National Parks’
100th Anniversary
T
o help the National Park
Service celebrate its Centennial, I loaded up my car
full of kids, aged 8, 12 and 13, to
explore America’s best idea. With a
loose itinerary of 28 national park
sites, we hiked through summer
vacation and pulled over at every
scenic overlook that didn’t require
an illegal turn.
In a summer of endless exploring, my favorite national park days
bega n at night when I opened the
door of an historic lodge room.
With offerings ranging from iconic
log-built inns to luxurious desert
hideaways with sunbathing starlets,
national park lodges offer memorable stays in some of the most
cherished landscapes across the
western United States.
Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone
National Park, Wyoming
As I walked through its pair
of red doors into the towering
multi-story log building, I experienced all the wonder of a child. As my
eyes were drawn upward to the vaulted log
ceiling and then down along the rhyolite
fireplace, the clamor of a guided tour in
one corner drew my ears while the dining
room’s slow-roasted prime rib caught my
nose. Climbing the stairs, the pine newel
post’s hand-burnished smoothness percolated gratitude for my moment to experience an American icon.
Before the establishment of the National Park Service, an unknown 29-yearold architect from Ohio, Robert Reamer,
changed the landscape of architecture with
a rustic yet whimsical style celebrating
locally-sourced materials. At Old Faithful
Inn, he harvested building materials just
30
fwt
FALL 2016
Lake Quinault Lodge near Olympic National Park offers idyllic
lodging, steps from the lake shore and rainforest hikes.
miles from the job site in the untamed
corner of Wyoming during the winter of
1903-1904. The style evolved into National
Park Service Rustic, or parkitecture, the
predominant style of the western national
park lodges.
During my stay in the Old House, or
the original section of the Old Faithful Inn,
the details gave it an irreplaceable, organic
feeling that makes it my favorite national
park lodge. The hand-forged iron room
numbers led the way to my pine-paneled,
double-queen room with a pair of divid-
ed-light windows to catch the afternoon
breeze. My room offered period-appropriate accommodations that allowed my
family the opportunity to unplug and
decompress.
With furnishings provided by Old Hickory Furniture Company of Indiana and a
sink set atop a vanity, guests experience
lodging much like the first visitors did,
without an attached bathroom. Immaculately clean showers in newly renovated
bathrooms are a quick walk down the hall.
For a tub bath, I found a tub room with an