Travel Blog

One parting shot of Custer State Park before I start talking about our new digs.

Phil and I hit the road fairly early on Thursday and went a bit out of our way in order to actually do something we meant to do this summer. We always wanted to see Devil's Tower, so we headed that way. (We'll just have to tromp around the Badlands in four years when we have to get our driver's licenses renewed again.) It was nice to be back in Wyoming. There's just something about this state. You get wide open spaces and really cool mountains all wrapped into one.

We didn't go all the way to the Tower, but we got some nice shots.

Pretty nice hunk of rock, right?

Our trip went smoothly, the weather was great and we only had one big mountain pass to get over. And, as luck would have it, that pass was under construction.

Long lines of traffic, dirt roads and up 9,600 feet to get up, and from dead stops nonetheless. But The Beast did a good job, and since traffic had to go slowly anyway, we didn't hold anyone up.

And then we were in the Tetons.

We met up with the woman who hired us, got our work togs and got settled in to our campsite. We have a great spot, nice and shady and quiet. We only have about five other RVs in our area. Now, the downside is that the worker's campground is being expanded, so it's under construction. I'm not sure how the noise will affect us yet because no one's been working since we got here, but we'll see. But the folks here are really nice so far, and we've met a lot of them already. In fact, we've already been invited to a potluck on Tuesday, so that should be fun.

On Saturday, Phil and I drove to both of our workplaces. I'll be working at the Discovery Center near Jenny Lake. It's big and busy, so I think I'll like it. And Phil is going to fit right into his workplace down in Jackson. It's a visitor center that houses the Elk Refuge, Fish and Game folks, the Grand Teton Association and some Yellowstone National Park entities as well, so it's a place where you have to know a little about everything and be able to talk to people about cool things to do and places to stay and all that. Phil's really excited to be there. Here's Phil in front of his workplace:

That's about all for now. We start work tomorrow, so I'll write more soon, and hopefully I'll have moose pictures to share as well.

Phil and I have decided to leave Custer State Park and go work at Grand Teton National Park. This decision was not made lightly because neither of us has ever left a job early in our lives, but we think it's the best decision for us and our sanity. Our last day here is next Wednesday, and we'll be heading for Wyoming on Thursday. (Mom, I'll call you soon to talk about it.)

Better late than never...here are the pictures I meant to include in yesterday's post. And since I was so long-winded yesterday, I think this one will just be pictures.

What a mug:

Kid's table:

RV In-crowd:

Double trouble:

Patriots:

Big Daddy:

Baby love:

Tails up, watch out!:

Bull session:

Ok, so, my mom called me the other day and yelled at me (ok, my mom doesn't yell at me; how about gently scolded) for not posting in a long time, so I was all set to sit here and write and post some great pictures, but, as usual, I didn't think and all my wonderful pictures are saved on my external hard drive. At home. Not on my computer. So I'm sitting in the lobby at the Lodge waiting for Phil to get off, and I can't post pictures like I wanted to. But I can still tell you a story. I'll post the pictures, um, let's say, tomorrow.

Early Thursday morning, I was awakened at 3:45 a.m. because my RV was rocking back and forth. Now, that's nothing too unusual around here because the winds pick up pretty quickly and get to howling, so I lay awake and listened for the storm. Nothing. No wind. But my house was still shaking. Then there was a loud "WHUMP." And some more shaking. By this time I'm sitting up in bed, blindly grasping for my glasses. I have a bad feeling. WHUMP! WHUMP! I jumped out of bed and ran into the living room. I threw open the blinds...WHUMP! I look out, and there are a billion bison outside the RV. Everywhere I looked, there was a bison. And it was a baby bison that caused the noise and the shaking. It seems the babies were after the long grass that was growing under the RV (well, all the bison were interested, but only the babies fit) and they were going underneath the slides to get to it, and hitting their heads on the underside of our slides.

I was going nuts, because I don't think our insurance is going to be willing to cover anything else for quite a long time, and heck, it's a new RV. So I was yelling and screaming at the bison to "get away from my house" and poor Phil, who had slept through it all up until that point, came out to see what I was fussing about. He learned some tricks previously, though, when the bison visited our RV in the afternoon, and told me to open the windows and shake a plastic bag at them. Something about the noise scares them off. It worked for the older bison, but the young ones didn't seem to care all that much, and continued to romp around the RV for awhile. But no damage was done to our house, and it was fun to watch the babies playing with everyone's stuff. (You'll see what I mean when I get my pictures posted.)

Other than that bit of drama, not too much is going on. We're working hard and having fun when we can. I'll do my best to post the pictures tomorrow, but you know me, maybe I will and maybe I won't.