Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Plans Change; Yellowstone's Beauty

Yellowstone National Park, a place of raw, unparalleled beauty, has been my home since May 22. We'll be here until Sept. 3. Denise joined me the following week after we both spent about a month in Pueblo, Colorado, and considered making it our home. We've decided to stick to our original plan -- Yellowstone for the summer, Washington state in September, Mexico in the winter.




The past few months have been part plan, part impulse, and part improvisation -- with a lot of indecision mixed in. It's an uncomfortable place to be because I'm accustomed to sticking to a schedule.

Adjusting to life on the road after making Austin, Texas home for more than 7 years has sometimes been difficult. We miss our yard, chickens, compost piles, and our friends. We also miss working on big art projects. That's why we jumped at the opportunity to live in the Pueblo House, but we soon realized it wasn't the best fit. Short visits to Pueblo for bursts of projects will suit us better.


I've poured myself into my work as a kitchen assistant and even got the opportunity to serve as cook twice when the first cook called in sick two days in a row. It's surprisingly rewarding and a bit cathartic to wipe tables, wash dishes, and chop veggies. I'll definitely keep cooking in mind for future seasonal work assignments, but my coworkers and friends Bob and Cindy Petitt recommend waiting tables as a way to make more money. Perhaps for my next seasonal job.

I work just under 40 hours per week, but it's a split shift. My first shift starts at 8:30 a.m. and ends around 1 p.m. Then I'm off until 3:30 p.m., returning home around 7:30 p.m. The 2-hour break in between is great for resting up or doing laundry, but it's not enough time to see anything outside of Grant Village where I live and work. Nightfall doesn't  happen until well after 9:30 p.m., but even so, we do our best not to drive at night because it's difficult to see wildlife on the road, particularly on the twists and turns up and down mountain passes.

Yellowstone is vast and speed limits range between 25 and 45 mph, but wildlife on the road and loads of tourists often make traveling significantly slower. It can take more than 2 hours to reach a destination and longer to leave the park.

There are convenience stores in Yellowstone, but the the closest big supermarket is nearly 100 miles away. We stock up about every two weeks or so.

We've seen some amazing sights in and around Yellowstone, many right at our door step.

Since I rely exclusively on my mobile phone for taking photos, I don't shoot much wildlife. I love flowers and that's taken a fair amount of my camera's exposure time. They don't move and I can get up close, which plays to my camera phone's limitations.

Elk, bison, and raven are the most common wildlife we see. Mornings and evening are a cacophony of bird calls, though we rarely see who's singing. Bears and wolves are among the most elusive animals here, but there have been sightings of each right in our camp site. We almost always carry bear spray -- a pepper spray more potent than police use.

The landscapes defy description. I've never been in a place with such savage beauty. Vast lava flows, towering rock faces, thunderous waterfalls, and ragged canyons, any of which could instantly mean death with one careless move. It's overwhelming, both in its physical scale and in its ability to stir the spirit. Being in the presence of a terrain that's so powerful and beautiful makes my heart race, my mind reel. Somewhere in between those rushes of emotion is a profound sense of peace, reverence, and of humbling insignificance.

See our Instagram page for a taste of what it's like to live in Yellowstone.

No comments:

Post a Comment