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NATIONAL PARKS vs. THE AMERICAN VACATION
by Sheri Griebel
While growing up in a South East Los Angeles County ghetto, my
parents couldn't afford much when the time came to taking a vacation.
We would stay only at campgrounds in the National Parks because it was
just a few dollars per night. At the time we didn't have a tent and
the three of us would sleep in the back of our old Rambler station
wagon. I remember the wonderful chats with the forest ranger at the
amphitheaters in every park and enjoyed all the beautiful sights the
parks had to offer.
My parents taught me to, "take only pictures and leave only
footprints." They wanted me to learn respect for the natural wonders
as well as enjoy the parks amenities. Vacation time was one of those
rare times we were together as a family. It has left me with warm
memories that will carry me through the golden years of my life.
Now I live in Snohomish County, Washington with my husband, Rich
and my son, Tim. The three of us started off on a journey to visit some
of the National Parks and teach Tim the same valuable lessons that I had
learned. The week before the journey Rich sat down and called to make
reservations at all of the places we intended to stay over night. We had
a better income base to work with than my parents had. It wasn't a great
deal better, but enough I thought, that we could afford at least the cheap
motels and have private bathrooms.
Yosemite, California was one of those places we wanted to see again.
Unfortunately, reservations had to be made one year in advance for a
cabin or hotel room. Reservations can't be made for campsites as they are
on a first come first serve basis. I had no intentions of camping this
time around which wouldn't have worked anyway because we didn't have
enough space in the car for camping gear. We did manage to get reservations
at all the other places on the list.
It was a very comforting thought to know we had a place to sleep
each night. Sleeping in a rest area on the side of the freeway is not the
best way to spend a family vacation. You don't get very much sleep that
way either with cars and trucks in and out all night long. I would also
have to keep one eye open to watch for anyone approaching the car.
The first National Park we stayed in was Kings Canyon in California.
The only available rooms were housekeeping cabins with kerosene lanterns
for light and a wood stove for heat. There was no running water, toilet,
sink or shower in the one room cabin. It had a single bed, a double bed
and two night stands. The Parks Service did provide towels and washcloths
for use in the public showers. My plan was to stay in motels or hotels
with private bathrooms but, since this was all that was available we had
no choice. The cabin was all right and it was a new experience for Tim
besides, it was kind of cozy and even a little bit romantic.
The first thing I had to do was use the restroom after the long drive.
Rich and I have stayed in housekeeping cabins in the past and I knew what
to expect from the public facilities. But, I was not prepared for what I
was about to walk into, the restrooms were filthy. The floor was covered
with dirt and trash and the sinks had left over toothpaste and goop on
them. The facility was long overdue for a good scrub with cleanser.
To top off matters there wasn't any toilet paper in the stall I
had chosen. After that I decided to go around back and check the public
showers. Again, I was not prepared for what I saw. The floors of the
fiberglass shower stalls were almost black with dirt and muck and there
was trash all over the floors in the dressing areas. It was disgusting to
think about showering while standing in the crud on the floor but, that
was the only shower available to the cabin dwellers. It was either use it
or not shower at all.
I attempted to apply logic to the mess I walked into. My first thought
was that we had arrived before the morning crew had a chance to clean up,
however, it was 4:00 o'clock in the afternoon when we checked in. The second
thought was, it's Saturday and maybe the cleaning crew didn't work on the
weekends. That was quickly dismissed because the cleaning crew lives there
and does work on weekends, the busiest time of the week. I could not think
of any excuse to make up for the uncleanliness of the public facilities.
The three of us were scheduled for two nights in the cabin at Grants
Grove because we wanted to spend one day in Sequoia and one in Kings
Canyon. Grant Grove is in the middle of the two areas making both easily
accessible for our time frame. While on our naturalist walks through
meadows and caves and self guided walks through sequoia trees we did stop
to use facilities at other park villages. In every restroom I found the
same type of mess. It was a shame to see such a beautiful historical park
with such filthy public facilities.
There were also a lot of tour bus groups at Kings Canyon on that
weekend and it was embarrassing to be in the restrooms with women from
another country, who are seeing the park for the first time. I wondered
if they were noticing the uncleanliness until I heard two of the bus tour
guides (who were talking in English), apologizing for the filth in the
restrooms. They were telling their tour guests, "This is not the way
Americans live, and we really are very clean people. It's just the way the
park has been mismanaged."
My parents brought me to Sequoia and Kings Canyon for the first time
when I was only four years old. I've been to the Park many times since
and have never tired of the beauty and the serenity I've felt there. I
wanted to teach my son the same lessons I had learned, "take only pictures
and leave only footprints." What I taught mostly was the inadequacies of
the US Parks Service. I did not realize how much had changed since those
days long ago when Americans enjoyed the parks their taxes paid for. This
was only the first National Park stop on the vacation leaving the family
with an uneasy feeling of what to expect at the next park.
While in Southern California we visited with family and of course,
went to Disneyland. No, it is not a National Park but it is a place of
fond memories. I mention it only because we bumped into another large
group of tourists from another country. While in Kings Canyon I had
noticed how rude some of the tour guests were but I didn't really pay a
lot of attention to it at the time. At Disneyland the rudeness of the tour
groups demanded attention.
Tim went into the Mad Hatter hat store and got in line to make a
purchase. Four women stepped in front of him instead of going to the end
of the line to make their purchase. Tim said, "Excuse me," but, they just
looked at him and said something in their native language. He thought they
just didn't realize that they had taken advantage of him by taking cuts in
the line until the women got to the cashier. They could speak English quite
fluently by then. Without having international travel experience it is
difficult to excuse what appears to be bad manners in the United States
from what might be a custom in another country. When standing in a line
that goes out the door and around the building with temperatures in the
100 degree range, it's just plain bad manners to cut in front of someone
else.
I love the different cultures and the diversity of the American
people as I grew up with a large variety of cultures. It taught me
to accept the differences between us and to learn and respect the way
other cultures live. The one thing we had in common in my neighborhood
was our low incomes and lack of tangibles. In other words, all we had was
each other. It has always been a fascination of mine to watch someone from
a different country see Disneyland for the first time. That first time on
the Bobsleds or Space Mountain brings excitement and surprise to their
voice and facial expressions. It's a contagious, free spirited enthusiasm
that one loses having been to the park so many times before. But, the
groups of people I observed were nothing short of obnoxious and rude. They
would shove others out of the way to get ahead of as many as possible for
a ride or a food line. Disneyland is not the place to be in a hurry to do
anything. In my thirty years worth of experience at Disneyland, I've never
noticed such blatant disregard for common courtesy.
After spending a few days in Southern California we travelled on
and spent one night in Las Vegas, Nevada. One night was all we could
afford. The room and the food were both excellent and cheap, it was the
gambling that was expensive. Actually, Rich and I are not much of gamblers.
We allowed $20.00 for each of us and after we both lost our first $10.00 we
quit. The money was spent on the mezzanine with our son. We had more fun
winning stuffed animals than we did feeding quarters to the slot machines.
The next morning it was on to Bryce Canyon, Utah. Rich had been there
once when he was small, and it was a new adventure for Tim and me. Zion is
supposed to be pretty too. We were not planning on visiting only driving
through it on the state route that leads to Bryce. We had to pay $5.00 at
the Zion Park entrance gate that was right on the state route. This wasn't
a problem and would have been all right except we had to pay another $5.00
when we got to the Bryce Park entrance. The fee is supposed to be good for
7 days in the National Park. It didn't register with me until we had to
pay again that the two parks were separate and not covered by one fee.
That was a pretty rotten trick since you can't get to Bryce without
going down the highway that leads to Zion. This was not a good way to
start out in another National Park after the Kings Canyon ordeal. It
was just another little bit of frustration, and after a time of being
irritated, I decided to drop the subject and try to get on with the spirit
of the vacation. It's too long of a drive in a small car with everyone
having to listen to one person complaining.
The Bryce Lodge is a very nice log cabin style building. The room had
two queen size beds which was nice since Rich is six foot five. It was not
equipped with air conditioning or television. There was a back patio with
a screen door that we kept open but, at 103 degrees and no breeze there
wasn't much air circulation in the room. I was happy with it since it
was just a cheaper type of hotel room without the extras, until I found
out we were charged $72.50 for the room. The cabin in Kings Canyon was
only $35.00 per night and the hotel room in Las Vegas was only $47.00 per
night and it had cable TV with free HBO movies and air conditioning. This
hotel room wasn't anything more than a glorified cabin.
It was late afternoon and I was tired of the heat and hungry.
I wanted to go to the restaurant in the main lodge for dinner as we did
in Kings Canyon, and hopefully, it would be air conditioned. Rich said,
"We have to make reservations to get into the restaurant and while I was
registering for the room I looked over the menu. The cheapest meal was
$12.00." Spending this kind of money was not in the budget. We got back
in the car and went outside of the park to have dinner. At the restaurant
just down the road I had a grilled cheese sandwich, french fries and all
the soda I could drink for only $4.00. It only takes simple math to figure
out the difference in price for one meal was $8.00.
Something interesting to ponder is Kings Canyon rooms are managed by
the U.S. Parks Service and so are the lodges and restaurants. Bryce Canyon
is managed by T W Recreational Services which has a contract with the U.S.
Department of the Interior to operate several National Park lodges. In
other words with the lodges operated by the NPS the prices are cheap and
the service is lousy. With the private industry management company the
prices are outrageous and the service is good. After all, the bathroom was
clean at Bryce Lodge. Las Vegas, with privately owned and operated
establishments, has great prices and service.
All of us wanted this to be the last evening spent at a National
Park so the three of us decided to cancel the next National Park stay
which was in Mesa Verde, Colorado. The National Park experience was not
worth spoiling our whole vacation and it was not one of those memories
that would keep my son warm on a cold night in his latter years. We
revamped our trip to take us up through Utah and into Idaho to the Craters
of the Moon National Park. We could drive the naturalist trail and continue
driving to Oregon where we could stay in a cheap motel. We would eventually
end up at Grand Coulee Dam in Washington to watch the laser show and then
westward home to Snohomish County. With our new plans and reservations made
we went to bed.
Remember the screen doors on the patios? Our next door neighbors, at
least four of them, had to open their screen door about every 30 seconds.
The doors were in dire need of oil because they would shriek and crack
with each opening and slam against the door jam with each closing. Our
neighbors apparently could afford to spend a lot of money on alcohol, and
were having quite the good time. They talked very loud and had very slurred
speech; and they sure did like that shrieking door, all night long. It's
very much an evening I will remember for years to come. Maybe one day I'll
be able to sit back and laugh at this whole experience. Maybe one day Tim
will find it funny too and this trip won't turn out to be a worthless
experience. That wasn't the lesson I wanted to teach, though he may be
able to learn that all things eventually do pass.
The next morning we were all in a bad mood. That should have been
expected after what we had been through. I was reading the room price list
and it showed $67.50 for two adults, $72.50 for three adults. Children 12
years and under stay free in existing beds. I guess that means if house-
keeping doesn't have to bring in a day bed. Tim was 12 years old and we
should not have been charged for his stay, according to the sign. Since I
didn't make the reservations I asked Rich about the charges. He was told
on the phone children 12 and up are charged as an adult. I was furious by
this time but, Rich doesn't like to make waves so I didn't go to the office
to complain. I did fill out the questionnaire and noted the squeaky door.
It's only fair to note that a few weeks after we got home I received a
partial refund check by mail. The management company also stated they would
oil all of the doors.
Before leaving the area we drove to Sunset Canyon and took pictures.
We were standing and looking at Thor's Hammer, a beautiful monolith, and
I heard people talking about the tour group surrounding us. This was a
group of foreign exchange students; and before they go to their host
family they pick which National Parks to visit. The adults with the group
were chaperones and there seemed to be more chaperones than students. I
also noticed a couple of them wearing a forest green fanny pack just like
mine. It had a silk screened logo saying, "National Parks Conservation
Association", a group I joined for the first time this year. I don't know
what their affiliation is with foreign exchange students, and since they
didn't return my phone calls I probably will never find out. I also
probably won't be renewing my membership with them.
Bryce Canyon was beautiful and I hope it is preserved forever as well
as the other National Parks in the United States. We did get to see some
of America's best preserved geological areas and ancient trees. It made me
feel good knowing my son got that chance before any disaster struck. On
our way home from Grand Coulee Dam we had to take a detour route because
of a forest fire in the Wenatchee National Forest that was threatening the
Bavarian village of Leavenworth. There were beautiful mountains loaded with
fir trees, deer, elk, bear and lots of little critters that either perished
or lost their home to the devastation of fire. It gave me the same feeling
as did the mismanagement of the National Parks, they might as well burn it
down, nobody is taking care of it anymore.
I have read articles in various magazines telling how different
groups are trying to limit the amount of people visiting the Parks. The
tourist attractions like Kings Canyon have been vandalized and have had
much destruction to the delicate areas that were fenced off. We were very
sorry to see people had carved names and initials in the base of the
General Sherman tree. Then I saw for myself that the National Parks are
booked months in advance to large tour groups.
It also appears the working class Americans can not afford to visit any
other way than by taking a chance on getting a camping spot. This concerns
me because it is our American Heritage and every American should be able to
view the wonders and pass the experience to each generation. Instead, the
"saving" of the National Parks seems to have become nothing but a commercial
venture. Our generation can not expect the next generation to continue
preservation of our National Parks if they've never seen them and can not
visualize what they are supposed to be preserving.
# # #
Copyright 1994 Sheri Griebel
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Sheri Griebel is a Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Officer with the
Washington State Patrol and spends her off duty time operating an
electronic bulletin board system (bbs) aimed at writing and photography.
Sheri enjoys writing about life's ups and downs and may be reached
electronically at Writer & Photographer Exchange (206) 659-7102, Fidonet
1:343/305 or by way of the Internet: sheri.griebel@gun&hose.damar.com
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