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!).