Greetings from Yellowstone National Park

I visited Yellowstone National Park many years ago as a teenager. Although I have visited many U.S. parks both before and since then, my fondest memories are of this park. It wasn’t an easy trip—my father was suffering from a chronic disease, Crohn’s disease, and had several flare ups during our trip. In addition, we were on a driving vacation from Texas. It was a long car trip with two teenagers in the car!

We stayed for a week in the park in one of the cabins along the lake, and greeted the sun every morning and experienced the sunset every evening with walks along the lakeshore, keeping an eye out for moose swimming across the lake and driftwood washed up on the shore. During the days we took long drives throughout the park, always alert for bear sightings. To my regret we never saw a single bear! But we did see many, many other animals as well as the magnificent landscapes of the park. To this day, some fifty years later, I attribute my fascination with landscape photography, although (another regret), no photos exist from this trip. The visit to Yellowstone also inspired me to learn about ecology and the environment, and to eventually become a high school environmental science teacher.

Due to my father’s illness, some of our day trips were undertaken without him, and thus shorter and less adventurous than the others; a drive to Gardiner, MT, to see the north gate of the park and the town associated with it, a guided boat trip on the lake (we did have a close-up encounter with a swimming moose!), and a driving tour of some of the campgrounds. Although, not all that we had planned for our park visit came to fruition, I will always fondly remember our adventures, and, someday, hope to return to this fabulous, magnificent park.

Sincerely,
Karen