The Snow Pants Drama

Our last night at the Old Faithful Nick decided to go outside and look at the stars after dinner. Being just a itsy-bitsy afraid of the dark, I decided to stay behind.

Instead of carefully changing into the warm clothes, Nick just pulled on the snow pants right over his jeans. He gingerly blamed his jeans when the snow pants did not zip up all the way and ran out of the door.

Left to my own devices, I became terribly busy folding individual tissues just right to fit into my shell’s outer pocket. Suddenly a burst of siren noise ripped through my head. After a few seconds of terror, I realized that it had to be a fire alarm.

Continuing to think clearly, I grabbed my cell phone and my wallet, and eagerly walked out into the hallway. As I was about to close room behind me, it occurred to me that standing outside for even 5 minutes might not be too comfortable wearing just a t-shirt and warm-up pants. So I went back in.

Starting to rush just a tiny bit, I pulled on my fleece and hat, and tagged on the remaining pair of snow pants hanging on the hook by the door. The minute I got a hold of them I knew this pair of pants was not mine—they were just too big and too long.

Everything was clear now, but I had no time to wallow in my snow pant misery. I practically jumped inside Nick’s zipped up snow pants. Clutching my shell in one hand, and holding up my pants with the other, I joined the small crowd of people in the hallway filing out towards the exit.

A crowd was starting to form at the front of the hotel, when two fire engines pulled up to the front doors vigorously flashing their red lights. These were not your every day fire trucks. Rather the vehicles were red painted snow coaches with various fire fighting equipment strung all over them. Another 10 chilly minutes later, everyone was allowed to return inside, and the fire alarm was blamed on a garbage can that got bumped against fire alarm switch.

Nick, extremely pleased with himself, joined the crowd just as we were filing into the hotel lobby—he had a great time watching the stars and even saw the Old Faithful geyser erupt in the dark. He still had no idea why his snow pants were too small, while I wished I had gone with him. Watching Old Faithful in the dark seemed far better then mingling with severely underdressed guests, loudly complaining about the cold.