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02 October 2008 - 23:55

dusk on upper geyser hill

We dined early Sunday evening, with a five o'clock reservation in the Old Faithful Inn dining room.

That had been our table, second row from the right, third table back from the foreground. Providing an excellent view of the oil painting hanging on the fireplace.

Where we enjoyed the super expensive buffet, rather than opting for the evening's special of bison tenderloin for only $34.95. All was good, but the breaded trout was delicious.

Then we went outside and enjoyed a second showing of Old Faithful herself.

(Little anticipating there would be a third.)

After the sun had dropped behind the western mountains and the majority of tourists and geyser gawkers had moved indoors for their meals, we headed out into the Upper Geyser Basin.

Which we had very nearly to ourselves. A rare treat.

It was when I dropped back to catch a shot of the wife walking alone on the dusk-lit boardwalks

that I heard her shout...

"Aurum's going!"

And sure enough, it was.

Now, Aurum is our geyser. He's an ornery little shit, but he's special to us. And, odd as it may sound, we are apparently special to it. On our honeymoon, we were treated to an eruption and shower by Aurum. On cue, with no one else around.

As if it had been waiting for us.

Only later did we discover that Aurum rarely, if even at all, erupted.

After the 1983 earthquake, Aurum began erupting several times a day, but at unpredictable intervals. And we were teased mercilessly, with the brief fountain of water spraying out either just before we arrived, or shortly after we passed. But always when we were just a teensy bit too far away to make it back for a soaking in its steam.

Once it blew while I stood outside the Old Faithful gas station restroom, waiting for the wife. Passing tourists were treated to the sight of me shouting at the Women's Room door, 'Aurum's going! Aurum's going!'

If they didn't know that was a geyser's name, they may have really wondered about me.

But this evening, almost three decades later, again with no one else around, Aurum gave us another special, personal performance.

With the wife hustling in to feel its touch.

Now, with tall geysers like Beehive, Lion, Castle or Grotto, the water sprayed out has nearly completely cooled by the time it falls back to earth. But with Aurum being short, and spraying out sideways, the wife was left with reddened marks on her arm from the steam.

Love marks from an old friend.

Me? Well, since I lingered to take photos, naturally the entire eruption was done by the time I got there. I got to feel the wetness on the handrails, inhale the steam (which is slightly more sulfurous than others) and dip Sacajawea into the water pooled on the boardwalk.

By this time darkness was upon us. In a land of grizzly bears, massive bison and rutting elk, it was time to leave the fantasy land and return to Teddy's lodge.

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