July 26 & 27: My Weekend

Its my Saturday and me and my friends Chelsea and Wendy decided to get some lunch in West Yellowstone. On the way to the car, we saw some people we work with in the restaurant and the Bear Pit bar attached to the restaurant. They invited us to go on a float trip with them. We quickly changed our plans, got our swimming stuff and planned on floating after lunch in West Yellowstone. Wendy had to bail bc she had to work that night and we wouldn’t be back in time. Chelsea and I drove up to West and had lunch. The weather got pretty nasty looking, and our food took longer than expected, and Chelsea had some things to buy in town anyway, so we nixed the float trip, decided to run errands in town then go to the swimming hole in firehole canyon after. We were in the last store we needed to go to and Chelsea saw a kiddie pool that she wanted to surprise her roommate Wendy with, so she bought it and we carried all the way back across town to my car. Once we got the pool situated in the back, we drove back into the park to Firehole Canyon for a swim. There are rapids there you can jump in which are awesome, and there is a hot spring nearby so the water is super refreshing. You can jump in at the top of the rapids and let the water carry you downstream. Its pretty easy to navigate until you are holding an underwater digital camera in one hand. You do have to be careful though. The next day. Me, Greg, Garrett, and our friend Meghan from Arkansas went to firehole to swim again and someone who works in housekeeping at Old Faithful had apparently just drowned as we pulled up. They pulled her out of the water and were doing CPR. The story was that she was climbing on the rocks on the other side of the water, fell, hit her head on the way down and was unconscious in the water for 5 minutes or more. Its crowded, but she could have been overlooked in the water and its possibly that no one saw her fall. Needless to say we didn’t swim there that day. We talked to a doctor who helped her once she was first out of the water and he didn’t seem to have much hope. He said she had a faint pulse after 30 minutes of CPR. Rumors are swirling around Old Faithful, some saying she died, some that she snapped out of it and is recovering, who knows. I don’t know her, but she is not from the US. I cant imagine being the parents getting that call. Holy shit. You want to go to the US and work for the summer? Sure. Then this. When we go, we just swim and relax, we never go near the rocks or cliffs, the water just isn’t deep enough to do any of that. Anyway, we left there and went to Moose Falls for a relaxing swim, then went to Teton for a short hike and drive to Jenny Lake. It was a weird day.

July 26: Happy Birthday White Chocolate!!!

Dad, Heather wanted to say 'wud up' to you on your birthday......

And this concludes our July family birthday extravaganza!! Dave and Colleen, Mom and Dad, I hope you all had wonderful birthdays. Dave I hope you like your gift. Colleen, Im sorry Target doesnt know how to accept credit cards over the internet/mail a gift. Mom & Dad, you will get your gifts when I visit in August. Looking forward to seeing all of you. Love you all.

July 18: Tour Day 3 Continued (to post more pics, again)

The trip to Missoula was pretty uneventful. There was beautiful weather and scenery the whole way, and I found out I want to visit Polson MT again, but other than that it was just relaxing. Since this part of the trip wasn’t all that exciting, I posted some other Glacier pics instead of the pics from Missoula. Once I got to Missoula, it was really neat to check out the town, especially the downtown area near the campus of the University of Montana. The drive from Glacier to Missoula took about 4 hrs, so I got into town pretty late. I found a somewhat authentic Mexican place to eat dinner in downtown Missoula before I spent the night in my car again, this time at a walmart supercenter. Apparently its no secret you can spend the night at a walmart supercenter. I pulled into a quasi community of RVs, buses, and cars in the Missoula walmart parking lot, all obviously there for the evening. I had called a couple hotels in the area for rates, and they weren’t bad, but you cant beat free. I had some actual errands to run the next day, so I didn’t do anything that night, just went to sleep early for a day filled with errands in Missoula, the drive to Bozeman, then back home to Old Faithful.

July 18: Tour Day 3 Continued (to post more pics)

I decided before I set out that I was going to hike to Avalanche Lake. It took about 2 - 3 hours roundtrip. The weather was so perfect, upper 70s into the 80s, sunny, the perfect day. The sign in the pic is one of the first things you see before you get started on the trail, not the most pleasant of thoughts, but I guess they have to let you know. The trail was more crowded than I expected, which I guess is a good thing from a safety standpoint. The pic where I am in my hot pose in water is Avalanche Lake, and yes those are all waterfalls falling from the mountains surrounding the lake, I think there were 6 or 7 waterfalls there. The other pic with the chair is where I set up to eat lunch after the hike.

Once I finished eating and relaxing for few, I drove the rest of the way through the park. After taking a few turns, I found myself on a gravel road that had a sign that said “Canada 33 miles.” I was tempted, but there was so much more to do and see, and the road looked so rough, I felt bad for Lola. We turned around and headed back towards West Glacier. The town where I want to run Le Griz ultramarathon is 10 miles from West Glacier. I went there to see if I could find anyone who organizes the run or find the trail that we will be running. I couldn’t find anyone who organizes the run after asking about half the town, but I did find the dam that we run over near the end of the race. I really wanted to spend some time here to find the motivation to train for Le Griz. Now that I am back in Yellowstone, I don’t necessarily think it’s a lack of motivation as it is a lack of time and legs. I work all the time and am always on my feet, usually from 7am – midnight (with a couple hours off) now working in the warehouse and the restaurant. Its not easy to fit an ultramarathon training schedule in there. So, I moseyed around Hungry Horse Montana hoping something would motivate me beyond scheduling conflicts. I have worked doubles everyday since I have been back so I have not run, but we shall see…. After Hungry Horse, I drove around the outside of the park for an hour or so just to check it out. I was going to stay around Glacier NP that night, but the part I wanted to see was hours away now in totally the wrong direction, so I decided to head to Missoula to spend the night.....

July 18: Tour Day 3

I slept really well and woke up around 730am feeling like a champion. Thanks Lola. I went back in to the restaurant for a proper breakfast. Some eggs, coffee, set this party off right. After breakfast, I changed clothes and washed up a bit. The plan was to head west through the park, hike Avalanche Lake Trail, eat a bagged lunch, tell Lola she is a soldier, head to Hungry Horse MT to check out the ultramarathon route I really wanna run in Oct, stay in Glacier NP or drive to Missoula for the night, and that was about as far as I had thought it through. There is only 1 road that cuts all the way across the park and that is through Logan Pass called Going to the Sun road. It is only open 2 or 3 months a yr due to weather and it just opened about 3 weeks ago. This was the road I would be taking all day. So pumped. The pics above are some of the pics I took, there are tons more on my facebook under the Glacier Nat Park Album. I made sure that all my pics are open for anyone and everyone to check out even if you aren’t on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=547979919

The drive really blew me away. Had I known what I know now, I would have worked in Glacier instead of Yellowstone. I started the day in the eastern part of the park at Rising Sun where I spent the night. The first 30 or 40 minutes of driving, the scenery looked like pictures of Fiji I have seen. The road continued to climb and wind into deeper into a valley of mountains, serious mountains. A lot of the pics above are from this stretch, at least my sinful poses. As the road kept climbing, you found yourself on the edge of a cliff on a 2 lane road with no guard rail, usually 500 ft to the bottom. Great views, aggravating when people buzz you going the other way. I was on cloud 9, didn’t bother me in the least. I couldn’t get my camera ready in time as I was driving, but there was one part where skinny waterfalls were falling and splashing all over the road, maybe 6 of them in a 200 ft span. Each waterfall had its own little rainbow. I felt like I was in a cartoon or something. I guess it was how the sun was hitting the water, but that doesn’t explain the unicorn….. So you get the idea, the views were life altering......

July 19: Colleen, you know I didnt forget.....

All your boys say Happy Bday as well!!!!

Happy Birthday Ruby Tuesdays!!!!

All your boys told me to tell you the same.......

July 17: Tour Day 2

Tour de Montana. Day 2. Woke up around 9 or 10. I decided I would only attend the arm wrestling portion of The Big Sky Games. Most of the events were happening simultaneously and all over town, so I thought this would be the most entertaining. I ate a little continental breakfast (cereal) at the Rimrock Inn, showered up and headed to the holiday inn across town for a taste of arm wrestling. I walked in to a well lit banquet room, quiet, guys on stage warming each other up. This basically consisted of arm wrestling, but both guys allowing each other to win, and so on. They announced the rules, I wish I would have videotaped that. After the rules came the announcing of the weight classes for each hand each wrastler was wrastlin with. They announced the left handed (Im left handed) 199 – 242 lb (Im in that weight range). Only 2 people. Quick math: Bronze medal up for grabs. Free. Just have to lose 2 matches and possibly a limb to these mutant men, but its worth it. TOO LATE TO REGISTER. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! BRONZE MEDAL FOR ARM WRESTLING????? NO?!! Had I known, I would have signed up and I would have at least a bronze medal (definitely a bronze, one of the guys I would have faced is in the video below, yikes, and the other guy was no one to sneeze at, or arm wrestle for that matter) for arm wrestling. I am seriously gonna call the guy who was running this deal and see if I can fill out the forms and pay the fee or whatever and see if I can get my name on there and get that bronze mailed to me. I doubt it, but its worth the call. I am soo pissed that I didn’t know there were only 2 peops in there. Right now I would be explaining the video of me arm wrestling some goliath of a man and how my labrum was torn in 2 places. Taking pics with the refs and the 2 guys who beat me???? DAMMIT!!!! The whole drive to Glacier was ruined bc of that. I was so pissed. I could have been wearing a bronze medal all weekend…….. FOR ARM WRESTLING!!!!! If anybody would have crossed me at all at any point over anything (ever again in my life), I would have violently cleared the nearest table and just set up for an arm wrestling match and said, “This is how I settle things. You see this medal? Big Sky State Games. Bronze for arm wrestling. Im ready for your apology unless you wanna do it my way, boss.” I got on the road a little after 1pm. Glacier Nat Park or bust. Whenever I am thinking of something that makes me mad while Im driving, I start speeding and don’t notice. And in Montana, its mostly flat, speed limit usually 70 or 75, so its easy to lose track of your speed, especially when your cruise control is on the fritz. I didn’t notice I was going 93, but that Montana Hwy Patrol officer sure as shit did. Bronze medal dilemma = compounded. He was cool, they offer $70 on the spot, so I did that. I gave him a look before I gave him the cash and said, “You probably get this a lot, but you’re gonna give me a receipt right…..?” He did. And I was back on my way. As I got closer to GNP, the absence of my rightfully deserved bronze medal and speeding ticket steadily became less consuming. The views and the excitement mounted, and around 730ish, I was in East Glacier, a small town just outside the park. Immediately, in my opinion, I knew it was going to blow Yellowstone out of the water. It was just….wow. The first place associated with the park that I stopped was I guess just called east lodge. If there is a heaven, and this heaven has a lodge, this has to be it. It is gorgeous. The thickest, greenest lawn, magnificent building and landscaping, unreal. I went in for info and ended up walking around for about 30 minutes and somehow buying some stickers. After that, I left in a hurry bc I knew I was losing daylight quickly at this point and still had a ways to drive before I could stop to camp. Once I started driving, I didnt want to get anywhere fast. It was unreal. It reminded me of pictures I have seen of Fiji. My dad is right, you dont need to leave the US for vacation, we have so much right here. The pics above are of that drive, I wish I would have taken more pics. Every turn was something as beautiful as the last. I got to the gate and the ranger was super cool. I showed her my Yellowstone pass and she let me in free, I didn’t even have to give her the, “my roommate got arrested,” or, “I was too late to register and got cheated out of my bronze.” She just let me in free, saved me 25 - 50 bucks. I drove the rest of the way to a location called Rising Sun. Campground = full. Shiz. I went in to the restaurant and got some dinner totally at peace with the fact that I was going to sleep in my car that night. I figure, I save $ on a campsite, its safer, no bugs, and it’s a guaranteed flat, dry surface to sleep on. I talked to my server and asked her a lot of question about hikes, what to see/do, etc. She was very helpful. So, over an emu burger and a couple Moose Drool Brown Ales, I figured out what hike to do, where I would drive for the most part, and had more maps than Rand McNally to guide me. I fell asleep easily that night to the strong scent of fresh pine trees and campfires from the full campsite next door.

July 16: Tour de Montana Day 1

I had 4 days off in a row, so I decided I was going to Glacier National Park with some stops on the way there and back. A big highway loop of Montana if you will. I went out the east gate of Yellowstone, and didn’t take any pics along the way, not sure why I didn’t, it was amazing, to Cody WY for the afternoon, then Billings MT for the night, Sat in Billings for the Big Sky Games (amateurs who sign up to compete against each other in events ranging from archery to bowling to arm wrestling to volleyball), onto Glacier NP for however long, then come back through Missoula and Bozeman. Lots of driving, but its all gorgeous up here and I love my time with Lola.

So I left out the east gate, I wont even talk about it bc I don’t have any pics. Lakes, heights, trees, flowers, you get the idea. Drove the desert portion of WY to get to Cody. It was hot, upper 90s. Its nice all the time in Yellowstone, so Im not gonna complain, but I have been wanting some real heat for a while, finally got it. Stopped in Cody for lunch, walked around downtown until I found a spot I was not surprised to find in Wyoming, pic above. I didn’t even look at the other meats, I should have, I had the elk burger and it was great. Elk meat is the bees knees. I met a couple bus drivers from Eugene Oregon in there, really nice guys, but these jokers went with the buffalo burger. Rookies. I was in and out of Cody pretty quick, but I had to get gas before I left. When I stopped, I asked a huge, intimidating bald man with a gotee for directions to a certain hwy to get to Billings. I didn’t want to discriminate, sure he was intimidating, loading his cooler full of beer that was on the tailgate of his monster truck, but he seemed legit, why shouldn’t I ask him? I asked him how to get to this hwy, and the most eloquent British accent came out of his mouth. I was expecting, “Weill, ya git on dis heire road, git up a few a dem dare stop lights, gitcha a left turn in nare, and thian… you wanna beer, pussy?” Not even close. You never can tell, good thing I wasn’t discriminating. He told me how to get to where I needed to go (which I eventually screwed up, but I digress…) and I asked the obvious question: “What the F are you doing in my country, Moneypenny?” He said he was a professor at the U of Georgia and a friend said he should move to Wyoming bc he would love it, so he did 20 yrs ago to work on a dude ranch and that’s where he’s been ever since. Wish I would have talked to him longer. But he had beer to drink and I had taffy to eat, ‘good lucks’ were exchanged and I hit the road. I got to Billings around 5 or so and it was hot. (“How hot was it?”) It was so hot, Dick Cheney waterboarded himself. Stole that from Letterman. So good. It got up to 108! What the shit, Montana?? I mean, it was a welcomed heat for me, but you gotta let me know. It was 70 when I left old faithful. Good thing I have Lola, she had the AC ready for its first use of the year like it was mid August in STL. I got a room in downtown Billings (AAA discount, what what!!) plotted out my moves for the Big Sky games and the best way to get to GNP with my computer, maps, and local newspapers strewn on my generic hotel bedspread. Once I was comfortable with the plans, I showered up and headed to Walkers, a modern grill & tapas spot I noticed in the downtown area while looking for a place to stay. Posted up at the bar, glass of wine, buffalo osso buco, and sportscenter. Word. After that, I walked around the downtown area, stopping by bars and having a drink at each, talking to whoever. There was one spot I really wanted to go into, I walked by it a few times, I couldn’t figure it out. It seemed like most if it’s patrons were out front of the bar on the sidewalk rather than inside. Remember, its hot as shit outside, so that doesn’t make much sense. There was a boom box playing bizarre music on the sidewalk, the best way I can describe the music was talk radio put to a beat with no rhythm. Most of the patrons seemed to be shouting at each other but getting along just fine. I walked by an obnoxious amount of times trying to figure it out. Verdict: Awesome weirdos. I was going to go in, but I was dressed relatively nice, I figured that was enough to get my ass kicked or at least yelled at on the sidewalk next to the boombox, I wasn’t really prepared for that so I went to a martini bar a couple doors down, walked around a bit more, then back to the room to rest up for a big day of arm wrestling and QT with Lola.

July 13: Interwebs in Laurel!

I really got some sun yesterday. I am not super burnt, but I am beyond pink. For those of you who havent seen me in a while, the pic above is not me, you can easily tell this is so bc I would not be smiling. He is in for days of pain, itching, and peeling. I was googling funny sunburn pics and this guy takes the cake. I went and played disc golf with my buddy Greg from Georgia, then I went and read my book in the sun for a while. I didn’t realize how much sun I actually got until I showered later to go to the talent show. Oh yes, we have an employee talent show and it was quite a show indeed. The show was in the rec center for employees. There were 8 acts or so, about half were guys and their guitar singing a song and missing the mark. A girl named Teodora from Bulgaria who I work with in the restaurant sang 3 songs, one of them was ‘losing my religion,’ she was really good. One guy who runs the employee pub was surprisingly awesome at classical guitar, that was really enjoyable. Then there were some other acts that were really hard to even watch. One tall, blonde, lanky girl with coke bottle glasses read her own poetry, which would have been fine, but she was so nervous and stuttering horribly, and I have seen her around before, she is very socially awkward to begin with. I felt so bad for her, it was literally tough to watch. I thought people in the crowd were gonna boo her or something, but thankfully no one did. It wasn’t really poetry like youre thinking, it was more her rants on people who visit the park and just people in general, from what I could understand. Poor girl. Everyone actually cheered really loud when she was done, that was really cool. She walked off the stage proud and that was great to see. Between the technical difficulties, the miscues, the surprising talent, and the general lack of talent, the talent show was as uncomfortably awesome as I imagined it would be. This was the Old Faithful talent show. Sadly, I will not get to see the top 2 (classical guitar guy and a martial arts group routine) move on to the parkwide employee talent show on Wednesday due to work.

I got a new roommate today. His name is Mena, he is from Egypt. His English is better than he gives himself credit for. He is a little shorter than me, stout, and shakes his head and stares at me blankly if he doesn’t understand what I am saying. His native language is Arabic, I hope to pick up as much from him as he does from me, although I don’t think what I pick up will be as significant. I might learn some letters or a few words, I think he will leave here much more fluent and I with a clue of Arabic. He really wants to learn the English language and I intend to help him. Lesson one: approach every man with big muscles and ask “How about I kick your ass?” All kidding aside, we have already had a candid political discussion and how we view each other’s countries. When I asked him what the first thing he thinks of when he thinks of the US, he answered with one word, “free.” The way he said it was really touching. I could tell he meant it, but he was not afraid to tell me that there is a good number of people in Egypt who have a much different first thought, which I told him was 'to be expected' (which is when I got one of many head shakes and blank stares). He goes to a pharmaceutical school in Cairo and will be in Housekeeping at the Inn. I was trying to do the math as to why he would want to come here for that, so I asked. He said he really wants to learn English and thought this would be a good avenue for that (my words) and this is part of a work and travel program he became aware of through his school. He is here until mid September, so hopefully in 2 months he will be fluently using “that’s what she said.”

More good news, we finally have internet in our building! I am sitting here typing this in bed. Now I can actually post things the day I type them. Booyes.

July 10: Let the July Family Bday Extravaganza Begin!!

Happy Birthday to Mr. David Politte! Hope golf and dinner are awesome! Ill call you and see how 32 feels...

July 8

This past week has been pretty eventful. I served a guy who was in the process of riding his bike (not a motorcycle, a bicycle, but I guess he didn’t specify and I am making this assumption strictly based on his spandex attire) across the US from Oregon to Virginia, went to Idaho Falls Idaho for a night, and my roommate and best friend here, Johnny, is headed back to Arizona already. He got drunk at the employee pub Tuesday night. When he was walking back to the dorm, he was stopped by the security guards. Johnny’s memory is a little hazy, but the Ranger report states that it was at this point when Mr. Singleton informed the security guards that they are not real cops and they should stop acting like it (apparently peppered with expletives). I guess they believed him, bc they called in the real cops, the rangers. They don’t mess around. They ruffed him up a little bit, he has cuts on his temple and his ear from when they threw him to the ground, arrested him and charged him with drunk in public and disorderly conduct. Both federal offenses, both possible $5000 fine and 6 months in federal prison for each. He was hauled all the way to Mammoth (2 hr ride) bc that is the only jail in the park. I stayed in that night, so I just woke up the next morning and he wasn’t in our room. When I went to lunch on Wed, people were asking me if he got arrested, so I went to talk to the rangers about it. I was planning on going to Idaho Falls that day, but wasn’t going to if there was something I could do if he had been arrested, which at this point I was convinced he had been. At first I thought maybe someone convinced him to crash at the dorms by the pub, or maybe he was talking to his gal on the phone in his car and passed out there, who knew. Turns out he was arrested and there was nothing I could do. He had to sit in jail 2 nights waiting to see the judge. I went on to Idaho Falls since I couldn’t do a thing for him. Couldn’t even talk to him. I picked him up Thursday after he saw the judge. He was fined $250 for each misdemeanor (2), fired from his job, and cannot enter the park for 1 year (very applicable punishment for a guy who lives in Arizona and doesn’t intend on coming back). So many people have done so much worse and just got a warning, C Walker for example, sleeping in the crow’s nest. Johnny blew a 0.11. That’s about a drink and a half over the legal limit. This is his first offense of any kind, ever, except one speeding ticket. This is so out of character for him its ridiculous. I think he just said the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong people and they overreacted. He was walking home and about 5 minutes away from passing out in his bed. He wasn’t driving, he wasn’t messing with anyone, he just had a little too much to drink, was probably walking funny, trying to get home, and mouthed off. You should not go to jail or lose your job for that. It’s a shame. I am somewhat happy for Johnny bc it hasn’t been a whole lot of fun for him since he’s been here. He hates the cold, his weekends kept switching bc he does whatever is asked of him so he never really had friends to do things with on most of his weekends, and this kitchen is nothing like the kind of kitchen he wants to work in. Its about quantity not quality here, and it has to be, it’s the 4^th busiest restaurant in the US, he knew that coming in. In Arizona, he knows he will find a better place to finish his externship with better experience in the right direction for him. For me, this sucks. I just switched my weekends so he and I could hang out on our weekends. I actually enjoy doing things alone, so its no big, I was just looking forward to hanging with one of my really good friends. It also sucks bc I am gonna get stuck with another roommate. I keep having these visions of coming home from work and all my shit is in a pile on the floor and there is this 8 ft Serbian telling me that he is going to use the armoire from now on, and not in English. I always try to look on the bright side of things, but this one just sucks. The only positive I can come up with is that I will be able to read and run on my weekends much easier now.

Idaho Falls was pretty cool. I didn’t know this, but there are actually falls there, right in the heart of town, pic above. I stayed close to that building in the left of the pic. Quite a Mormon presence there. The other pic is the Tetons in the distance from the Idaho side on the way to Idaho Falls. I stayed at a hotel called Le Ritz (vs. The Ritz), it was the cheapest hotel in the downtown area, and I had a view of the water. Everything was within walking distance, but I got there late bc I was trying to figure out the whole Johnny situation. Apparently people in Idaho don’t like to eat past 8pm. I literally could not find a place open to eat at 9pm. I walked around the falls and the downtown area trying to find an establishment that would serve me anything on a plate. During my search, I was on the phone with the girl from the Le Ritz front desk looking online for the same thing to direct me in my hunt. After 30 minutes of searching and trekking Idaho Falls downtown in its entirety, I was defeated. I wound up at the wine bar that I wanted to visit after I ate. I went in and the waitress was super cool, she made me a cheese and meat plate even though they stopped serving food an hour before. I laid the old, “my roommate got arrested and I got into town late,” bit on her. Works every time. I talked to the staff for a while, all of them were really nice and made a visitor feel welcomed. They told me I should go to another bar called the Frosty Gator, but I had also been told I should go to DB’s. I walked by DB’s, those people were wrong, and it was a hike too. I didn’t even go in. It reminded me of someone who lives in their grandparents’ basement and has people over all the time. Bad vibe. I went to the Frosty Gator and had a beer. At this point I was pretty tired, so I was outta there pretty quick. If it were the real weekend, I think the night life would have been more lively. I assume people from neighboring towns come there to party on the weekends. I was there on a Wednesday, and its still Idaho, so it was just a nice quiet night. The walking around was great. The bars I visited took me all over their downtown, by the falls, and through the paths of the park surrounding the falls. It couldn’t have been any nicer out. 65 or 70, no humidity, clear as could be. Just leisurely strolled back to my room with a view. The next day was all driving. Drove from Idaho Falls to Mammoth to pick Johnny up then back to OF. Started driving at 11am, didn’t get in til after 5pm.

As far as work goes, I will be splitting time between the warehouse and the restaurant starting tomorrow. Its actually on the schedule so they cant F with me about it anymore.

July 1: Whats the date again?

It cant be July already. Nope. Its still May. So this weekend has turned into a nice quiet weekend around Old Faithful and Im really glad it did. Got to do some running, working out, sleeping in, feeling healthier, reading outside in some really nice spots in the park, pics above. I finally got the sunburns I was asking for. Im really not that burnt, it just feels really good to finally get some sun. Without the burns, summer just isn’t official.

I was up in West Yellowstone the other day to watch some world cup, and I noticed the poster above. “Mountain Man Rendezvous.” I think its just a bunch of people who live in the mountains by themselves, at least that’s what I am hoping. I bet they all just appear at the rendezvous at 5am, fresh kill over their shoulder, emerging out of the fog or through a bush or something. I have to go to this. Im sure I will be able to spot the real players bc they will be wearing the hides/coats of their kills…. that they killed with their bare hands. It better not be story telling. If it is storytelling, it better be a legit mountain man giving first hand accounts of wrestling a bear, an alligator and Sasquatch all at the same time… and winning. I guess I will find out soon enough.

Dave and Colleen, tell Donovan thank you for the card. Its awesome. I miss you all. As you can see, its hanging on my wall. Luckily I got it the day I did laundry and cleaned my room. Otherwise there wouldnt be proof that I have it hanging on my wall bc I wouldn’t want it to look like it was hanging in a drunk monkey’s room.