 |
|
|
|
|
The Ellis Page French Sabbatical |
Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology ("MAC") 14. The Lechevalliers Visit Us
We stopped at Promontory Point, Utah, to see the Golden Spike Monument. This was where the railroad from the East and the railroad from the West met in 1860 to unite the country. There was a restored, steam all painted up with whistles screaming and steam hissing from the old boilers (see above)..
After seeing some of the sights in Salt
Lake City, we headed north to Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone was great! Right away, we saw a couple of gorgeous stag elks foraging in the long weeds. Further down the road was Lower Geyser Basin, a caldron of boiling mud and erupting geysers throwing steam and water 40 feet into the sky. But Old Faithful was even better. It was a veritable explosion of steam throwing thousands and thousands of gallons of water high above us into the sky. It was truly amazing!
In Idaho, we visited the Craters of the Moon National Monument and saw immense lava flows, gigantic craters, basalt and pumice rock formations, and ancient spatter and cinder cones. Back in Washington, we took the family to a Mariner’s game ("It was so American," said Dominique) and visited Pike’s Place Market in Seattle. We were disappointed by Wolf Haven in Tenino. Benoit’s said: "They aren't real wolves. They were born in captivity and don't even know how to hunt or survive in the wild. So, they are wolves, yes. But not real ones!" We amused ourselves by sabotaging an adult "howl-in" competition. The three contestants howled quite well but the fourth was so bad, it was laughable. She sounded like she had the hiccups! Well, they wanted the audience to judge the winner by their applause — so, we had our two families refrain from clapping for the first three contestants, and then raise the very devil for the fourth one. We clapped so loudly our hands stung, cheering wildly. "There seems to be some mistake," said the M.C., "but, it appears that person number four has won." All the way home, Dominique led the two families in howling to the tune of "Jingle Bells." It was crazy! In the evening, we ordered Chinese take-out — the kind that comes in those little white boxes. The Lechevalliers had seen those in the movies. I phoned and was assured that they had "white boxes" but how disappointing when the food arrived in styrofoam containers! Vancouver, Canada, was more successful. The family loved the Bloedel Conservatory, a geodesic dome housing lush, tropical plants, brightly-colored flowers that were so flawless they didn’t look real, and exotic tiny birds flying free everywhere. We walked through Gas Town with its picturesque shops and boutiques. Then we drove around Stanley Park and saw the city lights reflected in the water and the view of Lion's Gate Bridge from Brockton Point. The next day, we showed them Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge and the Capilano Fish Nursery, where we able to see fish actually climbing the ladders.
After that, we were off to the Olympic National Park to show the Lechevalliers the Hoh Rain Forest and the "Hall of Moss" trail. Dominique's mother, Mame, really enjoyed that. Here's a photo of that sweety. Then we purchased 20 loaves of day-old bread and entered the Olympic Game Farm. We started out throwing bread out the windows to every bunny, duck, seagull, goose, and peacock in sight. Dominique squealed with delight at anything that looked alive and that hopped or waddled. But, we all soon grew much more selective — even Dominique.
Dominique was disappointed that no one was wearing feather head-dresses but she enjoyed watching the long-boat canoe racing out in the harbor and seeing the salmon that the Indians were roasting around a huge fire on the edge of the beach. She also had to take off her shoes and dip her feet in the Pacific Ocean, a first for her.
Well, the Lechevalliers had seen a great deal in their three weeks and were thrilled with the trip. That was very rewarding. The had done so much for us, we wanted to return the favor as much as we could. We knew we would see them again. On to the next French
Sabbatical page |
| For email contact use either: gellis@stmartin.edu or godfreymerry@home.com |
We invited the Lechevallier family to visit
us the next summer (1996). "Great! We’ve always wanted to see
Hollywood, L.A., Utah, Yellowstone, and Vancouver, Canada."
What! We explained that this was like driving from Paris to Israel
and back and would mean some 60 hours in the car. "Oh…." We
said we could probably manage the last three. They arrived the
beginning of August and we left for Utah three days later. They were
dazzled by the open spaces. In France, there is a small town or village
every five miles and the view of open country stretching to the horizon
and beyond was outside their frame of reference. "All this land, with
no people and no buildings!" marveled Dominique.
We
continued down to the Great Salt Lake where the family went in for a dip.
We were all amazed at the salt ...and the flies. But we were
delighted at the buoyancy. We could float effortlessly, even with our arms
held high out of the water. Dominique (shown floating here) couldn't get
over that. It was great fun.
On
the way, we stopped for lunch in Paris, Idaho. It was great fun taking
photos in front of the town sign, "Population 500." We ate in
the Paris, Café, where the waitress told us that natives of this town
were called, "Parasites."
The
next day, we encountered a traffic jam in the Park. We inched along,
expecting to come across the horrible accident that was obviously causing
the delay. Imagine the surprise when we encountered the real cause: a huge
buffalo, weaving his way down the center line of the road! Well, we
visited many more geysers, steam lakes, and panoramic vistas.
Naturally,
I had to show them the MAC Office at Saint Martin’s. Just then, the fire
alarm went off. Some workman had cut a wrong wire. But the
family was thrilled to see fire trucks arriving with lights flashing, just
as they had seen on TV in Paris (France!).
The
hungry zebra were very aggressive, their huge teeth mashing down on our
humble morcels of bread bare millemeters from our fragile fingers (as you
can see). A little bit further along, a big yak lumbered over
looking for his breakfast handout. I eyed his long, sharp horns with some
misgivings as everyone waved slices of bread in his direction. He
slimed up the windows with his disgusting gray tongue, trying to get at
the bread Benoit was holding inside the car. The next big attraction was
the bear compound. These magnificent beasts, reduced to performing tricks
for slices of bread, were a great deal of fun. We all marveled as they
adroitly caught slices of bread that were frisbied over the alarmingly
skimpy electrified fence. And we got more than one whiff of true obuffalo
breath. Uggh! By the time it was over, we only had two loaves left out of
the 20 original. "Thank heavens we got here early," said
Dominique. "No-one after us will have a good experience because the
animals are no longer hungry!"
Just
a little west was the Mekah Days Indian festival at Neah Bay. Dominique,
who wanted to see "real Indians" like in the movies, drove as if
she were in racing along the Champs Elysées in Paris. We were green by
the time we arrived. 
Then
the boys got involved in egg-toss and balloon toss games on the beach and,
to everyone's great surprise, won dollar bills in each of the contests.
Then they won more in a tug-of-war. In all, the boys won $27 in cash.
Suddenly the Indian festival wasn't so disappointing after all! In
this photo, Brice and Benoit become Americans for the day.