Old Faithful Geyser

After my Dad died, we spent a few quiet days in my hometown.

My mom arranged a great place for us to stay in a friend's remodeled barn loft apartment. It was so comfortable, and so removed from everything we had been going through (we had been caring for my dad at his home, an hour's drive from where I grew up).

While in Calistoga, we did touristy things like wander the tourist shops, picnic with brie, bread and home bottled wine, and visit the Sharpsteen Museum, a place I had loved since I was a kid.

The kids really wanted to see the Old Faithful Geyser of California. I had never been there, although it was minutes from my childhood home, and I had probably ridden by the place on my bike hundreds of times (you can't see they geyser from the outside).

It was tourist trap expensive, and somewhat hokey, too, but still worthwhile for me, since it's a piece of the past of the place I called home. The kids enjoyed it, too. It erupts like clockwork every 25 minutes or so, and went off shortly after we arrived. It's an interesting and impressive geothermal phenomenon; they had posted little informational tidbits around the site telling about the history of the place, which has always been privately owned and exploited as a tourist attration. I loved the old photos of turn-of-the-century visitors.

Now I have a yen to visit the big Old Faithful, in Yellowstone.