I will always be an adventurer.

A friend shared this great article.  Its all about traveling and how important it is for us to travel.  To see the world and to be changed by it.  And to return with a changed mind, attitude and outlook on life itself.  The one thing it doesn't address to be smart about your finances and traveling.  Yes, traveling is very important, but don't go deeper in debt because someone said, "Go!" Trust God and listen to Him about where to go and what to do.  And never stop exploring.

As for me,  I can't wait to see all the surfaces of the earth and meet the various kinds of people out there.  Sorry Mom and Dad for always running away, but you know you can run with me :)

http://convergemagazine.com/featured/travel-young/

Overflowing Swarms

Well, all in a week i have learned how to stop an overflowing toilet and kill a family of wasps.  I dont know why, but the cabin i live in has more than the fair share of problems.  Due to years of neglect and abuse the the cabins have seen better days.  So has the plumbing.  All the girls' cabins share the same plumbing.  Therefore, hair and other things have probably made its way down the drain.  My toilet has overflowed 3 times in a week and a half.  How do u stop it?  Turn the water off.  Then the water level goes down and then you can turn the water back on.

Oh and wasps?!  I have been catching at least one a day for the past five days or so.  I thought they were coming through my window screens somewhere.  But I closed my windows.  It had been about 3 hours and i come back to my cabin to find it filled with about 15-20 wasps.  How? I have no idea.  So i ask one of the guys and he says he know how to take care of them.  He used this stuff called "fogger" and its like setting off a bomb.  Keep everything closed for 2 hours and then open it all to air it out.  I come back to find all the wasps ( i hope all) lying on the floor curled up slowly moving.  Dying a slow and painful death.  It was a sad day for the wasps.  And my cabin is temporarily fixed.

Incase this happens again, i now know what to do.  But i rather it just get cold and kill off the wasps.

Dream home

Many moons ago when summer was in full bloom and new friends were plentiful i stumbled upon my dream home.  Its a fixer-uper.  In fact its probably not even for sale, thus making it more of a dreamy dream home.  Its about a 20 min drive away from the town and tucked back where a very limited amount of people go.  Its off the beaten path and has one of the best views Jackson has to offer.  I don't think i have the means to buy this place, but for now i'll just keep it as a day dream.

I'd make a large panoramic window.  This is far too small.

Home Sweet Home

Wedding Bliss

A couple weekends ago I took a hiatus from the ranch.  I went to Boston to go be in a college friend's wedding.  I didn't really expect it to truly be a vacation where i could sip fruity cocktails on the beach and put my feet up.  I went knowing i would be working and helping out in the hot and humid air.  Overall, i had a wonderful experience and was super thankful Leslie's family took me in the way they did.  It was a beautiful east coast wedding.  Simple and beautiful.  They rented a tent that was set up on their lawn and the ceremony took place outside as well, in the garden.  Other than the crazy rain storm that rushed through it was a great day.  We knew it was coming, we just didn't know when.  So all throughout the wedding i was steadily watch the ominous rain cloud rapidly approaching and then gazing back at Leslie and Kevin exchanging their vows.  It was a sweet ceremony.  And it ended just before the down pour.  Everyone either rushed inside the house or under the tent.  Most of the men held the poles that help up the tent.  Otherwise it would have blown away.  Leslie was watching the tent from inside the house and she thought it was going to blow away!  SO maybe 20 min later the storm passed, some tables got shifted around and the reception began.

pre wedding fun

leslie and i

myself, leslie and her cousin Hailey

hailey and i 

Kevin and Leslie Murphy

My friend Corey and he beau Rob 

Corey!

First dance 

a traditional Greek dance

Floating

A couple weeks ago we rounded up about seven people to float the river.  Two guys, five girls.  Most of us were from Spotted horse and the other two were from Camp Creek across the street.  We rented the inner tubes from a place in town.  They only had five tubes, but they did have an inflatable couch.  So they said we could rent that for the same price as two tubes.  So we did, because how many people can say they floated a river in a couch?!  We shoved all the tubes in my car and strapped the couch on top of my friend subaru:

Yup, for real.  Cup holders and everything.

We started the float together.  We tied all the tubes and couch together, but about 10 min into the trip the couch got stuck on a rock.  We untied ourselves and then the tubes went drifting away from us.  They was no real way to catch up and our rope would reach one another.  So alas, we were left behind.  I would have liked to all be together, but it was fine.  Alex and I had some great conversation about just about everything.

Oh ya, and the seat of the couch was slowly deflating, so we used our ottoman (which was not really for the couch but a different boat) as our seat.  This made it a little harder to balance and sit comfortably on the couch.  Most of the time there were no rapids to speak of.  Except for here and there and at those times we braced ourselves.  When the river was flat and calm we busted out some homemade granola and floated on by other fishermen and such.  Someone asked us where our big screen tv was.  I told him, he was looking at it.  Silly question sir.

At one point in our float i was readjusting and did a poor job, and it caused our couch to tip.  Throwing both of us into the frigid waters.  It was too hard to get into the couch while it was floating in the water, so we hung on to the couch and drifted with the current.  We had to wait about 5 min or so before making it to the shore to get readjusted and into the couch.  After that we tried not to move and were slowly warming up.

Since we were so far behind our friends, i thought they would be waiting for us all the pull out spot, but we saw them caught in an eddie, going nowhere.  We waived hey and continued on, since we had no way of stopping.  Moments later we too were caught in an eddie.  It was fun the first time spinning in a circle and then after about the 6th one we were ready to be out.  Somehow we escaped and continued on.  We saw an otter traveling alongside us.  The little guy was cute and all alone.  He didn't stay around for long and soon disappeared.

We made it to the pull out.  THe stupid thing about the pull out is that the current is incredibly strong and we did not plan very well.  So we had to dismount into the water and side swim through the current to the edge.  Meanwhile, we lost our ottoman.  It drifted into the water and out of sight.  We somehow made it to the shore tired and cold.  But with a big fat smile on our face.

Would i do this again?
                            

                                                                                                Heck, yes.

Part of the Snake River we floated

 And then later, i had to finish a roll of film, so we had some fun :)

Dreaming of days past

Hanging Siesta

I must say one of my favorite things to do is find a quite spot by the river and hang up my hammock and sketch, read or take a nap.  Since I start working at 2 PM everyday i have many wonderful opportunities to do so.

Sometimes friends will join me :)

cat nap.

 the view from my hammock at Granite Hot Springs

the set up

One day i walked up the rive to find a good rock to sit on and sketch and this was on my way. 

Cave Hunting

Once cookout night i was hanging out at the bar doing my job.  Two of our staff were talking about a cave on Beaver mountain, which is right by our ranch.  They said it was really easy to hike to.  So i asked one of the guys who had the same time off as i did if he wanted to go hike to it.  I also invited Alesha and Angelique and we drove up as far as we could, parked the car and just wandered up the mountain.  We made our own trail, trekking up the mountain towards the area of the cave.  It was steep and Alesha and i were huffing and puffing our way to the top, while the other two seemed to be running up the mountain without any limitations.  We stopped here and there to take pictures and water breaks.

setting forth

 see that dark hole on the middle/ right hand side? well if you do, you're looking at our cave.

through the woods we go 

 the woods then opened up into a rock pile.

chris, angelique, and alesha

We took a break.  So what do you do when you're in the middle of a forest?

You push trees over of course.  I felt invincible.

On our way back

So maybe you're thinking, "Did you guys make it to the cave?" Well yes and no.  Yes because you could get close enough to see it, but not close enough to get into it.  There's a lovely rock face directly under the cave so its a bit sketchy trying to get into the cave.  Maybe someday and somehow we'll get up there.  Until now we'll just dream and wonder about what lies in there at night.  

Hey Boo Boo!

It's been quite nice to be able to share my day off with people.  My last couple of days off i was able to share it with Angelique.  We decided to go to Yellowstone and see its bountiful beauty.  My main reason in going was to see the "Grand Canyon" of Yellowstone.  Early in the season a quest was showing me their pictures and it was glorious!  So i decided i had to go.  We got up super early and drove to the Park.  For us to get there we have to drive through Teton National Park, so we got some great pictures and more spectacular views of the Tetons.

We kept driving for about 2 hours and finally made our way into the park.  We passed Yellowstone lake and some small hot spots.  We were really just stoked for the canyon.  And when we got there, wow.  Its spectacular.  There are a number of different look out places that the park has created for the tourists to use.  We actually hopped a fence and just wandered out on a ledge.  I wouldn't recommend it, but it was nice to have a moment to ourselves without any other tourists around us.  

And wow.  So beautiful.

 You could hike down to the falls, where the water jumps of the cliff to its death.  Being here makes one feel quite small and insignificant.  

We drove to a couple different spots to view the abyss.  Everywhere we went it was just as magnificent as before.  There was one part where we walked out on to a small piece of land extending over the sand stone mountain. 

After visiting the abyss we kept driving to find a place to put up our hammocks and have a picnic.  We drove for about an hour before really finding a good spot.  We first saw a petrified tree and then noticed there was a hiking trail by this tree.  The trail went through a small canyon colored by green grasses and  wild flowers.  It was quite magical walking through here.  We walked while being on the look out for bears.  We didn't run into a bear but a badger.  I was walking minding my own business and then i see this clump of dirt growing.  I stop abruptly, not know what it about to pop out of the ground.  And then i see the dirt fly and a big furry head pop out!  Im still stopped.  THe badger is staring at me.  Meanwhile Angelique is on the lookout for bears and didn't notice that i stopped.  So she ran right into to me.  THen the badger crawled out of his hole and scampered away from us.  It was the first time i have ever seen a badger and boy are they fat.  They are a lot bigger than i thought they were.  Big and fluffy, and a little haphazard.  

After giggling about that for a while we made our way into a meadow and found Lost Lake.  It was beautiful and serene.  We put up our hammocks, had a picnic and then a nap.  

After our cat nap we decided to keep driving, and continue forth to the geysers.   Sometimes it takes awhile to get anywhere in Yellowstone because of these guys:

THey cause the most amount of traffic jams here.  They hardly move and just sit in the middle of the road.  

Afterwards we made our way to Mammoth Hot Springs.  Its a huge area of mineral deposits and sulfur water. 

After Mammoth we visited the Artist Paint pots.  I didn't find them very amazing.  I once saw Yellowstone in the winter and i think that its more impressive during that time.  There is more water in the winter than the summer, so it was just kinda amazing.  Still cool to see and weird to think of how this earth is a living thing.  How is the core of our earth still hot?  What keeps it going?

The day was overall amazing, glorious and exhausting.  We probably drove a total of 400 miles  from the ranch, through Yellowstone and back.  But totally worth it.  If you ever have a chance to visit Yellowstone, do it.  Don't hesitate.