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I can't believe my summer in Yellowstone is coming to a close in less than two weeks! Working here has been a surreal experience. I think I'll look back on this summer as being pretty magical--though, I'll admit, there have been times I've wanted to pull my hair out from the stress of work. Ah--the Beartooths, geysers, and hikes made the triple shifts worth the stress!

Saturday night Julie (from Wisconsin), Jean (from France) (who's teaching me French!) and I went to the rodeo in Cody--my second time, and Jean's first-ever rodeo. Julie and I had to take Jean to Dairy Queen afterwards for a real American experience--the blizzard! Delicious :). Yesterday I worked pretty much all afternoon and evening, with a small break in between lunch and dinner--just long enough to call my friend John Barnett, who's maybe visiting my last five days here... should be pretty awesome!

People around here are starting to leave. Tonight there's a going away party for Lisa, one of the hostesses at the restaurant. And tomorrow is August first--so strange how quickly and slowly time passes.

Two days ago my friends Karin and Simeon were married. I wished I were in Sweden :). The same day my friend Jillian, who I also met in South Africa, got married in WV. Congrats to both couples!

Thanks, everyone, for your kind cards and gifts and care packages with peanut butter products, etc. I love them!

Beartooths

So, I managed to finagle SIX WHOLE DAYS OFF last week, four of which were spent backpacking in the Beartooth Mountains (Northeast of the park) with my good friends Emily, Lindsay, and our new friend Pete. Honestly, I felt guilty taking six days off (!!), but I think taking the trip was the best decision I've made here thus far. The Beartooths are absolutely gorgeous! We camped at Fox Lake the first night, only about a two-hour hike in from the trailhead. I just got my new hiking boots from Sierra Trading Post and hadn't worn them in at all, so my feet were getting blisters. Emily, our fearless leader (who is also trained in LNT--"leave no trace" backpacking, where you pack in and pack out almost everything), bandaged them up with Duct tape. Day two we hiked eight hours to the beautiful Dewey Lake. We were amazed as each hill we crested revealed a more beautiful panorama than the last. On the way we sledded down a snow-covered hill with the spare trash bags we had! Such fun. Day three we read, relaxed, and took a day hike to Impasse Falls--a toweringly gorgeous waterfall. We cooled off with a dip in the freezing lake by our amazing campsite (overlooked by a breathtaking glacier--beautiful!!) Day four we hiked back in eight hours. We took a dip in Russell Lake, where we enjoyed peanut butter and jelly and/or salami tortillas on the rocks. Excellent. What great fellowship throughout the trip! I'm so glad I did it, though I'm paying for my six days off by taking triple shifts these days... all worth it!

Highlights of the week

First of all, to my Aunt Tricia and Uncle Doug: thank you for the AMAZING care package/"survival kit"! I've never received a package so grandiose as that! My friends have enjoyed sharing in the spoils of chocolate truffles. I can't wait for an opportunity to wear the "angel hair wig." The slippers have come in handy already, and I'm wearing my new Red Sox hat as I write this! You guys are such incredible gift-givers.

I received a letter from Aunt Kate the very day my package arrived (double-whammy! yes!) with the advice to visit Chico Hot Springs. Well, last night I finally made it to Chico! It was really cool, and pretty tourist-y :). It's looks like a big swimming pool but it's fed by a natural hot spring. Swimming in it was SO relaxing, hot, and needed after a long week of work!

After swimming, my friends and I went to Livingston for "Pirates of the Caribbean." We got there late so the girls at the ticket booth let us in free! Livingston people are pretty cool about that, apparently! It was an okay movie (not as good as the first one); it was just nice to go to a movie theater for the first time in a long time.

What else exciting happened this week? I've felt a bit overworked, honestly. Roosevelt has been bringing in people from Canyon to help us out since we're so understaffed. Here's the problem: we don't have enough people but we also don't have enough housing to bring in new staff. And people become so frustrated from being overworked that they leave early, which places even more of the work burden on those of us who are left here. It's a vicious cycle! The days off exploring are worth it all, though. As are the amazing, God-willing lifelong friendships I've made here.

Oh! As a result of some good advice from a friend, I'm learning to play the guitar here! It's fun! My friend Emily is teaching me what she knows... And by the time I get back I'll be ready to start my girl band. Anyone want to join? :)

Sad Day

Yesterday was a somber one. My best friend here Joy said goodbye to me while I was working the breakfast shift. I started crying on the job. She was supposed to leave tomorrow--early enough to prepare for her move in to U Penn for dental school and to spend time with her new fiancee. She and Nathan were engaged the week before she came here. (Yeah, I'd be leaving early, too!) She decided to leave two days early - yesterday - because Nathan has been diagnosed with a serious heart condition. The night before last was spent in tears and prayers with Emily and Lindsay, the two ministering angels who have taken Joy and I in while their other roommate has been away. We've become like sisters here. I already miss Joy.

And what a stark contrast to that day she found out about Nathan. We had a shopping spree at Sierra Trading Post with Joy's parents and a Chinese girl named Melissa. I invested in a pair of hiking boots and Joy in a tent and some North Face jackets. That night we decided "investments" in camping gear don't matter. Winning arguments doesn't matter. People do.

Engagement, tourists, and the fourth of July

Hey guess what! My sister Leah's engaged! Congratulations to Leah and Reagan. They got engaged downtown Greenville by the Reedy River in the place where they had their first kiss--aawww :). They've been dating since her sophomore year of high school and his senior year. Yay! The fourth of July is one of their special holidays... How romantic.

I've been entertained by American tourists here in Yellowstone. What an average American looks like, I don't know--I've seen people wearing t-shirts with a graphic of their state on them. Is that normal? Where does the average American shop for clothes? My sister Anna and I decided it was Wal-Mart and Old Navy. I think that's about right... But Old Navy, even though it's not super-nice, seems a lot cooler than the styles most people here wear. The average American is overweight and loud. I remember coming back from South Africa on the plane and it was so LOUD. Americans want things their way, and they want them now. We're a consumer culture and an instant-gratification society, which can make things hard on your server :).

July 4th was a beautiful day to go to the Livingston Rodeo! I went with a group: Justin and Adam (the security guards), Lisa, Celia, Janel and Cory. This 4th of July was Livingston's record-high in rodeo attendance--about 5,000 people were there. Our group got to the rodeo late and they were actually already sold out. But we waited by the gate long enough that the bouncer just let us all in for free! The fireworks after the rodeo were pretty nice. Watching fireworks is just always mesmirizing/hyptnotizing, like watching any kind of fire.





Us at the rodeo.

Long-awaited pictures!

Grand Adventures

Ah! The internet again! I love it--and look forward to blogging, which indicates what a nerd I am (but nerds are good, I've always said) :). I should tell you about my grand adventures with my friend Andrew Lawton, who's staying in Idaho on his aunt and uncle's ranch, just two hours from Yellowstone. He came to visit for three days this week and we did all the tourist-y things around here, like seeing Old Faithful go off (once every ninety minutes or so), walking around the vibrant thermal pools near Old Faithful, and dipping our feet into Lake Yellowstone. Seeing the boiling mud was a dream come true! When I was younger I would look at picture books of Yellowstone and couldn't believe they existed, but they do! They're amazing, steamy, and smelly (sulpher--you know the smell). Honestly, it was kind of nice to be "just a tourist" instead of an employee for a short while. AND it was nice to eat real food at the lodges instead of the Employee Dining Room.

The real adventure began when Andrew and I decided to take a trip to the Tetons--they're about two hours away from here. The mountains are majestic and breath taking, and covered with snow. They're the largest mountains to emerge directly from flat land (they have no foothills). Well, we decided to go on a hike to "Swan Lake" in the northern part of the Tetons. The park ranger told us the trail was about a three-mile loop. We got to the lake, which was huge and covered in lily pads. It was beautiful, but so big we couldn't see the whole lake. We continued on our "loop" all the way to a dead end--the trail stopped at a river that looked like it used to have a bridge. We'd come so far that we didn't want to backtrack, so Andrew carried me on his back across the river (as high as my pant pockets), and lost one of his Chaco sandals while he was at it! The trail disappeared and we realized we were following animal trails into a field in the middle of nowhere. I knew the lake (another bigger lake) was in front of the mountains, so we decided to just go straight toward the mountains till we hit some trail. We had to jump another stream and right after that there was one more hurdle: a "peat bog stream" with water about an inch deep but mud who even knows how deep. We were literally in mud almost up to our waist. It was probably six feet wide, just wide enough that we couldn't jump it. I took off my shoes to cross it, then decided it was unfair for Andrew to be the only one walking barefoot, so I kept them off. We finally made it to Swan Lake and saw civilization--how relieving! This older couple saw us and jokingly told us we'd have stories to tell, and insisted on taking our picture. I think we could have been a statistic that day, but I'm very glad we survived SWAN LAKE!

Here's another adventure: five of my friends and I decided to drive two hours to "Fire Hole" (I think it's near Norris?) to swim in a river with thermal pool runoff. I expected it to be as warm as a hot tub. Well, after our long drive, we got there and saw that the stairs to get to the river were closed off with a sign saying there would be a $100 fine for people who swam in the river. Knowels decided to go down and just touch the water, which was about as cool as a swimming pool, but warmer than the river would be normally (about 40 F!). Knowels defied the law and went swimming alone in the river, and once he did it, three of us (Julie, Janel and I) decided to go, too. We couldn't drive all this way and NOT go in. And I think me having a video camera assisted in the decision to do it (oh! it came in last week! I'm a happy girl!). Yeah, that was probably the most defying, dare-devilish thing I've done here so far. It was fun :). Peer pressure, what can I say?

Serving is going great. I've met some really interesting people--I wish I had time to talk to them all! I had my first table walk out on me yesterday. The wait at the lodge is a LONG one, and it's usually not my fault, but servers are often the whipping boys for the restaurant. It was nice that the table next to that one noted how rude it was that the table walked out. I understand they wanted their food, and I understand that they couldn't wait any longer, but the manner in which they walked out was the rude part. Oh--it's often grandfathers with their grandkids who give you the hardest time! I don't know why that is!

Sad news: my parents found out that my Greyhound ticket is non-transferrable. Since it's in my name, I'm the only one who can use it. Sorry to those of you who wanted to use it :(. I should have found that out before I posted it on here! Like the wedding to Sweden, too--looks like plane tickets to Sweden are PRETTY pricey this time of year, so I'm still planning on being here till August 9.

Some seriously sad news: a lady here died two weeks ago. She had crossed the boundary and was taking a picture of her daughter and fell off a cliff. It was so sad. The whole park is grieving for her family. It makes me want to be very careful--I realize how dangerous this place is.

Thanks to all for your mail! I appreciate it more than you know (and yes, I do feel loved!).