Poe Gets Inspired and How

When I become Queen of the World, the Ken Burns National Parks series will be required viewing for everyone. And not just because I’m a smug, controlling busybody. Because…

My first visit to the Tetons.
The summer I was fifteen, my mom and her sister decided we’d all meet in Grand Teton National Park .

So we four cousins, aged 15-20 got hauled to this place where there was nothing to do. The grownups spent the week exclaiming over the scenery. Bo-ring. Where were the movies? The hip nightclubs? The amusment arcades?*


In short, where were places to meet boys?**

We kids lounged around in supreme restlessness. It was too cold for swimming. The nearest stores were an hour’s drive away. We were the only young people there.


Of course, it wasn’t all bad. We went horseback riding every day. At night Mom and Aunt Bernadine played accordion and guitar and we sang folk songs.
But beyond that I felt it was a week that could have been better spent.

Now, as a famous radio announcer used to say, “Here’s the rest of the story:”

Years later my husband suggested we vacation in the Tetons and I jumped at the chance. You see, somehow amidst that teen boredom a connection had been made; I felt like the Tetons were MINE.
Upon arrival, I noticed the park had changed. Hmmm. How to describe it? “Majestic?” (Nah, too tame a word.) “Magical?” (Not right either.) Ah, I've got it:

I looked around this immense valley where the mountains touch the meadows and realized I was looking at the face of God.

The moral: Do not be afraid of boring folks by exposing them to holy things. In ten years they’ll have bragging rights.






















*Nowadays this is not a problem.

**Or girls as the case may be.