An Iowan’s passion for a national park has turned into a book and an opportunity to interact with visitors.
Natalie Ogbourne (photo from Ogbourne)
Natalie Ogbourne of Knoxville says she took her first trip the Yellowstone National Park as a kid. “My parents took me to Yellowstone when I was 12 to show me that there was more to life than malls and movies. And when I was 18, I worked there and obviously I learned that there’s more to life than well than movies because I never really quit going back,” Ogbourne says. She’s been to Yellowstone 33 times, and ended up writing a book about her experiences.
That book led to Ogbourne being invited to be part of the park’s artist series at the end of this month (September 27-30). The artists are at locations throughout the park. “Their larger lodges have artists there. They’ll have one artist or two artists at a time. Some of us are authors, they have textile artists, they have potters, they have painters, photographers, and they just bring in people whose art is inspired by Yellowstone,” she says.
Ogbourne says the book is called “Waking Up in the Wilderness: A Yellowstone Journey.” ” It is a deeper dive into Yellowstone than a visitor usually gets if they’re just there for three days or a week,” she says. “And it takes visitors along with me into the back country on a snowmobile, hiking, snowshoeing, fly fishing, just all over the park, in all different weather in every season, even down into the Tetons.”
Ogbourne says it let’s you know what you have missed. “So an armchair traveler, who likes the outdoors, just gets to experience what it’s like to be in Yellowstone without being there,” Ogbourne says. But she says she recommends that anyone who has the chance to visit Yellowstone in person should, and if you already have, go back again.