You know when a visitor or family member comes to town, and you have make that obligatory trip up to Old Faithful? If you are like most Jackson Hole residents, it’s a trip that seems to happen at least once a summer. And I know that after more than a decade of living here, it’s a trip I’ve come to dread.

But on Tuesday, my boss asked me to take one of Circumerro‘s clients, a German named Markus Schwarz, up to Yellowstone National Park.  Since American tourists get such a bad rap when we travel abroad, I thought it might be interesting, if not entertaining, to see what he thought about us here in America.

We took off at about 7 a.m. and headed up to Yellowstone, thinking we might be able to beat the majority of the crowds and get back in time for Happy Hour, I mean, the end of the work day. What we found was a lot of traffic caused by - you guessed it - gapers, as well as road construction.

While Yellowstone is always beautiful, I’m hoping it’s the last trip I have to make this summer.

Markus, however, seemed to enjoy himself and, we hope, took back some fun memories of Wyoming to Hamburg.

He’s promised to return the favor if we make it to his city.

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Grizzly bear. Photo by Latham Jenkins/circumerrostock.com

The Greater Yellowstone area’s grizzly bear population is being threatened by hunters and climate change, a recent Associated Press story reports.

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Yellowstone National Park has joined the ranks of Grand Teton National Park in greening their guest services among other things, according to a story in the Casper Star-Tribune.

Park officials tell the paper that they are adopting ecofriendly initiatives and sustainability program after urgings from the Department of Interior. Devil’s Tower National Park is also jumping on the bandwagon.

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So, what’s the news this week? President Obama has signed the economic stimulus package, but no word yet on how much the Cowboy State or Teton County will benefit.

We discuss this issue and other news items such as the latest stats on Teton County’s influenza season and a sad farewell to a Yellowstone favorite in this week’s round up of local newspapers, websites and blogs.

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