(Editor’s note: Lilburn residents Susan and Jordan Shenefield, now in retirement, are having wonderful times this summer working at Yellowstone National Park, where they met years ago. Here’s a report on their summer experience. –eeb)
By Susan Shenefield, Yellowstone National Park | How does one spend six months living in a caldera, a large volcanic crater of the mouth of the volcano? We’ve been working and relaxing in Yellowstone National Park for a season!
The back story is I met my husband, Jordan, 45 years ago working summer jobs in Yellowstone as college kids. We’ve been married 43 years and our goal has been retiring and returning to give back to this Park we love so much.
So year 2016 the stars aligned for us to do that…and more, since this is also the Centennial Celebration of the National Park Service. We are ambassadors for Yellowstone.
The Shenefields stand near a historic Yellow Bus Touring car, built by White motor Company of Cleveland, Ohio, and first introduced in 1937. Once sold off by the park system, the touring car returned to operation at Yellowstone in 2007 and have been a photo magnet ever since.
I have been a retail associate in the Old Faithful Inn Gift Shop and Jordan is a bus driver/tour guide. Working is the means to an end – we get Yellowstone as our front and back yard while being immersed in the rhythm of the Park. The Park Service expects over four million visitors this year, most of those came during June, July, and early August.
Native American wisdom held that we belong to the land; the land doesn’t belong to us. The foresight to preserve this wilderness, which became the world’s first national park in 1872, is a gift to each of us. It comes with challenges. There are too many visitors with too little respect for the fragile environment. But we also see the joy of families coming to the Park to make life-long memories.
Humor goes a long way on days when tour buses never cease dropping off visitors, all sometimes unaware. I’ve been asked:
- “What do they do with the geysers at night?” (Nothing);
- “Did they stage a bison carcass in the middle of the river so visitors can watch a grizzly devour it?” (No).
And a true story: not understanding that this is truly a hands-off environment where the animals are owners and we are the guests, led a misguided Canadian to put a baby bison in his car; he thought it was cold.
We’ve seen how the Park has changed (fires of 1988, roads re-routes and improvements) and how the Park has stayed the same (Old Faithful, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone). Since this is the world’s first national park, Yellowstone has always been on the cutting edge…trying to figure out what visitors want while maintaining the unique, natural experience.
The richness of stories we have heard here will stay with us forever…a retired 9/11 firefighter seeking peace in America’s Parks from scars in his life; a mom scattering ashes of her son from a drug addiction death; parents bringing their children to Yellowstone as their parents had done years earlier; and of course the couples who, like us, met here and return to where it all began.
Our goal was to “open” (on April 19) and “close” the Park (on October 7). We are happy we did, but likely will do three month contracts in the future. Grand Canyon and Denali are on our immediate radar. There’s much to explore in our park system.
This time for us personally has been one of awe and wonder. The colors, the beauty, and visual snapshots are with us forever. The wall between “want” and “need” becomes sharper, clearer.
John Muir said: “In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.” Stay curious and find your Park.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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