President Obama in Yellowstone National Park
“Oh, that’s pretty good. Cool.” President Obama commented after watching Yellowstone’s famous geyser erupt. Old Faithful did not keep the First Family waiting long and burst into the blue sky more or less on schedule at 12:16 p.m.; hundreds of park visitors gathered across the boardwalk and cheered when the president arrived.
For those of us who work in Yellowstone, having the First Family visit the first National Park was an honor. As an environmental professional who has worked in support of parks for over a decade, I sincerely appreciated the President recognizing the importance of “America’s Best Idea” with his special family trip to Yellowstone. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Yellowstone Superintendent Suzanne Lewis also joined the president for his tour.
My company, Xanterra Parks & Resorts, provided a special lunch for President Obama and his group, and I felt lucky to be selected to assist with the event. While the presidential party toured the mystical moonscape created by the unique geologic activity of Black Sand Basin, our crew readied the Old Faithful Snow Lodge for the meal. Working with the Secret Service, we watched as they conducted three different security sweeps (“sanitizing” is service lingo)--one sweep included an adorable and energetic bomb sniffing dog.
After Old Faithful had erupted, the motorcade arrived at the Snow Lodge. Our small group eagerly gathered to greet President Obama and he did not disappoint us. When he and his daughters emerged from the motorcade, he flashed us a smile and gave a friendly wave. For those of us who had worked long hours in preparation for this event, his wave provided all the reward we needed.
Jim Chapman, Executive Chef for Xanterra Parks & Resorts at Yellowstone, designed a menu for the group focused on local selections that included trout caught fresh from Yellowstone Lake and Montana Ranch Brand Piedmontese beef. “It was an honor to have the opportunity to showcase our sustainable efforts in a lunch for the First Family,” he stated. President Obama requested to meet Chef Chapman after dining on his creations.
For Sasha and Malia, they left with two of Yellowstone’s other famous attractions: bison. Two stuffed animal toy bison—another part of Xanterra’s sustainability program—will accompany the girls home on Air Force One.
Comments
You are a great writter. I would like to thank you for sharing this great day of yours and everyone at Yellowstone with all of us. This is now history and you were a part of it.
We visited YNP in July and stayed three nights in the Old Faithful area and also visited Black Sand Basin. We appreciate your article as this is the first one that informed us what the first family did while in the park. By the way, my wife purchased of the bisons also...and we were just talking about it earlier this morning. Thanks, Alan
My wife and I ate Piedmontese Beef in Italy a few years ago. It was the most tender best tasting beef we've ever had! I had no idea that you could get in here in the U.S. The trout sounds good too. It must be nice to eat like the Pres.
Thats insteresting. That must have been very exciting.
That sounds kool. Great article.
What - bison, not bears for the girls?
Wonderful, you got to share in the experience and write about it. Thanks. Seeta
His visit is ironic because attendance at National Parks is way up this year due to NPS' response to the recession - free park admission on Father's day and August discounts and travelers' desire for cheaper vacations.
Why isn't Obama visiting parks in depressed areas of the country, e.g., Michigan, Florida, etc.?
Well at least the Obama family isn't spending vacation in a 'free' beach house that rents out for $15k/year. They just wear $500 sneakers.
This was truly an exciting time for the park employees and visitors. The average American does not get an opportunity to be close to the president of our country. So along with people being able to see the first family, it must have been exciting for them to observe Old Faithful while being so welcomed.
I did not know that it is legal to sell wild trout from yellowstone.
What is interesting is that the President and his family needed to come to Yellowstone on a free weekend. So not only was the park sold out with it's normal August visitors, an additional group of people came in to spend the day, only to be snarled up in a traffic jam because the President was there. Great planning!
Larry: The President was probably served Lake trout from Yellowstone Lake, which was perfectly legal. I doubt he was asked to pay for it (thus your comment about selling wild fish from Yellowstone is not valid) given there is a campaign to kill as many as possible of the non-native Lake Trout so the cutthroat trout can thrive. It would be something to gripe about if he was served a native cutthroat trout from Yellowstone Lake that none of the public may enjoy either.
Thanks for the most indepth article about the President's visit that I read. Most news articles lacked details.
Dear Sir please I will like you to know that i am intrested in all your works.I am very happy about roullership in the USA .But as a Friend or Brother Please can you help me to be in the United States .please President Obama I need your effort in my business Please I will like you to be thinking about my dayly life in Senegel I will like you to know that this is not my country in this country I nomaly Pay house rant light bill watet rate .please I will like you to open an assisteing effort so that I will be confortable wise looking up for my America help.thank you.God bless you.
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