Home again, home again, jiggidy jig

I flew home the day the country was on "orange alert"--we couldn't bring toothpaste, water, perfume, makeup, or any gels on the airplane. I left at 1 pm and didn't get back home till 4:30 am the next morning, largely due to delays in Atlanta. People say their flights always get delayed in Atlanta! I didn't think it'd be delayed three hours! It definitely could have been worse!

Today I'm off to a family reunion--I can't wait to see the coolest people in the world: my aunts and uncles, and grandpa and great aunt, and two cousins. It should be fun times.

Yesterday my friend Joy from YNP was visiting Asheville, NC, with her fiancee and I decided to go up and meet them! When else are Joy and I going to be only an hour away from each other? It was wonderful swimming Lake James with Joy. We got pizza at Barley's last night then conked out during a movie.



My last five days at Yellowstone were pretty "hard core"! I backpacked to Union Falls with five other people (Julie, Knowels, Eva, Missy and Andrew). The falls were beautiful, and swimming in a warm river by this waterfall was so relaxing. Monday I checked off "fly fishing" from my to-do list! Andrew (who went to Furman and is moving to China to teach English! cool) taught me how to fly fish in the Lamar River. The Lamar Valley is famous for its fishing and wildlife. I didn't catch anything, unfortunately. We have to de-barb our lines in Yellowstone, but I came so close!



My last day off was spent kayaking with Rick. He took me down Yankee Jim Canyon--a pretty challenging course (level three rapids). The "big" wave was about halfway down our five-mile stretch. We had to avoid the boulder on our left and nosedive straight into this killer wave, which was probably about four to five feet higher than my kayak! I got soaked, but didn't flip, fortunately! Rick's a great guide. A few minutes later I got caught in a hole (the spot after a rock) and flipped my kayak. Being underwater without a breathing apparatus is always scary--it's even scary WITH a breathing apparatus!). I followed Rick's instructions and tapped my head twice (to mentally regain control), pulled the hook on my skirt, and pushed myself out of the kayak. I felt pretty dumb for surviving the big wave then hitting a hole. I had to swim that stretch of rapids, keeping my feet in front of me and holding onto my boat and paddle (no--I lost my paddle. Rick had to find it!). We pulled off to the side of the river and dumped the water out of my boat, then hit the river again. It was exhausting! The embarrassing thing was that I flipped two more times, the third time only thirty seconds after the second time. I think that first flip messed me up: it made me self conscious and afraid, and therefore more prone to flippage :).

Tuesday night I finally took advantage of my free cookout ride! I went with Andrew and Glenn, two YPSS (gas station) employees. By the way, YPSS people are all COOL. Xanterra's so big you never know what kind of people you'll be working with, but YPSS throroughly checks all of their employees. There are only about forty of them in the whole park. They don't feel dehumanized at work, like I often have! Cookout was great: all-you-can-eat steak, apple pie, cole slaw, cornbread muffins (!!) (we love cornbread muffins!), Roosevelt beans, and "cowboy coffee," coffee so strong you can bite into it, almost. When I was still in the dish pit, I asked one of the cookout workers why all the coffee mugs has coffee grounds in them. He said they call it "cowboy coffee" and people fall for it :). It was ok. I'm not much of a coffee person, though.

Wednesday was my last day of work. I took advantage of the morning and hiked Avalanche Peak with Rick. Avalanche is everyone's favorite day hike, and I hadn't done it yet! We met at 5:40 am, booked it up the mountain, took pictures, and literally ran down the mountian. I skipped parts of it, actually :). Skipping's easier than running down a mountain.

My last night was spent at a YPSS party. Julie Jabs (a Xanterra employee) came with me and Anju and Andrew to the YPSS dorms at Old Faithful. Julie and I met this lady Sally at the party who volunteered to help me check off two more items on my to-do list: seeing Grand Prismatic and the historic Old Faithful Inn--both beautiful sights. I'm so glad I got to pack those in!

Julie and I pulled an all-nighter that night, burning each other's music and packing! It was hard to say goodbye to my buddies at seven o'clock the next morning. Bittersweet. I'll visit again, I'm sure. I've had that experience so many times: when you realize you'll never be with the same group of people again. I think it's starting to hit me that it's just a fact of life--you can't stay close to everyone. It's ok. I think.