Amusement parks, fancy hotels, beautiful resorts – these are the places I like to visit. Everything is provided for me, and I can just go around doing what I want. So when my parents said that we should go camping in Yellowstone National Park, my immediate response was no, No, and NO. I did not want to spend a week in some random park in Wyoming, which would probably lack the amenities that I would want. However, they say that a single moment can change everything…
Much to my distaste, my family made me go. So we went, and on the drive toward the park, going on the mountains of Colorado, among those elevated peaks with the beautiful views and snow-capped tops passing by, I actually felt something. I didn’t know what it was, but it made me shiver, and made my hairs stand on end. But I just dismissed it as being cold in the high elevation. When we actually got to our cabin in the park, I was taken aback even more. There was literally a hotel right across the road, but we had decided to stay in a cabin instead. With a sigh of disgust, I walked around, and found that there was a lake right in our backyard. My feelings of annoyance disappeared as I watched the waters glimmer and felt the gentle waves splash against my legs. “Eh, whatever,” I thought as I tried to shake myself of that strange feeling of something I was getting once again.
The next day, we went to see what Yellowstone was famous for: Old Faithful and his gang of geysers. For once on this trip, I was actually looking forward to something. I wanted to see the geysers explode, but once we got there and waited for a few minutes in anticipation for the big spray, I wasn’t amazed. It was just a stream of hot water being shot into the air and tourists being fascinated and taking pictures.
Feeling disappointed, I went by myself on a little trail up a small mountain next to Old Faithful. When I got to the top of the trail, I saw that the peak of that small mountain was still higher, and so without a trail, I started climbing higher, until I got to the top. As I sat there, I could see all the people gathered around Old Faithful, I saw the green grass of Yellowstone everywhere, I saw the various animals hidden behind the trees, and I finally saw that something. I saw it as I sat there watching in slow motion: Old Faithful erupted, the more than 5,000 gallons of burning water shot up into the air, and the steaming droplets caught the sunlight. I saw it, I saw nature, I saw the outdoors, I saw beauty. The eruption ended, but I just sat there staring into the nothing, experiencing the everything.
As I began my descent later, I realized that this was not a moment to forget. From then on, I enjoyed the rest of Yellowstone, which included seeing the animals in the fields as we drove by, the hiking along the trails, and the geysers of Yellowstone (although they smelled like rotten eggs). That vacation changed me. Instead of wanting to go to water parks now, I want to go visit scenic sites, and hiking has now become one of my favorite activities. I have already found a few rigorous trails that I plan on taking, and none of this would’ve been possible without taking that chance, however reluctant it may have been.
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