Travels with Grace: Yellowstone National Park
In today’s #TravelingWithGrace she continues her visit to Yellowstone Park! To read more of Grace’s travels, click here.
Wednesday, July 16, 1947
Yellowstone Park, Wyoming
Weather: Fine
We took a ride to see the geyser basins all sizes and shapes but most of them some shade of blue or green. The one called The Punch Bowl has the most imposing rum curved out in scallops ad there is who whose edge is marked in stripes of gold shading thru orange to yellow (caused by the sulphate deposits). The steam makes waving plumes against the dark pine background and every now and then one of them erupts. We saw small twins go up at the same time, very interesting. Some of the coves are worn and form irregular grottos. They make a curious bubbling sound. The paint pot spits up bits of lava which look like fish jumping out of water.
Fishermen at the base of the Fairy Falls Bridge over the Firehole River in Yellowstone National Park, Teton County, Wyoming, c. 1922. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
We rode along the Firehole River which now and then foams over rocks in falls and cascades of wild beauty. There are many little museums as well as curio shops scattered thru the park and at stated intervals the park rangers give lectures on appropriate subjects and they answer all one’s questions with the greatest courtesy. The Continental Divide runs thru the park. Tonight, after much difficulty I got a phone call thru to Baltimore.
Thursday, July 17, 1947
Yellowstone Park, Wyoming
Weather: Fine
We rode around Yellowstone Lake which is simply beautiful with its crown of mountains – the Grand Teton Range, the sun lighting up its snowy crests. We stopped to look in at the Lake Hotel and the Park Fish Hatchery whence come the rainbows and cutthroat trout which stock the streams. We saw Natural Bridge, almost a replica in miniature of the one in Virginia. It is quite a sight to watch the anglers lined up in 2 solid rows along both sides of Fisherman’s bridge. Then we rode out to the South Gate, along Lewis Lake, saw the beautiful Lewis Falls and along the deep gorge cut by the Lewis River, to Moose Falls. After dinner we went to the little natural amphitheatre back of the hotel, where the seats are halved tree trunks laid in semicircles around the bowl and saw colored slides of the Park’s wild life, accompanied by a running commentary by a ranger, who also led community singing. Later we went to the Lodge and watched the dancing; quite a rough and ready crowd where anything goes and it is fun watching the kids sizing each other up. I never saw so many old women wearing slacks.
Friday, July 18, 1947
Yellowstone Park, Wyoming
Weather: Showers
As I came into the main lobby this morning there was great excitement. People were lined up on either side to form an aisle and a sight-seeing bus brought Governor and Mrs. Thomas Dewey of New York with their entourage and everyone started clapping. They passed very close to us. She is blond and nice looking, and he looks younger than his photographs. This afternoon I had a manicure and then we rode to see another geyser basin. The Fountain Geyser is one of the largest I’ve seen so far. We also saw Grotto Geyser erupt. It keeps up an hour.
Thanks for reading “Traveling with Grace,” a series where we’re sharing (and annotating) posts from the travel diaries of Grace Amelia Hecht, native Baltimorean, b. 1897 and d. 1955. As mentioned in my introductory post transcription errors sometimes occur and I’ve made my best guesses where possible, denoted by [brackets]. – Rachel Kassman, marketing manager