After the YCC banquet at my supervisor's house Saturday night, a group of us decided to go hiking the next morning. I met them at the YCC camp around 9am and we headed over to the Artist's Paint Pot. This is a geyser basin that is just FULL of colors. We decided the name must come from the area looking like an artist's palette. Cool stuff. It was really nice to go with the YCC folks because most of them have been to Yellowstone for multiple summers OR were Natural Resource type majors in College. As a result, I learned a LOT! About furs vs. pines, rocks, microorganisms, thermophiles, and much much more.
From Artist's Paint Pot we ran over to a hike to Monument Geyser Basin. This was a backcountry hike and it was so much fun! Once we made it to the top of the hill-ish mountain and fawned over the cool geyser, we sat down and ate our lunch. It was a lot of fun!
After that we ran back to the camp and I dropped the YCC folks off. They were getting students around 2pm. As I drove into my parking lot, I passed cars with my roommate and our friends Christina and Lloyd. They stop. I stopped. They backed up and yelled "come white water rafting with us!"
And so I did!
We did something called a 'Turkey run.' This is when you choose to go with a guide who has taken very few groups or NO groups down the river before. All you do is sign away your life and everything is FREE! So, I was able to ride with JT (who had never taken a group down before) on the Yellowstone River for absolutely FREE! YES!!!
After an amazingly wet ride, we pulled our bodies over to the Two Bit and ordered some food. I had a delicious Guinness Brat with onions, kraut and spicy mustard. Yum.
We took our food up to the bar-deck overlooking the mountains. It was spectacular. When we finally made our way back to the house, I collapsed in my bed and conked out. SOO great!
Today was the start of my new work-week. This is the last day that I WON'T be in uniform. Tomorrow I get to start the Wildlife Olympics. I'll go ahead and wait to describe what that is until a later post. BUT, two fun things happened today at work. One, I was able to polish my ranger boots. Turns out the hiking boots I got are great for a normal day of work, but when I am leading tours and working with kids, I need to wear the actual Ranger boots. As a result, we picked out some REALLY ragged boots and I spent the morning polishing them hardcore. And man did they turn out! Luckily dad recently gave me polishing lessons so I didn't have to ask for help when my supervisor gave me the supplies!
The other fun thing that happened was the celebration of Mel's birthday. Mel is a lady who works in the education office with us (I shadowed her with the 2nd graders). Tuesday is actually her last day before she heads off with her husband to Spain and then his hometown in New Zealand. Sounds rough. BUT, to celebrate her birthday early, our office took a long lunch into Gardiner and ate at the Raven Grill. It was SO YUMMY! I got the Jamaican Chicken with Mango Salsa and Lime Coulis. I will sure miss Mel!
Anyway, I should probably put some pictures on here and grab some food. I'm expecting my roommate from St Francis (Jonathon) and our friend (Shanna) tonight and I want to be sure I'm home when they arrive! Until next time!
Artist's Paint Pot
Mud Pots! Yummy!
The YCC group I went with! Great people! (L-R: Maureen, Matty, Millie, Me, Abby and Tasha)
Playing in the river.
Matty and Maureen inspecting the mushroom.
At Monument Basin for lunch!
Pretty view from Monument Basin.
The rafting company!
The Yellowstone River!
Guinness Brat...yummmm.
Rosie's bar-deck overlook. Delightful!
One boot finished. One boot not.
Both boots finished!
No comments:
Post a Comment