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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi there! M. A. Bellingham here.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I understand you donated one or more of the
"people's bikes".... would you like me to store them for the
winter?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>MA</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=udo.freund@lmco.com href="mailto:udo.freund@lmco.com">Freund, Udo</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=geysers@wwc.edu
href="mailto:geysers@wwc.edu">geysers@wwc.edu</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, August 23, 2004 1:09
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Geysers] OF Inn article
mentions Tara Cross</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><!-- Converted from text/rtf format -->
<P><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>FYI and slightly off-subject, Tara Cross
was mentioned in Eric Nolan's article in this Sundays Los Angeles Daily
News.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>The link contains the entire
article. Text follows also.</FONT> </P>
<P><A
href="http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~29387~2346094,00.html"><U><FONT
face="Comic Sans MS" color=#0000ff
size=2>http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~29387~2346094,00.html</FONT></U></A>
</P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">The rock of Yellowstone </FONT><BR><FONT
face="Times New Roman">By Eric Nolan<BR>Travel Editor </FONT><BR><FONT
face="Times New Roman">YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. _ When a 7.5 earthquake
rolled through Yellowstone National Park in 1959, the Old Faithful Inn
shuddered, groaned and coughed up a few of its fireplace stones, but
ultimately shrugged off the intrusion. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">When the North Fork Fire savaged the park in
1988, the old inn wept. That was the appearance, anyway, when fire sprinklers
_ fortuitously installed the year before _ sent cascades of protective water
down its steep roof and over the eaves. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Through brutal winters, when the inn's timbers
and vintage wrought iron were assaulted by prodigious snowfalls and
temperatures that fell as low as 50 degrees below zero, the massive lodge
shifted its weight and sighed in the chill but stoically stood its ground.
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">This happens a lot _ animate traits ascribed
to the Old Faithful Inn, as if it were a living being, with a heartbeat and
palpable emotions. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">It's true to this day. </FONT><BR><FONT
face="Times New Roman">On a recent Saturday evening, as George Sanborn
provided his customary piano entertainment on the lobby mezzanine, he was
joined by Tara Cross, a 25-year-old violinist from nearby Gardiner, Mont. She
swayed as she played, eyes closed, delivering a haunting interpretation of Jay
Ungar's ``Ashokan Farewell,'' better-known as the theme music to Ken Burns'
Civil War documentary. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">All the while, Cross wore no shoes or socks.
</FONT><BR><FONT face="Times New Roman">``It's a beautiful building to play
in,'' she said later during a break. ``That's why I play barefoot _ I want to
feel it underneath me.'' </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">The Old Faithful Inn is celebrating its 100th
birthday this summer, and it seems to be standing a little taller, a little
prouder. It's the undisputed grand dame of the national park lodges in the
American West, and the years have done nothing to diminish its rustic majesty.
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">It could never get built today, but there was
a different land-use ethic in place at the start of the 20th century. No one
thought twice about positioning it inside the boundary of a volcanic caldera,
just a few steps from Yellowstone's famed Old Faithful geyser, which continues
to gush skyward every 90 minutes or so. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">For building materials, they used what was at
hand: hundreds of lodgepole pine trees growing nearby in the national park and
rhyolite stone quarried from an ancient !dlim!!text!lava flow. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Convenience and comfort were the objectives of
the railroad and tourism interests that built the hotel, and boyish architect
Robert Reamer delivered _ but with a distinct flair. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">His masterpiece is just inside the bright-red
front doors, whose iron hardware emits a resounding clank when they are swung
shut. The massive lobby rises to a ceiling peak of 76 1/2 feet, and the
rounded, gnarled timbers of the construction produce the appearance of rustic
lace. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Or an indoor forest. That's how it's most
commonly described. Light angles through this space from windows and false
dormers that are asymmetrically positioned and randomly shaped (diamonds,
squares, rectangles). Just as sunlight haphazardly finds its way into a forest
glen. Contorted logs were used as diagonal support pieces for columns,
creating the appearance of branches angling off tree trunks. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">The four-sided stone fireplace (only two sides
of which work, owing to the earthquake damage of '59) rises like a giant cairn
in one corner. A 20-foot pendulum clock on its face chronicles the hotel's
remarkable staying power with every quiet tick and tock. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">The old inn zealously safeguards its heritage.
</FONT><BR><FONT face="Times New Roman">Most of the rooms in the original
building _ called the Old House _ were never retrofitted with private baths.
It means padding down a long hallway to take a shower or use the lavatory, but
it also means affordability for families; these rooms start at $78 per night.
Children seem to find these living conditions more of an adventure than an
inconvenience, especially when the alternative might be a tent in one of the
park campgrounds. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Also, the inn takes pride in its wealth of
original furniture, but doesn't stuff it away in a museum exhibit. The pieces
are positioned here and there for guests to actually use: oak-armed davenports
in the lobby, octagonal tables on the mezzanine, copper-topped wash stands in
some of the Old House rooms. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">``A pitcher and basin would have been on the
top shelf, a chamber pot on the bottom,'' said Betty Hardy as she led one of
the historical tours of the inn, offered four times daily for guests and
visitors alike. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">The tours provide a sense of what life was
like during the inn's infancy, when the lumber was newly cut and the stones
freshly laid. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">The hotel was so popular when it opened that
expansion projects began almost immediately, and continued into the 1930s. A
roomier East Wing was added in 1913, with private baths and rooms (request one
with an even number) that directly overlook the geyser. The cavernous dining
room was added in 1921. A West Wing went up in 1927, the same year the lobby
entrance was pushed out, a veranda was built and the cozy public room that now
serves as the Bear Pit Lounge was added. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">The work continues to this day, as the inn
fidgets through a makeover that will span the next three years.
</FONT><BR><FONT face="Times New Roman">The fireplace will get a new
foundation, two of its earthquake-damaged chimneys will be cleared and the
area around the hearth will be sunken for greater intimacy, conforming to its
original design. The weathered flooring of the lobby and the Old House rooms
will be replaced. Wiring will be restrung. Upgrades will be made to
accommodate disabled visitors. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">During the construction, the inn will remain
open during the summer, but on a shorter schedule than normal _ for example,
likely from July 1 through Sept. 11 next year. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">When the work is finished, ``the lobby will be
restored more to what guests would have found when it first opened,'' said
Scott Cote<WBR><WBR>, executive director of operations for Xanterra,
Yellowstone's concessionaire. ``But there will be seismic and life-safety
upgrades that will help ensure that people will be able to enjoy it for
another 100 years.'' </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Enjoy it they certainly do. To its credit, the
Old Faithful Inn is an affable and welcoming soul, swinging wide its doors at
the slightest sound of tread on the porch. The result is never-ending waves of
gawking admirers. During the day, tour buses pull up to the porte-cochere one
after another. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">If you're a guest in the hotel, however, you
might conclude that these conditions make the first floor of the lobby less
than optimal for quiet relaxation. Many guests, in fact, retreat to the
second-floor mezzanine, there to settle into comfortably rustic chairs and
settees around the balustrade and survey the human parade below. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Another such retreat can be found in the Bear
Pit Lounge, where there are four local microbrews on tap (including Moose
Drool brown ale from Big Sky Brewing in Missoula, Mont.), friendly bartenders
and such tasty appetizers as smoked salmon and goat cheese croustades.
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Those glass panels behind the bar aren't
playing tricks on your eyes. Yes, that's a moose dancing with a woman in a
ballroom, while a bear leads the orchestra and a bighorn sheep balances a
serving tray. The sandblasted images pay tribute to wood etchings that were
fashioned by cartoonist Walter Oehrle in the 1930s. Some of the original wood
panels are protected behind glass in the Pony Express snack bar. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">In the evening, the routine at the Old
Faithful Inn is as reassuringly familiar as the geyser itself. Guests who were
wise enough to make reservations far in advance make their way into the
sprawling dining room, which is doing some fine work under the guidance of new
chef Jim Chapman. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Menus from as far back as the 1920s were
consulted so that a few ``historical selections'' could be included among the
entrees _ roast leg of lamb, coq au vin, pan-fried Rocky Mountain trout. (Back
then, the trout was undoubtedly wild, but bland, farm-raised fish must be used
now; even the pecans and lemon butter can't make it interesting.) </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">More contemporary dishes include an
outstanding Angus coulotte steak and a nice choice of vegetarian dishes.
</FONT><BR><FONT face="Times New Roman">The service in the restaurant tends to
be young and minimally trained but earnest to a fault, and the wine list is a
wonder _ an extensive selection with prices that seem to be just a couple of
dollars over cost. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Spring for the good stuff here. There aren't
many nice restaurants in the West where you'll find Schramsberg Blanc de Blanc
champagne for $45, Rancho Zabaco Sonoma Heritage Zinfandel for $24 or
Ste.<WBR> Chappelle Johannisberg Riesling for $16 (a steal). We only wished
the general locations of some of the wineries were listed (Oregon? Italy?).
The list does, however, include helpful descriptions of the wines and explains
why they go well with particular foods _ a nice demystification of the
process. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">There's speculation that the Yellowstone
volcano will erupt again someday, and as if in anticipation, the dining room's
dessert menu includes the Yellowstone Caldera, a decadent offering of
chocolate truffle with molten center. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Throughout dinner, the piano music wafts in
from the second-floor mezzanine through a balcony opening, where a string
quartet played during the hotel's early days. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">There used to be a lot of interaction among
the guests, including long tables for dinner, ballroom dancing on the lobby
floor, singing around the piano, gatherings at the fireplace for popcorn
popped over the blaze. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">``Early visitors were traveling around the
park in stagecoaches with the same group every day. It was very social,'' said
Ruth Quinn, the inn's interpreter. ``We lost that with people coming in their
own cars.'' </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">But the inn does a nice job of trying to
reclaim it. There is not a single TV here _ not in the bar, the lobby or any
of the guest rooms _ so guests naturally gravitate to the lobby as the evening
proceeds. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">People play cards and board games (bring your
own), or write postcards or read books beneath the green-shaded lamps of the
writing desks. Some grab an ice cream cone from the Pony Express and wander
onto the veranda to take in a moonlit geyser eruption. Others sit quietly and
listen to the piano music. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Hushed conversations, the whir of cards being
shuffled, the creak of ancient floorboards beneath footfalls, the crackle of
the fireplace ... they all combine to create a gentle hum. This is the Old
Faithful Inn's pulse. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Surely that's what the barefoot violinist was
feeling </FONT><BR><I><FONT face="Times New Roman">Eric Noland, (818) 713-3681
eric.noland@dailynews.com</FONT></I><FONT face="Times New Roman">
</FONT><BR><B><FONT face="Times New Roman">IF YOU GO...</FONT></B><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT><BR><B><FONT face="Times New Roman">GETTING
THERE:</FONT></B><FONT face="Times New Roman"> The most convenient airport to
the Old Faithful area of Yellowstone is Jackson Hole, Wyo. But major
construction is being conducted on Highway 89/191 in Grand Teton National
Park, just south of Yellowstone, and it took us two hours to drive the 48
miles. The return drive required even more time, due to a flag delay of a
half-hour. A key tip: The Jackson Airport is several miles north of town, and
the rental-car companies that operate at the airport are Hertz, Avis, Alamo
and Thrifty. If you have Dollar or National, you'll take a long shuttle ride
into Jackson _ the opposite direction of your ultimate destination.
</FONT></P>
<P><B><FONT face="Times New Roman">THE INN:</FONT></B><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> Rates range from $78 for a room without private bath
to $134 to $185 for a premium room to $371 for a suite. The Old Faithful Inn
will be open on its usual schedule this year (until Oct. 15), but will operate
on a shorter-than-usual schedule next year, due to renovations _ likely July 1
through Sept. 11. Xanterra, the park concessionaire, also operates eight other
lodging options in Yellowstone. (307) 344-7311; </FONT><A
href="file://www.travelyellowstone.com"><U><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#0000ff>www.travelyellowstone.com</FONT></U></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman">. </FONT></P>
<P><B><FONT face="Times New Roman">DINING:</FONT></B><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> There are a number of budget-priced cafeteria and
snack bar options in the Old Faithful area, but if you're looking for
something nice, the inn is about the only choice. This means it is essential
to book reservations for dinner far in advance: (307) 344-7901. We also
enjoyed breakfast and lunch here. Buffets are available for both meals, but we
found some excellent made-to-order items on both menus _ vegetarian breakfast
tacos in the morning, for example, and a hummus pita with salad at midday.
</FONT></P>
<P><B><FONT face="Times New Roman">THE PARK:</FONT></B><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> The fee for entering Yellowstone Park is $20 per
private vehicle, good for seven days _ and you're not exempted just because
you have a reservation at the Old Faithful Inn. Don't try to tackle this park
in a day ... or even two or three. The park encompasses 3,472 square miles _
larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined _ and has 310 miles of paved
road. There is a lot of diverse terrain, geologic wonders and wildlife to see,
all of which is best enjoyed if you take your time. Yellowstone's buffalo
population has stormed back in recent years and herds can be seen on drives
near Old Faithful. Rangers at the visitors' center can provide details.
</FONT><A href="file://www.nps.gov/yell"><U><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#0000ff>www.nps.gov/yell</FONT></U></A><FONT face="Times New Roman">;
(307) 344-7381. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">NEXT IN THE SERIES: The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel
on Hawaii's Big Island, Sept.
19 <BR> <BR> <BR></FONT><FONT
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<P><FONT face="Brush Script MT" color=#000080 size=6>Udo Freund</FONT> </P>
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