Old Faithful

*this post is a couple of days old…we haven’t had Internet for the past two days, due to some storms.  I managed to find a place that has Internet, so here come the posts:

It was Thursday, and my first day back to work from my Tuesday-Wednesday weekend.  It was my “Monday” and also my “Friday.”  I had to work breakfast and lunch, and then I would be on another weekend.  As soon as I got done with my lunch shift, I went back to my dorm and got ready for dinner. My friends Megan, Josie, and Matt were all at Old Faithful for the day, hiking, and they had dinner reservations at 8:45. I told them that I would meet them there after work. I was extremely tired, having worked a double (breakfast and lunch), and having not gotten to sleep until 2 am the night before (I had a bit too much homemade Yucca alcohol, made by one of the sous chefs, and stayed out later than I had wanted to). But despite my fatigue, I really wanted to go to Old Faithful, and so I mustered what was left of my energy, and got ready to go.

I went to the recycling bin in the dorm and found a nice bit of cardboard. On it, I wrote,

I grabbed my wallet, and headed out the door.
I got a ride quickly, out of the Lake Area, but they were only going a couple of miles down the road. Old Faithful is about 30 miles from Lake, and it takes a good 45 minutes to get there. But it was only around 6 pm, and I figured there must be people going that way at this hour. I got out of the first hitch on a bridge, and began thumbing again.

Only a couple of minutes later, a tan car with two men in their early fifties pulled over. They stopped a ways up the road from me, and at first I wasn’t sure if they had stopped for me or just stopped at the pullout for some map-reading or whatever it is that tourists do when they pull over. The driver got out, and began rearranging things in the backseat, so I figured they were stopping for me. He waved, and I started jogging over.

I hopped in the car, and had the pleasure of riding with two really great people, Joel and Mitchell (I am not sure that the passenger’s name was Mitchell, because I’m not great with names, but I think that was it). They were from Phoenix, and had driven up here for a two week vacation. They are elementary teachers; Joel teaches 6th grade, and Mitchell teaches Physical Education. They were so fun to talk to! We shared stories about our jobs, and I told them about the inner-workings of being a park employee. They were interested to hear about where I’ve been and what I’ve accomplished, and I was interested in hearing about their lives too.

They were going South, and Old Faithful was quite a ways out of their way (about 40 miles roundtrip). But they insisted on taking me all the way there. We were so immersed in conversation that it didn’t seem like a long ways, but I was still very touched that they were so willing to help. I offered gas money, and they refused. As we pulled up to Old Faithful, Mitchell handed me some money and insisted that dinner was on them. Oh no! I couldn’t accept this! They insisted. I accepted their kind offer, and thanked them profusely.

It’s people like this that keep my faith in people so strong. I often feel cynical about society and the way people treat each other, and it’s hard not to look around and see all the darkness that surrounds us. But in the midst of it all, there are people that just want to help another person out, or learn about someone else. I am inspired by these people, who remind me not to think all is lost when it comes to humankind.

I got out of the car and started walking towards the main lodge. I had never been there before, and I didn’t realize there were multiple restaurants. I decided to go into the main restaurant and check if my friends’ reservation was for there. I walked past the smoking geyser on my way to the restaurant, still holding my cardboard sign. I checked with the hostess, and indeed, the reservation was for that location, in about an hour and a half. I started walking back outside, towards the geyser, thinking I could just spend the next hour or so hiking around. There were so many people that I knew it would be impossible to find my friends. Then,

“Anoush!!!” Megan was running after me. She had seen me at the reservation desk!

Yay! I followed her upstairs, and we met with Josie and Matt out on the deck, poised to watch the geyser blow.

Watching Old Faithful spew was not as exciting as I had imagined. I thought it would be an epic volcanic burst, but alas, it was just like a fire hydrant that had been destroyed by a car. I mean, it was cooler than that, but it wasn’t shocking. I guess it would have been if I didn’t know it was there. I drifted into daydreams: what if I was a buffalo just wandering around near the geyser a couple hundred years ago. That would be quite the little surprise to run into. I heard about a buffalo that fell into a hot spring–one of the way-too-hot hot springs–and he came out of it barely alive. I wonder if any buffalo have wandered over the Old Faithful geyser…

Dinner was good, but I have to say, the menu at Lake Hotel is better. The Old Faithful lodge was much nicer, though, and I definately was a bit jealous of the atmosphere. It looks like a cool place to work. I’m excited that I will be transferring to that location at the end of September.

After dinner, we went into the bar area, where it was just employees. I sat next to an interesting person who had no shoes on, and was drinking something that looked like chocolate milk with ice. We talked for a while, and he told me about life at Old Faithful. He got me the same thing he was drinking, which turns out was a White Russian. I had never had one before, and it was amazing!  The employees I met at Old Faithful were awesome.  They seem to have a good time.

We left around 11, realizing it would be a long ride back, especially in the dark since you have to drive more slowly. I was exhausted. I felt bad, but I took a snooze on the way back. I woke up still miles away from Lake.

“Dude, are we there yet? This is such a long drive!” I was so tired. The next day I had big plans for an adventure to Bozeman, and I wanted to get some sleep. We finally got home and quickly went our separate ways to our cozy beds.