the pondering pomegranate: prowling the Lodge

there were two places i booked more than a year ahead of our arrival.

& the Old Faithful Inn was one of them.

it was totally worth it.

this was, by far, the best-kept lodge that we stayed in. immaculate. precise. constant sweeping, polishing, and greeting-of-guests. it didn't seem to matter how many times you stepped through those red doors, you were duly welcomed every single time.

there seemed to be primarily two groups of people working at these national park lodges: college kids and retired folks. generally, the kids were doing the grunt work (chambermaids & lads - is that the term? - floor sweepers, trash collectors, luggage haulers, etc.) and the retirees were behind the desks or cash registers. of the workers we chatted with along the way, every single one of them returned again and again to the parks. this included all of the rangers we spoke with, too. these are seasonal workers who love it so much that they piece together other jobs throughout the year so that they can pull up stakes and live&work in the park all summer long. what's interesting is that, overall, they are rather confined to the area of the park to which they are assigned. they don't get enough time off to travel the fairly vast distances to visit nearby parks (for example, certainly not enough time to go between Yellowstone and Glacier on your two days off), and some seemed to be so exhausted on their days off that they hadn't even explored much of their own little part of the park.

the tour director & her crew

our room was the one on the right just under the top dormer.

there were several instances, mainly at the lodges we stayed in, where i was reminded of the scene in my favorite movie where they are discussing whether one does or does not have a room with a view. we had one, and it was grand.

Mike admiring the view of Geyser Hill from our window.

countdown

the Old Faithful Inn's lobby is towering - as tall as a lodgepole pine, in fact.

at the very tippy-top, there is a treehouse!

that is no longer open to the public,

which is okay, as i'm not sure i want to be up quite so high.

even the iron door numbers are original.

surveying my view

for the historic lodges in Yellowstone, many rooms come with only a sink - the bathrooms & showers are down the hall. i think you can probably pay more for a private bath, but it's kind of fun (and reminiscent of camping) to tromp down the hall for one's ablutions. everything was just so darn nifty, don't you think?

not the robes, for your less-dressed commutes to the loo.

we took a hotel tour, which was interesting. apparently, any furniture in your room that is green is original. this piece, in our room, was the location for a sink bowl (above) & chamber pot (below) in days of yore.

the Tub Room was not on our floor, but i spied it one evening & returned the next day to investigate. indeed, there was a bathtub! in case one needed a good soaking and not just a hosing off.

the chimney was built with something like fifty tons of local rock.

i enjoyed these little double writing desks

with lovely green glass & brass overlays.

it was, actually, a little cool while we were in Yellowstone. they had a fire going every afternoon and evening, although only a few seats were close enough to really benefit. it was a nice effect, in any case. on the back side of the fireplace (actually, i think there was a fireplace on at least three sides of the chimney), they had a massive popcorn popper (no longer used). it weighed about twenty pounds.

snagged a seat our last morning to enjoy my coffee....

the dining room waitstaff getting their assignments.

we didn't eat in the dining room, but it certainly looked pretty.

so, it was a bit of a shock to their systems to be

without wifi, cellphone service, and televisions,

but everyone rallied & enjoyed a few brisk games of cards one evening.

it was great to see many groups of travellers

breaking out the cards and the board games.

reassuring that people still know how to play them!

i have to thank my own parents for teaching the boys

some card games, as i can remember little more than 'go, fish.'

there was a viewing deck on the front of the hotel where you could perch yourself & still see Old Faithful erupt. with our window open, we could often hear some of the conversations on the deck, which was amusing for the most part.

photo by Mike

so, yes, the pine beetle seems to have decimated vast swaths of lodgepole pine in the Black Hills & beyond. i had assumed this was a more recent pest; however, on the hotel tour, the guide pointed out these tracks in all of the wood used in the hotel (at least the wood that generally retained its original tree shape) & said that it was the work of the pine beetle, which had burrowed through the wood and left behind the fantastic patterning. so, i guess it's been around for a while.