They really did pave paradise and put up a parking lot
They took all the trees And put them in a tree museum And they charged all the people A dollar and a half to see 'em
It's a week ago Saturday. It's our second day at Yellowstone National Park. We arrived late the day before and only had time to check out one site. Old Faithful. A full day and thousand of acres of nature awaits us.
There's one thing I really want to see. The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The photos I've seen look awesome. The rock formations and waterfalls are stunning. I need to see if it's as good live as it is on film.
We're driving through the park for about an hour when we arrive at the canyon's location....at least we thought it was the canyon's location. Turns out it was a huge parking lot with a bunch of stores, bathrooms and a couple of cafes. Okay...I can use a bathroom trip and a bottle of water.
As long as we're there, let's take a peek inside the store. We have plenty of time. Hmmmm...what do we have here? T-shirts! Dozens of different styles of t-shirts. Hmmm...what's over there? Glasses and coffee cups. Dozens of different types of drinking utensils. You need a cup with a photo of a bison on it? This is your place! Talking about bisons....there's a huge stuffed one in the front of the store. You can place your kids on it for a photo op. You can even stand in front of it and take a selfie.
Any souvenir you can think of, this was your place!
After walking around for for a few minutes, I gravitated back to the stuffed bison. I watched a man take a pic with his daughter. Then, I took this selfie. Afterwards, we made eye contact and both started laughing. It led to this discussion:
Me: Can you believe they have a place like this in this park? Dude: They really did pave paradise Me: And put up a parking lot
It's always nice to find a kindred spirit to share a Joni Mitchell song lyric!
I'm realistic and realize that a place like this store is needed. Hey, everyone needs to get their chachkies (it's yiddish for trinkets). I also realize that the money they make from this crap, keeps the price of visiting the park down.
After a half hour or so, it was time to move on. Off to the canyon, which was just a few miles away. Man, it was worth the wait. The waterfall and rock formation was amazing. Nature and all it's beauty. To quote Teri Hatcher from an episode of Seinfeld, "they're real and they're spectacular."
It's ten days since our visit to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. When I think of all the sites we saw during the trip, that's the first one to come to mind....even more than Mt. Rushmore and Old Faithful. But, I always think of that huge souvenir store, too. Hmmmm....I wonder what they tore up to build it?
Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you've got 'Till it's gone They paved paradise And put up a parking lot
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