On Wednesday I’ll travel to Helena to host a table for “Great Conversations,” a fundraiser sponsored by the Helena Education Foundation. My job will be to lead a dinner conversation (scintillating, I hope) with seven people who want to talk about early travel to Yellowstone Park. I’ll get a free dinner, an opportunity to talk about a topic I love, and the satisfaction of supporting Helena schools.
There’ll be twenty-eight tables at the event this year providing discussions for every taste and whim. Topics include “Raising Self-Reliant Children,” “The Neuroscience of Choice,” and “Is There a Plan of Attack for Peace?” You can see the full list of topics.
My topic is “Nineteenth Century Adventures in Yellowstone Park” and I’ve promised to tell exciting, funny and interesting stories. My collection includes hundreds of tales and I’m wondering which to choose. Can you help? Please look around through the posts on this blog and decide which ones would make for the best dinner conversation. Then tell me about your thoughts in the Comments section below.
Just to get you started, here are links to some of my favorites:
Why I’m Interested in Yellowstone Stories.
Or offer a little high adventure:
“Treed by a Lion” by Truman Everts.
“Captured by Indians” by Emma Cowan.
Or a touch of humor:
“Maude Gets Her Revenge” by Louise Elliott.
“Yellowstone’s First Car” by Henry Merry
Or may just describe the sights:
“Crusing Lake Yellowstone” by Hester Hensall.
I really would like to know which stories you enjoy most. Thanks for your help.
∞§∞
M. Mark Miller, Author 
Thank you for sharing your blog! We are looking forward to having you at Great Conversations and know that the guests at your table are going to have a wonderful time.
How to decide which stories to share? They are all so vivid and reading them made me feel as though I had stepped back in time.
My favorites are the stories of your grandmother, the hilarious Maud, and Truman Everts’ frightening tale. I also enjoyed the imagery of Zillah the steel boat and the first cars traveling Yellowstone.
Sounds like you’ll have a great time at Great Conversations. Of course, one of my favorite is Maude–very humorous! I don’t think you can go wrong with Maude and her revenge.
Thanks, Deb. I’ll have to take another look at Louise Elliott’s book to see if she has other tales about Maud’s antics. I laughed out loud when I read the air mattress story, but perhaps there are others that I overlooked.
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