"Stir" takes to the road again!

[Stir Young]

Hey, its me, Gary Young! You know, the smart alecky guy who was gonna go out west??? I thought I might try doing one of these blog thingies about my trip to Yellowstone Park and back.

So who is Stir? Well, that's been my nickname since I was in high school. I was originally called "Youngster" by one of my friends, I guess because I only looked about 12 years old when I was a Junior. As time went on, "Youngster" got shortened to "Ster", or "Stir", as I prefer to spell it, and people just ASSUMED that the shortened variety came about because I "stirred" up trouble. Why, nothing could be further from the truth....c'mon, you know me....I'm a peacemaker!

Well, anyway, about 2 years ago, I embarked on a quest to find people whom I'd worked with in Yellowstone Park in the summer of 1969. It became a cooperative project as I found others, and they started looking too. Along the way, we've been able to account for about 12 people, and the idea for an employee reunion came about. That reunion took place on August 14th and 15th 2009, in Gardiner, Montana, and the story that follows will hopefully tell a little about the summer of 1969 in Yellowstone Park, and my journey back there 40 years later.

And just who is that mischieveous looking guy up above? Why that's me, in the summer of 1969, of course.

[Stir Young]

As I headed into the Gibbon Canyon, following next to the Gibbon River, I came upon the construction zone. One lane was blocked while the oncoming lane of traffic came through. Then the opposite lane would be allowed to go. I only had to wait about five minutes and our lane was released.

This was a beautiful stretch of roadway, construction notwithstanding. I remembered it from 1969. What with watching the road, the traffic and the construction, I didn't get to look around as much as I'd have liked to, however.

Soon enough, I passed through to two lane road, and was on my way to West Yellowstone again.

[Stir Young]

This was another dramatic show of the thermal features in the park. It was still early enough in the day that the big crowds hadn't arrived yet. I took several pictures, and headed back out to the main road.

[Stir Young]

I entered the park through the Roosevelt Arch again, proceeded through Mammoth, and on to Norris Junction. This was the third time I'd made this run, and the road and sights were becoming familiar, although no less diminished in grandeur.

At Norris Junction, I turned toward Madison Junction. I had learned ahead of time that a portion of this road was under construction, and to expect delays of up to 30 minutes. Portions of the road were being located up and away from being right next to the Gibbon River.

I came upon a turn to go to the Artist's Paintpot, so I pulled in to take a look. I walked along a short trail to get to the site.

[Stir Young]

As my days in and around Yellowstone Park had unfolded, I actually had been formulating some rough travel plans for each day.

This being Thursday, August 13, I was going to see the first one of our reunion attendees later in the day. Arky had planned and arranged our reunion, and he and his wife would be the next to arrive at the Yellowstone Village Inn. I figured I had a lot of the day to continue my touring the park before I saw them. I decided to head to West Yellowstone, the western entrance into Yellowstone National Park.

[Stir Young]

I was easily amused....I took a shot like this at every room I stayed at on my trip!

[Stir Young]

This was my room the first night. It had a fly fishing theme throughout. Like the lobby and other common areas, the room was very clean. It also had a mini fridge.

[Stir Young]

Here's the exterior shot of the Yellowstone Village Inn.

All rooms were accessed through a central inside hallway. This place had a real western feel to it....all pine paneled in the lobby and hallways. It was very neat and clean. It seemed to be owned and run by a family, and the staff that I ran into were always very nice and helpful, and in a genuine way.

[Stir Young]

I got back in my car and headed through town on Route 89. At the outskirts of town, I came upon my home for the next four nights, the Yellowstone Village Inn. Due to my tardiness in making reservations, I was going to be in one room for tonight, and move to another one for the following three nights. Although of some minor inconvenience, I was like Keith Richards, "happy to be anywhere"!

[Stir Young]

I then drove down the street to the Town Cafe. I liked that breakfast I got a couple days before, and decided to stop again. It was about 4:00 o'clock Mountain Time, and that meant it was 6 my time. I was hungry!

I went in and found a table, although there were several people eating already. A waitress came up with the menu and water, and after a quick look, I decided on the fish dinner. Maybe it was just listening to those guys, but now i wanted fish. Of course, this was going to be deep fried cod, a little different than trout. It also came with soup, salad bar, rolls, veggie, and potatoes.

I ordered, and my meal came out quickly. I dug in, and it was very good. i really, really liked this place!

Suddenly, someone walked by to leave who looked very familiar. I pondered a few seconds, and remembered, it was Emma, the daughter of some long time friends of mine from back home. I believe I had met Emma only once or twice before. I followed her out to the cashier, and reintroduced myself. We were both pretty amazed at seeing each other so far from home. I knew Emma was working in the park that summer, but I hadn't tried to look her up. Thinking back, when I worked in the Park, I wouldn't have wanted to be bothered by old people from back home, especially ones that wanted to talk about how things were back in the day.

We had a nice chat, and I went back and finished my dinner. I left absolutely stuffed from all that food.

[Stir Young]

I backtracked into Gardiner, and came upon another place I wanted to check out, the headquarters of the Yellowstone Association. It was located just outside the Roosevelt Arch, but on the road that swung sharply to the right and entered the town immediately. This was an impressive structure, it appeared to be quite old and recently remodeled. I entered, and found myself in book heaven again. This was the largest, and most completely stocked of the several Yellowstone Association stores I had been in.

There were two older fellows working there, and a middle aged guy was questioning them about where he could get a good trout dinner. The three of them talked at great length about it, and the visitor was told to try the Lake Hotel in the park, apparently trout was no longer available at the Mammoth Hotel, and not available anywhere in Gardiner.

I browsed around, and of course found a couple more books that i wanted. I took them up to pay, and one of the salesmen broke away from the fish dinner conversation long enough to ring up my purchase. As I left, the three guys were still talking about trout dinners.

I guess I'm lucky, since I live so close to Lake Michigan, I can get get excellent fish dinners very easily.