May 15: Poses

Today I woke up not feeling so great. It wasn’t just that it was 530 am when I woke up, it was the throat/headache/general not feeling so good combo. And I had a breakfast and lunch shift in front of me, so that was great. The restaurant is getting busier everyday as the weather gets better and more roads open. I have met a lot of people over the last few days who live right around the park. They all say the same thing: “We wanted to come now before it gets crazy.” I find that funny bc people coming in for dinner now have to wait up to 2 hrs to eat as it is (with reservations), cant imagine what July will bring. Maybe things will run more smoothly by then.

 

After my lunch shift today, I was starting to feel like I should sleep… until I went outside, I hadn’t been outside since 545am. Unreal. It was 65-70 and sunny. No way did I just work 5 doubles in a row to sleep through perfect hiking weather. Greg was going to observation point (overlooks the old faithful inn/geyser area) and I decided to join him. It was a good call. It was so nice out. We were walking by old faithful and asked a ranger when it was due to erupt, she said any minute. We started running up the trail. We ran maybe a ½ mile up the winding trail towards the top of the hill in hopes of seeing old faithful go off from the perfect vantage point. We (I) ran out of breath pretty quick, so we walked the rest of the way. We were almost to the top when it went off. We had a really good view on a clear day, just wish we could have made it to the top first, no worries. We watched for a while, then finished our hike to the top, then we just plopped down on a couple rocks and chilled. Didn’t really say or do much, just relaxed and took it in. I of course was in full pose in the pics above. Greg and I were talking to some people at lunch the other day who have been here for a few yrs, and they said the best time to be at observation point is when there is a full moon. Hike it by headlamp/flashlight (apparently the moon is so bright you don’t even need them), hang out and wait for old faithful to do its thing under the stars and blue light provided by the full moon. The hiking club does full moon hikes all over the park. You just sign up and go with whoever else did the same. Everybody says they are the bees knees. I think the first one is at the end of the month, hopefully my schedule will allow.

 After the hike, Greg and I met his gal for dinner, where Greg got the idea to go for a drive to parts of the park that just opened. Despite feeling subpar, again I could not turn this down. We ended up going around the lake and getting close to the east entrance. Which in Ystone is pretty far. On a map it doesn’t look like much, but with the speed limits and mountains, it took a while and was well worth it. We stopped a couple times to check out some different things we thought might be worth it, some were (pics above), others weren’t, but it was a victory overall, except that I didn’t get to bed early, who cares, we explored and I am off for 2 days.  Tomorrow, I am going to Grand Teton Nat Park. Hopefully I will feel better bc I would like to spend a day in the park just getting to know all the roads and places to go, then camp out for a night near Jackson WY and check out the town on Monday. I guess how I feel in the morning will decide the extent of the journey.