I realize this entry is much over-due and I regret not having posted more in the past few weeks. At the current moment I am in a hotel room in Bozeman, MT (Having come full circle, it is the same hotel I stayed in here the night before I went to the park).
About one week ago I said goodbye one by one to my gurlz, being left in Grant with lots of wonderful international friends. Even though it was hard to say goodbye to my American friends, their leaving turned out to be okay because I got to spend my last days getting to know more cool people. Because I have been so bad about updating this, I'll try and report of the juicy stuff in a nutshell so you can get some idea of how wonderfully adventerous my last few weeks were.
Beautiful moments in my last few weeks include:
One night about 2 weeks ago we heard that the northern lights were supposed to be out, so we laid on the beach for a couple hours and although we did not see them, we did see some (10+) sick shooting starz. I hiked to some magical waterfalls, sat in a hot spring, and forged a river all in one day. I got an unexpected day off and spent it trail-running at Lonestar Geyser. Other beautiful moments include: watching movies with and learning games from my Czech friends, Jiri and Ondra, playing ultimate frisbee on the beach at sunset, visiting with my college buddy Rob Howells who came out with his family, camping at the foot of the Tetons in Antelope Flats with Rachel, driving through purple mountains' majesty at sunset with Rachel, and FINALLY seeing Old Faithful go off on my second-to-last night in the park (even though I have been there multiple times and have lived 20 miles from it all summer).
This summer has been sweet and nommy. Lots o' learning, lots o' fun. Lots o' loving. It wasn't really what I expected it to be in the least, but it was wonderful in so many ways. The ministry part was different that I thought it would be too, but also a good experience. Through the summer we had a few "regulars" at each service (employees) as well as many other visitors that popped in and out of our services. Working in the park in affiliation with ACMNP was a neat experience in many ways.
I am grateful.
After I spend a few days at home packing and repacking, and visiting with family and friends, I am off to school for a semester of student teaching in Western New York and Ecuador... I'll keep you posted.
to be cont.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Saturday, July 31, 2010
most epic weekend. EVER.
The date is July 31, which means I have 17 days left as an employee in Yellowstone. Although my time here is winding down, my adventures are not. Take last weekend for example: My friend Jonathan Spear from school (who is working down in Jackson Hole, WY for the summer) came to visit for a few days. We went moonlight whitewater rafting on the Yellowstone River (for freeee because now we know this girl who is a raft guide up in Gardiner, MT) for my friend Rachel's birthday. We stayed overnight with our raftguide friend (Tara) and her family and woke up to a delicious breakfast of home-cooked omlettes (beats eating in the employee dining hall!). Jonathan and I hiked a 5 mile loop trail in the Mammoth area of park, then our group drove down to Lake area for a parkwide ACMNP picnic at a sandbar (2 free, delicious meals in one day!). (I am using a lot of parentheses () and exclamation points!!!!). The next day Jonathan, and my Czech friend, Jirka (Jiri) embarked at 7 am to go to the Tetons to find a mountain to hike up. We talked to a ranger and decided to climb Static Peak: elevation 11,303 ft. Siiiick.
This, I believe, was the most epic hike of my life thus far. 2 miles in we came to Phelps Lake, which has a HUGE rock put there by God for the purpose of jumping off of it into the lake and taking epic pictures with mountains in the background. So of course, we did just that. A couple miles up the trail we came to a fresh mountain spring river waterfall that we hiked along for about a mile. We filled up our bottles with water, using the handy dandy purification tablets from my dad. A few more miles up, we had a picnic lunch in the shade and there was an adorable ground squirrel flirting with us because we had food. He jumped on my shoe.! and we took pictures. And after a couple more hours, a few more miles, and a lot of hard work, we reached the top and took lots of epic pictures of high altitude lakes, a view of the Grand Teton Peak, Buck Peak, and awesome beautiful things. Then we hiked down about 10 miles in 3.25 hours. I got back to Grant after midnight and had to work the next morning... sigh. Totally worth it though.
After a 4 day work week, it is once again my weekend and I am sure that more adventures await, because everyday here is full of adventure of some kind. Within the week, some of my friends will be leaving and going home, and soon after I will do the same - which will be weird and bittersweet (because I only get to be home one week before going to school to student teach!) But it's not over yet!
This, I believe, was the most epic hike of my life thus far. 2 miles in we came to Phelps Lake, which has a HUGE rock put there by God for the purpose of jumping off of it into the lake and taking epic pictures with mountains in the background. So of course, we did just that. A couple miles up the trail we came to a fresh mountain spring river waterfall that we hiked along for about a mile. We filled up our bottles with water, using the handy dandy purification tablets from my dad. A few more miles up, we had a picnic lunch in the shade and there was an adorable ground squirrel flirting with us because we had food. He jumped on my shoe.! and we took pictures. And after a couple more hours, a few more miles, and a lot of hard work, we reached the top and took lots of epic pictures of high altitude lakes, a view of the Grand Teton Peak, Buck Peak, and awesome beautiful things. Then we hiked down about 10 miles in 3.25 hours. I got back to Grant after midnight and had to work the next morning... sigh. Totally worth it though.
After a 4 day work week, it is once again my weekend and I am sure that more adventures await, because everyday here is full of adventure of some kind. Within the week, some of my friends will be leaving and going home, and soon after I will do the same - which will be weird and bittersweet (because I only get to be home one week before going to school to student teach!) But it's not over yet!
Monday, July 19, 2010
Life in a Postcard
The past 48 hours of my life have been action-packed, excitement-filled, epically adventurous, and altogether beautiful. At our first service yesterday we had 30 people in attendance: our largest service yet. All three services went smoothly and it seemed like people were influenced in a good way. After our morning services Rachel, Kacie (our good friend/ adopted ministry team member), and I went to Old Faithful to use our employee discount at the gift shop there (40% off this week!). Then we skidaddled over to Moose Falls where we swam in the waterfalls and read good books on a rock in the sun. After dinner, ice cream, and our third service, Rachel and I embarked upon our epic adventure.
We left Grant at 8 pm to drive Northwest into a spectacular Yellowstone sunset towards Mammoth to go camp with some ACMNP support staff. We arrived at the Blacktail Creek trailhead around 10:00 pm. Although we could not find the trail head at first, we stopped and used a bathroom, and when we came out, a park ranger (who is also the father of the ACMNP staff we were going to meet) had magically appeared to lead us to the trail. We hiked 3.7 miles to a ranger cabin in the dark with flashlights, singing and shouting the entire way to fend off bears or other lurking night dangers. We arrived safely to a quaint cabin on the beach of the Yellowstone River, where we had a solid night's sleep. We had a breakfast of bloobs, bags, and pnutbut (blueberries, bagels, and peanut butter) on the shore of the river. Sufficiently fueled and raring for more adventure, we hiked 2 miles further to a waterfall, before turning back to hike out and return to Grant. It was a beautiful experience in so many ways.
Besides adventuring, other important things you should know about the past week are: Darcy (one of my ministry team members) returned home this week because of health problems. Please pray for her. I caught my first 2 fish (Cutthroat) this week at Riddle Lake. I am really very sunburned and my feet are blistered, but it is all worth it. Beautiful world, beautiful moments. Beautiful people, beautiful life.
We left Grant at 8 pm to drive Northwest into a spectacular Yellowstone sunset towards Mammoth to go camp with some ACMNP support staff. We arrived at the Blacktail Creek trailhead around 10:00 pm. Although we could not find the trail head at first, we stopped and used a bathroom, and when we came out, a park ranger (who is also the father of the ACMNP staff we were going to meet) had magically appeared to lead us to the trail. We hiked 3.7 miles to a ranger cabin in the dark with flashlights, singing and shouting the entire way to fend off bears or other lurking night dangers. We arrived safely to a quaint cabin on the beach of the Yellowstone River, where we had a solid night's sleep. We had a breakfast of bloobs, bags, and pnutbut (blueberries, bagels, and peanut butter) on the shore of the river. Sufficiently fueled and raring for more adventure, we hiked 2 miles further to a waterfall, before turning back to hike out and return to Grant. It was a beautiful experience in so many ways.
Besides adventuring, other important things you should know about the past week are: Darcy (one of my ministry team members) returned home this week because of health problems. Please pray for her. I caught my first 2 fish (Cutthroat) this week at Riddle Lake. I am really very sunburned and my feet are blistered, but it is all worth it. Beautiful world, beautiful moments. Beautiful people, beautiful life.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Climb every mountain
Right about now my body sort of hates me, but my soul is happy. I cannot remember the last time that I was this physically tired. Yesterday I hiked Mt. Holmes with 20 other people from the ministry. It is a 19-20? mile hike that goes about 8 miles of slight incline (mostly flat) across some meadows along a creek, and then climbs up the peak to a height of over 10,000 ft for 2 miles-ish. Then you hike the whole thing back out. Although this was my longest, most strenuous hike so far, it was not my favorite. Last Monday I hiked Avalanche Peak, which is just a 4 mile hike (2 up, 2 down). It was a toughie, but the best one yet. I felt like I was in an Ice Mountain Spring water commercial. And after we reached the tip, we slid down in plastic bags on the steep snowy slopes. These are the experiences that make cleaning hotel rooms for 40 hours a week worthwhile.
This past Sunday I preached for our services for the first time. I think it went pretty well, and I was encouraged to hear positive feedback from our support-staff and other visitors that attended the services.
Also some fun facts you might enjoy learning: In the past two weeks I have peed behind/under a waterfall AND on top of 2 different mountains at over 10,000 ft elevation. Loons are my new favorite bird. Wind can be very very very strong and just because it is July does not mean that I cannot go sledding.
This past Sunday I preached for our services for the first time. I think it went pretty well, and I was encouraged to hear positive feedback from our support-staff and other visitors that attended the services.
Also some fun facts you might enjoy learning: In the past two weeks I have peed behind/under a waterfall AND on top of 2 different mountains at over 10,000 ft elevation. Loons are my new favorite bird. Wind can be very very very strong and just because it is July does not mean that I cannot go sledding.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
For the beauty of the earth
This past Sunday was our first official day of services here at Grant Village. Darcy preached, Rachel led w0rship, and I did prayers and offering. We had 15 people at our first service and 24 at our second, and 8 at our evening service. Some of our support staff from Gardiner came to our second service and brought us a whole bunch of fresh fruit. It was really the best gift anyone could have given me at the moment: Grapes, plums, bananas, strawberries, and blueberry bread. Sunday afternoon in between services, I went hiking with some people to a place called Fairy Falls.
Monday was filled with adventure. I went to Cody, WY with some new friends. The highlights of the day included buying a camelback backpack for $42 with my Xanterra employee discount, jumping off a rock bluff cliff thing into a lake surrounded by beautiful rock formations (in my clothes), finding some random roadside-seesaws that were remnants of an old riverside campground, eating pizza and ice cream, and learning a new card game called Nertz that is like Dutch Blitz. It was a pretty good day.
Work is still pretty stressful and kind of dramatic a lot of the time. It is hard to separate my work life from my regular life because I live and hang out with the same people that I work with, so naturally the two kind of meld together. Sometimes I get discouraged when I am at work because the hours are long, but when I step outside and see the majestic mountains across the lake, and the towering pine trees all around me I remember how thankful I am and how blessed I am to be able to spend my summer in such a beautiful place filled with beautiful people and beautiful creatures.
I am really doing a very good job of filling every moment of my life here with excitement, adventure, socializing, and movement. I am realizing that a big part of "ministry" is just BEING with people, co-existing, listening, talking, sharing, learning, discussing, reasoning, discovering other people's stories and sharing mine with them. I think that I am learning a lot, but i know that I have a lot to learn still. This is a summer for growing and learning and being.
Monday was filled with adventure. I went to Cody, WY with some new friends. The highlights of the day included buying a camelback backpack for $42 with my Xanterra employee discount, jumping off a rock bluff cliff thing into a lake surrounded by beautiful rock formations (in my clothes), finding some random roadside-seesaws that were remnants of an old riverside campground, eating pizza and ice cream, and learning a new card game called Nertz that is like Dutch Blitz. It was a pretty good day.
Work is still pretty stressful and kind of dramatic a lot of the time. It is hard to separate my work life from my regular life because I live and hang out with the same people that I work with, so naturally the two kind of meld together. Sometimes I get discouraged when I am at work because the hours are long, but when I step outside and see the majestic mountains across the lake, and the towering pine trees all around me I remember how thankful I am and how blessed I am to be able to spend my summer in such a beautiful place filled with beautiful people and beautiful creatures.
I am really doing a very good job of filling every moment of my life here with excitement, adventure, socializing, and movement. I am realizing that a big part of "ministry" is just BEING with people, co-existing, listening, talking, sharing, learning, discussing, reasoning, discovering other people's stories and sharing mine with them. I think that I am learning a lot, but i know that I have a lot to learn still. This is a summer for growing and learning and being.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Sun is in the sky oh why, oh why would I want to be anywhere else?
Even when the sun is not shining, this is pretty much how I feel here (besides the fact that I miss all of you a great deal and would love to be with you). I especially feel this way on days off (Sundays and Mondays) and after 5 o'clock, when I am done with work, on all other days. Work is ok, I don't mind it, but let's be honest here: I did not come to this park for the housekeeping job. I am thankful for the job and the people I have made friends with at work, but that's just a small part of all the awesome.
Today was Sunday, my favorite day of the week. This was our last week of no services at Grant, because tomorrow the campgrounds and ampitheater here finally open up for the season, so we can finally start our services (3 weeks late). So for the 3rd Sunday in a row I went up to Lake Village to help out with the services at Bridge Bay and I spent the day hanging out with other ACMNP friends there. They are all awesome friends, and I have been very blessed in my time ministering and fellowshiping with them. I will miss helping with their services, but mostly I am really excited to get ours underway here at grant. Anyways, today after services we went fishing at Gull Point, but I am dumb and lost my fishing license, so despite our desperate efforts to get it replaced (asking at 3 different places and experiencing clueless employees at each one) I succumbed to the fact that I would just have to watch everyone else fish. But no worries, I found things to do on the beach including: making a sand castle, cat-napping in the sun, playing on logs, exploring down the beach, and peeing in hidden forested place. Needless to say, I had quite the wonderful day.
Tomorrow I am going with the ministry people to the Snake River down by the Tetons to whitewater raft. I am pretty excited because I have never done this before, even though I know that it will be cold. That will surely be an adventure and I will keep you updated.
P.S. I have some pictures on my facebook page if you are interested.
Today was Sunday, my favorite day of the week. This was our last week of no services at Grant, because tomorrow the campgrounds and ampitheater here finally open up for the season, so we can finally start our services (3 weeks late). So for the 3rd Sunday in a row I went up to Lake Village to help out with the services at Bridge Bay and I spent the day hanging out with other ACMNP friends there. They are all awesome friends, and I have been very blessed in my time ministering and fellowshiping with them. I will miss helping with their services, but mostly I am really excited to get ours underway here at grant. Anyways, today after services we went fishing at Gull Point, but I am dumb and lost my fishing license, so despite our desperate efforts to get it replaced (asking at 3 different places and experiencing clueless employees at each one) I succumbed to the fact that I would just have to watch everyone else fish. But no worries, I found things to do on the beach including: making a sand castle, cat-napping in the sun, playing on logs, exploring down the beach, and peeing in hidden forested place. Needless to say, I had quite the wonderful day.
Tomorrow I am going with the ministry people to the Snake River down by the Tetons to whitewater raft. I am pretty excited because I have never done this before, even though I know that it will be cold. That will surely be an adventure and I will keep you updated.
P.S. I have some pictures on my facebook page if you are interested.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
tid bits
Hullo friends!
Yesterday I started training for my new position here, and today I continued training. It's a tough week because we are opening up another lodge unit that has been closed all year. It is very dirty and requires lots of scrubbing hard with chemicals. Tomorrow the Lakehouse Restaurant opens up here at Grant Village, so tonight they had a pre-opening for employees tonight as a practice-run. And it was free. I had a delicious bison burger.
My roommate moved out today because she is moving to a different location in the park, so I will be getting a new roommate tomorrow probably. So that will be an adventure...
Other news: I learned a russian card game pronounced "Do Rock" (spelled differently) that means "idiot" in Russian. There is only one loser and no specific winner in the game. I love it. I am going to go rafting on Monday at the Snake River with other members of the ministry here in the park. I saw another grizzly last night. And this morning I decided to drive the .25 miles to work because there was a grizzly and a cub roaming around Grant Village. 2 more days left until my weekend :)
Yesterday I started training for my new position here, and today I continued training. It's a tough week because we are opening up another lodge unit that has been closed all year. It is very dirty and requires lots of scrubbing hard with chemicals. Tomorrow the Lakehouse Restaurant opens up here at Grant Village, so tonight they had a pre-opening for employees tonight as a practice-run. And it was free. I had a delicious bison burger.
My roommate moved out today because she is moving to a different location in the park, so I will be getting a new roommate tomorrow probably. So that will be an adventure...
Other news: I learned a russian card game pronounced "Do Rock" (spelled differently) that means "idiot" in Russian. There is only one loser and no specific winner in the game. I love it. I am going to go rafting on Monday at the Snake River with other members of the ministry here in the park. I saw another grizzly last night. And this morning I decided to drive the .25 miles to work because there was a grizzly and a cub roaming around Grant Village. 2 more days left until my weekend :)
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