What a difference the season makes. The last time we visited these parks was on a long, summer weekend in 2016. Traffic was stop-and-go then and most places in the parks near the road were so full of people that it was hard to walk on the paths.
This time, in near-freezing conditions, Maryanne and I were often the only ones at each site. The rest of the time, we would be sharing with no more than half a dozen others.
Yellowstone - beautiful scenery, geysers and hot springs galore
I was really looking forward to my favorite spot at Grand Prismatic Spring, but the increased steaminess in the cold weather made it hard to see. That and the induced snow caused the empty walkways to be a bit treacherous. Still, we know what's in all of that mist and it's pretty cool.
Grand Prismatic spring on a warm sunny day (2016) v when we went this year on a cold day when the mist hides the beautiful colours
As we descended from Yellowstone to Grand Teton Parks, winter arrived. Our last pass crossing was through a winter wonderland of fresh, heavy snow. Marie said they got almost a foot back at the cabin in Montana. Our rental car would have been stranded.
Once we gained altitude, the snow appeared - a magical winter wonderland
Grand Teton
With an eye on the clock, we reluctantly left Grand Teton way before we had our fill of the incredible views. We made it to Salt Lake City just at sunset and it was jarring to go from empty, wide-open spaces to a city filled with traffic crawling from one traffic signal to the next.
The road to Utah
It was a relief to pull off the main road into Mindy's quiet neighborhood. Her partner, Kim, greeted us with a smile and big hugs as if we were close family and not two people she had just met for the first time five seconds ago. We had just enough time to take our stuff in the house and get oriented before Mindy arrived, sparking a big, teary, huggy reunion.
The next day, we went to pick up her mom, my mother's big sister Linda, to come stay with us all during our visit. I thought I was generally holding it together pretty well, but when I saw her, I kinda choked up a little. She's probably the closest I can come now to hugging my actual mom and I guess it kind of just came out. I don't think anybody saw me, though.
Linda and Mindy have become the de facto family archive. They were the ones who drove down to Phoenix after Mom died and dutifully collected anything that looked like it may be important memorabilia. They hadn't had time to go through everything then, so with me and Maryanne there, the four of us got to see much of it for the first time. Since Maryanne and I were in Australia, we were saved the experience (and pain) of sorting through Mom's things at her house. Going through the carload of stuff that they had saved with Linda and Mindy made me feel like I got to have my own part of the process in some small way. Like every child, I wished that I could have done it with Mom before she had gone.
Going through the old photographs, Linda was especially good at identifying great, and great great grandparents from their childhood photos. It was then that I realized that all of those photos that parents take of their little kids so they can remember what they looked like at that age also eventually end up being for the kids themselves, and then the grandkids and so on. I wonder if my granddaddy knew when he was taking all of those pictures of his adorable, six-year-old daughter that his then-unborn grandson would end up flipping through them with a different sort of pride.
When things got to be too much, we took a break and drove up into the mountains for some comfort food and scenery. Also, I got to chuck a big, wet snowball into the middle of a pool that was empty, but still open. Jacuzzi, I understand, but who wants to go for a swim in an outdoor pool after a day on the slopes?
A trip up into the mountains and the Alta ski lodge/resort where we found hot cocoa and beautiful scenery
We then had what turned out to be an early Thanksgiving, when all of Linda's children came for dinner, plus some of their families. I haven't seen some of my cousins since we were kids in grade school. We are all grown up now. Most of them even have kids that are all grown up now as well. How strange, but I guess the ‘80s were actually more than a couple of weeks ago, even though sometimes it doesn't feel like it.
Because they see each other pretty often, it quickly became apparent that the main reason for this particular get-together was to see me and Maryanne. We had enough requests to put our photos on the big screen that we ended up doing an impromptu presentation for everyone. Maryanne was the last to know, but she took her new role as host in stride. I have a better memory of where and when each photo was taken, so it was my job to try to follow her narration with the associated images. She had a little bit of fun with this and deliberately jumped all over the place to see how well I kept up. My other task was that of all married people, which was to interrupt when I thought she was skipping the good part of the story.
It feels a bit strange for us to be the center of attention, but we understood that everyone was curious. Zoomed out, the bullet points of our life are unusual and skim over all the moments of uncertainty and self-doubt in between that lead to each of them.
A lovely time in UTAH with the Jamison Family - Aunt Linda and the cousins. A big shout out to the lovely Kim who kept us all well fed and made us so welcome
I often wonder if the whole life we have spent so much time and energy creating will someday vanish without a trace. All of our favorite photos of the amazing places that we have been will never be seen, the story will never be told and whatever worldly wisdom we may have accumulated will end up being for naught in the end. It was nice in this instance to feel the appreciation of family for it all. They did a pretty good job of replicating the unconditional pride that would have beamed from Mom's face had we made it back in time.
By the time the evening was winding down and people were starting to filter away to their cars, Kim had finished her magician's trick of stealthily cleaning up here while we were all looking over there. The usual three hours of dishwashing and tidying up required after a big party were completely unnecessary. Maryanne and I were particularly grateful since our plan was to leave the next morning while the stars were still out.
Location >> On google maps
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