.

My brother, having no idea how these things worked, suggested that we try to stay at the inn. I explained to him that it would be very expensive if they even had a room available, which I told him was extremely unlikely. He said he wanted to try anyway, so we walked to the inn on our quest for the holy grail. As we entered the inn, I was amazed at how spectacular the building was on the inside. The architecture and construction was literally breathtaking. How they managed to build something so large and complex using the natural materials they had is truly amazing. Here was a sight that was as impressive to me as a structure as Old Faithful had been as a natural wonder. I remember thinking back to the fires that threatened the inn in 1988 (we were there in '89) and being so glad that they did not destroy one of the true man-made wonders of the world.

We waited our turn at the desk in the lobby, and as my brother stepped forward, I held back a bit because I was certain of what was coming. I was embarrassed for him, and admittedly for myself by association. He explained that we had come to the park at the last minute and we really did not want to drive back in the dark, so he was wondering if they might have a room available. The lady at the desk smiled and was very polite as she explained to him that the inn was completely booked and that people normally make reservations well in advance in order to secure a room there. He thanked her, and we returned to the parking lot wondering what we were going to do. We finally decided that we should probably sleep in the car and head back in the morning.

If you have ever been in a GEO Metro, you will know how very small they were. My brother had the luxury of being able to recline a bit in the passenger seat, while I was rather uncomfortable behind the wheel. It was also a rather cold night for August, and we did not have any blankets or jackets with us, so we ran the car to get it warm, then tried to get some sleep right there in the parking lot for Old Faithful. I did not sleep much, though my brother seemed to drift off immediately and sleep like a log. At some point I remember thinking that I did not know if we were allowed to park there overnight, and I became worried that there would be a knock at the window and an irate ranger would be asking us to leave. I finally decided I was not going to wait for that knock, and I started the car and headed off back toward the west entrance.

It was about 3AM as I left the parking lot and headed north. My brother did nothing more than stir a bit in his sleep. I remember the mist and fog in the park being so thick in places that I was driving about 10 miles per hour, hoping I did not have a deer, moose, elk, or bear loom up in the fog just as I hit it with my brothers new car. Along the Firehole River, the fog seemed to hover directly over the water rather than along the road, creating quite the otherworldly scene. I remember driving for what seemed a very long time in the dark and fog, when I located another parking lot where I decided it was safe to park and try to get some sleep.

I am pretty certain that I stopped in the Norris Geyser Basin parking lot. I remember feeling like I had just fallen asleep when I heard this roar that I am pretty certain was Steamboat Geyser erupting. It was not a major eruption, I am sure, because many years later I heard a major eruption (a story for another time) and this one was not quite as loud, but it was loud enough to wake me up as my brother slept on. I thought about getting out of the car and looking for the geyser, but the fog was still pretty thick and I really did not want to stumble on something unpleasant in the dark, so I stayed put.

The sun finally started to come up and the fog started clearing when my brother woke up from the sleep of the dead and asked me where we were. I told him I was not sure and I told him how I had spent most of my night while he slumbered. I don't know if he believed anything I said aside from the fact that were were no longer in the Old Faithful parking lot.

As I recall, we decided to head up to Mammoth to see the terraced hot springs there, then drove the loop down past Tower Falls and back to Old Faithful for one more viewing before heading home. I remember seeing some of the devastation caused by the '88 fires and wondering how long it would be before those scars healed. Having been back several times in the last 30 years, I am still amazed at how quickly nature recovered. Disappointed that we could not spend more time seeing other sights, we drove back through West Yellowstone; sad to be leaving but glad to find someplace to grab some food before the long rive back to Provo.

Though it was extremely short for such a large park, my first trip to America's, and the world's, first national park was extremely memorable. I knew I would be back at some point, though it took awhile before I returned. This year my wife and I were able to reserve a campsite at the Bay Bridge campground, making it the first time we will have gone to Yellowstone in back-to-back years. It is an amazing place with so much to see and explore, so much wonder to experience. Preserving this unique place, and starting the National Park system, was truly one of the finest things this country has ever done.