Edward Rothstein has reviewed the new Old Faithful visitor center at Yellowstone. It opened last week.
I commend the article to you; I particularly liked this paragraph.
But as the symbol of one of the country’s most visited national parks, Old Faithful actually seems least faithful — least suggestive of untrammeled nature. From its measured eruptions to its paved surroundings, it can seem a manufactured extravaganza. Three hotels have grown around it, the most famous of which, the 1904 Old Faithful Inn, probably inspires far more gasps, with its fanciful, rustic, pine-log construction than the famed geyser’s jets of water. As for spectacle, the Bellagio’s Las Vegas fountains outdo nature, at least in this case.
Which is better, the Bellagio or Old Faithful?
Contextual, I’d say. Bellagio’s fine human engineering … Old Faithful’s good old-fashioned Mother Nature turning her hand to engineering. Feel that rumble, hear that roar, and knowing there are no engines involved … cool.
Old Faithful’s been ‘loved to death.’ I saw it when I was 13, and there were no paved verges, no boardwalks. Grass still grew around it, with park benches. No more. Now it looks like a plain on the moon, crisscrossed by overzealous asphalt engineers (pathways go all over the place, seemingly laid with no overall plan in mind other than to prevent people from actually walking on dirt).
I didn’t recognize it at all when I visited in 2005.