Comments on: Yellowstone: le safari de l’Amerique du Nord

By: Western Dave

Western Dave — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 02:55:55 +0000

If you ever drive old route 66 and stop at Herman’s Garage in Thoreau to see the authentic gas station pumps (not working, fyi) you’ll likely find yourself taking to father and son team Roy and Jimmy Herman while they fix a tire and the stray German tourist who saw it on a special on Route 66. Likewise, the Gallup Inter-Tribal Ceremonials (older than Indian Market at Santa Fe) pull almost exclusively foreign tourists. Again, heavy on the German. Karl May and all that.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 13:47:52 +0000

Wow!

Maybe les Francais are aiming to re-take the North American fur trade, and these tour groups and Cruiseamerica campers are just covers for their imperial claims.

By: Ugsome

Ugsome — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 20:26:15 +0000

It’s a French invasion all right. My French husband and I just did the Grand Circle of national and tribal parks in southern Utah and northern Arizona (Zion, Arches, Canyonlands, Mesa Verde, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon and Lake Powell) and we were astonished by the throngs of French everywhere. Even the smallest hamlet’s one café resounded with français. At Lake Powell the hotel staff registered us under a French homonym, arriving that same day, and there were two Joyeux Anniversaires in the restaurant that night. I took the habit of saying bonjour to everyone and was most often correct.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 14:28:56 +0000

Yeah, Death Valley wouldn’t be my first choice for a summer vaycay (or work assignment.) It seems to me that unlike Greenland/Iceland, Death Valley is aptly named and should be avoided!

I drove through the Mojave Desert a few times by myself 10 years ago, on my way from Colorado to LA and back again. That was hot and isolated enough for me!

By: comparatrice

comparatrice — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 03:53:46 +0000

I spent a summer in the late 1990s working at a resort in Death Valley.* We were told that the tourists during the summer — 130 degree days — would mostly be European, and mostly French and German; U.S. people tended to show up once the weather cooled off. This appeared more or less to be true, and for some reason I found it charming that a lot of French tourists would just speak French to me. It never mattered whether I understood or not — I was just the cashier, and the numbers were usually there in front of me — but I picked up a bit of French anyway. The languages I did know, Russian and Spanish, came up far less often. They claimed that Chinese tour groups tended to avoid the place because of some taboo around death; I have no idea whether or not that was really true.

*NOT RECOMMENDED, even if you are 18, “an artist,” in love, and broke. *Especially* not then.

By: ProfSweddy

ProfSweddy — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 23:07:00 +0000

One of my weirdest western adventures was camping in Utah and hiking (about 4 hours one way) into Arches. Instead of leaving people and arriving in the wilds, we hiked in the wilds and then emerged into the people. Busses and busses of Germans. We used the bathrooms, filled our water bottles, and then left the tourists behind again.

By: Janice

Janice — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 17:53:12 +0000

Candied bacon. . . .

We run into a lot of francophones on our travels and they’re always pleased to run into others who’re fluent (for that I have to count my spouse and Eldest, I’m still only passable). I almost never get a chance to practice my German or Italian out on the road in the states, though. I guess we go to the wrong destinations for those language groups.

By: Indyanna

Indyanna — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 16:29:37 +0000

My trust fund doesn’t vest for another decade or so, but when it does I think I’m going to go the official Trust Fund Cowboy [tm] route; unless I can use it to buy a distinguished research professorship somewhere.

When I was in France the first time, trying to brush up on my pathetic French while buying an Int. H. Trib. at a kiosque on the Boulevard Malesherbes, the guy inside gave me his best “outside the Port Authority” glare and said: “Come’on, buddy! Just give me the Euro. I’ve got papers to sell…” Lesson learned and not-learned.

Glad you’re back and had a good time. It’s been too quiet on la Rue de Blog!

By: Historiann

Historiann — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 15:03:18 +0000

When we hiked and camped in Escalante National Monument last month, we also saw the French and Germans there, big-time. Many of them ended up in Captiol Reef National Park on their way back from Bryce and Zion. We also have come across many French and Germans in Canyonlands and Arches, too.

(I also wonder if Utah is a popular destination for Europeans, who may feel more comfortable in Salt Lake City than in most other cities because of the intense language training most young LDS people get for their missionary work. Mitt Romney is not at all unusual in having done a mission in France, so I’m guessing that SLC has a much higher percentage of French or German speakers than most other American cities.)

There must have been a travel guide published in German and in French in the past decade that encouraged Europeans to rent RVs and mapped out itineraries throughout the West. Every rental RV (“Cruiseamerica”) we saw contained a European family!

By: Northern Barbarian

Northern Barbarian — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 14:54:47 +0000

A few years ago we vacationed in Bryce and Zion parks in Utah. Bryce especially was spectacular, and I swear half of France and a quarter of Germany was there too (sadly I do not speak French, although I would have been happy to chat in Russian if any Russians had been there; the Russians I know prefer Las Vegas). My French mother-in-law explained that Europe has absolutely nothing like the geology of the American West, plus of course the romance of all those cowboy books and movies.