Location Taken: Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Time Taken: October 2012
*yawn*
Oh, what’s that? Eh, it’s just Old Faithful erupting. No big deal.
I mean, it’s just the world’s most famous geyser, right?
There’s something oddly disappointing in seeing something famous for yourself. It’s been talked up by so many people that your brain insists it must be something special, but you also know enough about it that it’s not at all surprising or unusual when you actually do see it. I mean, I’ve seen photos of Old Faithful before, and got a good idea of how large it is and all that. Plus it’s a reliable geyser so it was “Hey, look, it’s erupting right on schedule. Nifty.” But the combination of expecting something special and getting exactly what you knew was there leads to a sense that it didn’t live up to expectation.
I suppose that’s why I prefer visiting the small, lesser known, places rather than the big name ones. At least at those, I only have a vague idea of what’s in store, not a fully accurate mental panorama of the place. There’s still room for exploration and discovery, the things that really make the world special.
