The old lodges in National Parks are usually pretty wonderful places. My favorite is still the one at Glacier. The old wood, the stone hearth at the fireplaces, the textures, and smells. You're always stepping back to a nicer time when you step inside. They're part of the history of the parks. Unfortunately most of the items I turned over in the gift shops had "Made in China" stamped on the bottom. I'd pick up something that looked Native American and there was that blasted little gold sticker with "China" on it. Really bugged me.
Below are a few old postcards showing the lodges at Bryce Canyon in Utah, Old Faithful in Yellowstone, Zion National Park in Utah, and Mount Rainier in Washington. I look at the one of Zion and can remember my father and me having lunch on the balcony porch a few years after my mother's passing. The parks always bring back good memories.
Click on image to see it larger.
And this copy is from the back of the Bryce Canyon card. The same copy is on the back of the Zion card below.
"Lodge Center, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, provides accommodations for guests housed in adjacent guest lodges. The lodge center contains hospitable lobby and lounge, attractive and commodious entertainment hall, spacious dining room, curio store, barber shop, and retiring rooms and shower bath for men and women."
And from the Yellowstone card:
"Old Faithful Inn, Yellowstone Park. Without this wonderful architectural creation how lame and lacking in completeness the Upper Geyser Basin would be. Words are almost useless in word-picturing this Inn--one must surely see and ramble about it and eat and sleep in it to know it. Go and do this and be happy!"
Click on image to see it larger.
And from the back of the Rainier card:
"Steam shovels have just dug channels through ten to twelve feet of snow to allow automobiles to reach Paradise Inn, Rainier National Park. The highway is usually open for traffic by July 1st."
Hopefully some of these will bring back memories to those who remember visiting parks as children on family vacations when the world seemed a little less scary and maybe even a little bigger.
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Thanks, I loved looking at these.
ReplyDelete"Go and do this and be happy." I love those words. I think that will be my new motto. Really.
ReplyDeleteOh, the Old Faithful lodge IS wonderful! We were there in 1988 during the big fire. It was just at the south entrance at the time, but later on it took gargantuan efforts to save the lodge. We visited 11 years later and it was still just as beautiful. It was amazing to see the regrowth of the forest, while the destruction was still evident.
Bryce and Zion are on my list of places to see.
I love the strange and vivid colors of these cards.
ReplyDeleteeloh, Glad you enjoy them. It's nice having people to share this with that understand the value. Otherwise I just sit on the floor going through them. People generally give them more than a brief look and then pass them back to me. You know, they have that look on their face. The "You're a little bit odd, aren't you?" look.
ReplyDeleteSusan, It is a nice saying, isn't it? Sort of odd copy to find on the back of a card. And yes, the Old Faithful lodge is great. I was there in 2006 and the ravages of the fire still go on for miles and miles and miles and...
Do get to Bryce, Zion, Arches, Capitol Reef, etc. Utah is full of some amazing land. Also visit the Navajo nation to see Canyon de Chelly and Monument Valley. Monument Valley at dawn will transform you.
Linda, I too love the colors. Black and white shots that were tinted. Take special note of the green rug in the set I posted today.
I can tell you, the Bryce Canyon Lodge still has the "hospitable lobby and lounge, attractive and commodious entertainment hall, spacious dining room, curio store" but no "barber shop, and retiring rooms and shower bath for men and women." Having worked in the Lodge for a year, I'm trying to work out where the barber shop would have been.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part about Zion Lodge is the ginormous tree out front on the lawn. I'm thinking it's a cottonwood, which means it could be rotting from the inside out as we speak! What will that gorgeous lawn look like without the shading tree? It doesn't even bear thinking about!
I loved the North Rim's Lodge. The dining room perched on the rim, looking out over the GrandCanyon. Amazing! The outdoor patio was VERY nice, for someone who didn't want to pay to go to the restaurant.
I wish I'd looked around the Bryce lodge the last time I was there. I was hungry and the place was packed so I just headed back to the campsite. I'm still kicking myself for not getting something to eat.
ReplyDeleteAnd YES! that tree in front of the Zion lodge. It's an amazing place. And I like that there are no cars driving around. Hated the bus because I got stuck next to a family that would not shut up the entire time the guide was talking, but did enjoy getting off and then not hearing anything but the water in the river and the wind in the trees. Ohhhhh, you're making me miss it right now. In fact right now I'd love to be wandering around in one of Butch Cassidy's old canyons in Capitol Reef.