Dave and I both had a some what quieter though no less interesting day on our second work day. It began with a moose calf and his mother having their breakfast under the window of the Airstream as we had coffee. A dream start to a day in the park. My assignment today was toContinue reading “Our second day in ‘the office’”
Category Archives: National Parks
Well, that was an Epic first day of work!
Exhausted and happy — isn’t that that the best way to end a work day!? Dave’s day started very early at 5:00 am — getting up to write and post the RV Weather forecasts, before preparing for his first day as the New Guy Trainee with the Wildlife Brigade. Lunch packed: check; uniform with nameContinue reading “Well, that was an Epic first day of work!”
Nine Days on the Road – Pt. 2
The conclusion of our 2,022 mile trip across the northern United States to begin our second season as volunteers in Grand Teton National Park. [Part 1 here] Friday is another travel day and we stay at a Harvest Host in Shoshoni Wyoming. We visited before and it was easy to come back. The farm dogContinue reading “Nine Days on the Road – Pt. 2”
Heading Home
Our expectations of what our time in the park would be like closely resembled a Hollywood dream sequence. 32 work hours per week, divided any way we wanted between two people seemed perfect. Two days on, five days off to play, right!? What could be easier?! We hadn’t factored in COVID and its impact on the park, or having a single vehicle into our plans.
A Tour of Our Summer Neighborhood
It has been a whirlwind since we arrived on 19 June. The first week volunteering at headquarters has both of us absorbing new terminology, command structure, and office tasks as quickly as possible. …
For now we thought we’d give you the lay of the land, in this place, our home for the summer. To start, we are camped in the Gros Ventre Campground, near Kelly WY.
Our Cunning Plan
Dave and I have often thought of this adventure as the fruition of a four year old “cunning plan” (Black Adder fans can probably hear Edmund & Baldrick chortling). An elaborate, convoluted, and multi-part scheme that flaunts believability in its potential for success. The plan gets its start in a love story.
Photography Class in Yellowstone
We returned to the grizzly in the cow field, and I convinced Dave to just watch for awhile and see what would happen. To our surprise and delight, the bear’s zig-zag wandering brought it closer to the road. Dave was shooting out the driver side window with the big lens — and got one of his best photographs ever! Too quickly, it wandered back into the
grass and so we wandered off
too.
National Forest Boondocking – and Hiking in Yellowstone
Today, Sunday September 15th is an anniversary of sorts. Three years ago today we visited the big RV show in Hershey, Pennsylvania, just to learn about RV’s. Today, Dave towed our Airstream over the most challenging 190 miles of our trip, crossing the Continental Divide three times from Colter Bay in the Tetons to the northern end of Yellowstone.
Colter Bay, Grand Teton National Park
It is a rainy Monday, so we decide to treat ourselves to breakfast at the Signal Mountain Lodge here in the park — which has a nice view of Lake Jackson from the dining room. Dave has some business to transact, so naturally we head over to Jackson Lake Lodge. The next storm is rolling in and the Tetons are completely hidden from view — much to the disappointment of tourists unloaded from the train of buses who tromp through, stare out the window, take a selfie in front of the fog, buy a coffee, and get back on the bus.
Grand Teton Arrival
It is hard to believe that it was two years ago, in fulfilling our dream of staying in a cabin in the Tetons, that experience would lead us to where we are today — in a campground in the Tetons! Here we are, a month-and-a-half into a five month trip, set up under towering Lodgepole Pines in the Colter Bay campground on Jackson Lake in Teton National Park. (And we think we have the hot shower issue figured out.) WooHoo!