Couple’s photo exhibit offers trip through national parks

Nanette Craig

There may not be time left this year to visit Yellowstone National Park or the Grand Teton National Park, but for a few more days, you can see photos taken by local photographer Marisa Wight and husband Dave Wight at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum.

“Yellowstone is like a world unto itself. It’s just awesome. It’s worth the long, long drive and worth the price of gas,” said Marisa Wright.

The Wights traveled in August of 2006 to Wyoming, stopping along the way to see other points of interest. 

Their two-week odyssey took them from Texas into Raton, N.M. and Salida, Colo., then to Steamboat Lake State Park in Colorado and on to Wyoming.

“We stayed in Jackson Hole, Wyo., which is close to Yellowstone. We went to see the Grand Teton National Park on the way into Yellowstone,” said Marisa.

Established in 1872, Yellowstone National Park is America's first national park and claims 2.2 million acres.

Located in Wyoming (91 percent), Montana (7.6 percent), and Idaho (1.4 percent), it is home to a large variety of wildlife including grizzly bears, wolves, bison, and elk.

Preserved within Yellowstone National Park are Old Faithful and a collection of the world's most extraordinary geysers and hot springs, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

“You really have to plan the trip well and research and you have to know your kids because the trip is long,” Wight said.

They tent camped along the way except for one night before venturing into Yellowstone.

“I called in January hoping to still get a tent spot for our August trip and the receptionist said there would be plenty of spots available,” she said. “I couldn’t believe that because in Texas our parks fill up fast. She told me many people like to stay in the hotels and resorts in the park because they are afraid of bears.”

She said that was the one thing she wanted to see and didn’t — a bear.

They may not have seen a bear, but they did see a traffic jam in the middle of the park. Wight said they were driving along in the park and there were a lot of cars stopped on the road.

She said they asked what was going on and someone told her there was a moose on the side of the road in some brush. Wight took a photo of the moose and that photo can be seen in the exhibit.

“It looks like a bunch of bushes, but there is a moose in there,” Wight said.

“We saw a lot of buffalo. In Yellowstone you will see more buffalo than you could ever imagine,” Wight said.

In all, they stayed four nights at Yellowstone then traveled back to Grand Teton National Park to stay at Jenny Lake for a night.

Jenny Lake was formed by melting glaciers about 60,000 years ago and is in the middle of Grand Teton National Park. The Wights hiked around Jenny Lake to Hidden Falls, an 80-foot-high waterfall to take in the sights.

“The place is so beautiful, so awesome and just breathtakingly beautiful, but it’s more than beautiful, it holds you in awe and wonder. I was sad to leave because it is so far away and I may never get to go back,” Wight said.

The Wights may never get to go back to Yellowstone or Grand Teton National Park but their memories are alive in the images they captured on their journey.

Those images can be seen until Sept. 16 at the Katy and E. Don Walker Education Center Exhibition Gallery in the Sam Houston Memorial Museum.

For more information, call (936) 294-1832.

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