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The park is almost in full swing. Memorial Day weekend found the open campgrounds filled to capacity. Those that have not been open, I believe they open today. Also many of the tours and activities are now starting, and all the roads are open except for one area, and that is due to bridge construction. There are a lot of tourists here. It amazes me that so many people don’t plan for their trip here. We have a lot of people show up at the campground at 9:30 at night, even though our sign says we are full, and need a place to stay. With all park lodging full, we have to send them outside the park to look for accommodations. That is hard, because getting out of the park in any directions takes about an hour and a half. People are tired, it is dark- and I mean totally dark. No street lights around here. Anyway they are tired, it is dark, and depending on what way they head, there are some winding mountain passes. I also can’t believe the number of rental rvs there are. The people in rentals do not have a tow car, so they drive their
rv around all day. I think that would be horrible. There are places that I am uncomfortable riding in the Jeep, let alone the rv!
Yellowstone has been in the news, first was a national story about a black bear and cubs trapped on a bridge with tourists all around. Poor bears didn't know what to do! Then a teen girl was gored by a bison when she posed for a picture about 3 feet away from it. She was was hurt but expected to live. I didn't hear anymore. The a man fell over a rock retaining wall at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and fortunately got wedged in a crevice where he held on until he was rescued. I see people doing dangerous things everyday.
Lesson learned: as a tourist, be polite, considerate, obey rules, and be prepared!
The job is going ok. It ranges from being busy and chaotic and totally boring. Why does everything have to happen in spurts? My life would be so much easier if there was just a steady flow to the day! (it is all about me, you know). So much stuff to remember, I
am definitely not a perfect employee! And now that activities are starting, there is more to learn! I keep plugging away and I figure, what’s the worst case scenario? They fire me? So what?!?! 😊 But they absolutely did not lie when they told us that these are real jobs.
Bad night last night, one of the guests collapsed and passed away. I had checked her family in earlier in the evening. Don't know cause, but kind of got from my conversation with the family that she was not all that healthy. She was in her 80's I think. We had a family last week with infant triplets, one on oxygen. They had to cancel and relocate immediately to a lower elevation because the baby could not tolerate the altitude. Many people get altitude sickness, we are at about 7,900 feet. Glad I had the ability to take my time and become acclimated a bit
My schedule does not match Jack’s at all, except for our days off. He gets off at 11:30 am on Monday, I get off at 3:30. Then we are off Tuesday and Wednesday. I have been working nights every
other day, getting home around 10:30. Now we are starting a mid day shift from 12-8, so I have 2 days of 2:30 to 10:30 and 2 days of 12:00 to 8:00, and 1 day of 7am to 3:30pm. We are getting a couple more people in June, so maybe that will help a little, but honestly, we are pretty daggone tired when we get home!
So this past “weekend” we decided it was about time that we get out on some of the hiking trails. Many have not been open to this point, or we have had other things that needed to be done. Been here since mid April and no hiking yet! We chose to do the Storm Point trail in the Yellowstone Lake area. Of course the weather stunk, so we looked at the forecast and decided to do errands on Tuesday, and hike on Wednesday. Come Wednesday, the weather stunk. So, we checked the forecast again and decided to go up to Lamar Valley and hike…..ummm…can’t remember the name. Forecast said it would be nice there until 2 or 3pm. Rain, thunder, sleet, and lightening all the way over there, showers every 15
minutes…..didn’t happen then either. It has rained (and often snowed) every day. It is nice today, but I am stranded at home, and have to go to work in a couple hours! Maybe next “weekend”.
Actually, the rain and snow are good things. They say the winter was very mild without much snow. Without a lot of rain in May and June, it would likely increase the number of forest fires in the summer. There are fires every summer, I think someone said about an average of 7 in a year with normal rain and snowfall. The fires are kind of interesting- not that I have experienced one yet- but from what I understand, most of the park is forested with “lodgepole pines”. I could not tell you if that is a real name or a local name (like red dogs for bison calves). Anyway they are tall and straight, in the oldest sections of the forest, they have foliage only at the top. They were used in the construction of the lodges here. There are burned areas all over the park. The burned trees stand, or fall over, and the heat from the fire is needed
to bust open seeds or whatever so the forest can be reseeded. So, every burned forest sprouts up seedlings and the felled trees make habitat for animals, etc etc. You can kind of tell how long ago a forest fire was by seeing how big the saplings are. I totally apologize to anyone who may be an expert in this area for probably using all wrong terminology and not having all my facts quite straight!
Next week I get to go with some of the girls I work with on a chuckwagon ride for dinner. It is the practice run for the activity, and GSAs get to go on it so we know what we are talking about when someone asks about it! That should be fun.
Enjoy the pics! I couldn't get them all loaded, slow, slow internet today, and I have to get ready for work. I will save them for next time! I am still awed by this place and wish the pics could really make you feel what I do when I see whatever it is I see and decide to take a picture of!
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