travel and check-in

I have arrived at Yellowstone and am currently relaxing in my dorm room. (I have zero cell phone service so don't even try...) My flights went nicely with only a slight delay on the ground at Dulles. I got to the inn last night (in Bozeman, Montana) around 12, checked in, couldn't figure out the thermostat in my room, and consequently had a very cold night. But, I figure I won't complain because I should probably build up a cold tolerance anyways. In the morning I got to the bus stop around 7. Even though the bus stop was just across the street from the inn, actually getting to it was deceptively difficult. Not only was it four lanes across, but there was no cross walk! Fortunately, traffic was very sparse, so I did get myself, my broken frame backpack, and my 100 pounds of luggage across in a reasonable amount of time with no loss of limb or life. It was a chilly morning--probably around 30 F. There was a group of around 20 people total at the stop--mostly college age but there were also few older adults (one mother came with her daughter). Anyways, two official Yellowstone buses met us a the stop and we drove 1.5 hours from Bozeman to Gardiner, Montana. One of the buses was almost full when it picked us up because it had already picked up the international employees. I think they had been doing some sort of orientation yesterday. On the bus, I sat next to a nice woman named Cathy from Cleveland. She worked at Mt. Rainier in Washington last summer and enjoyed it so much she decided to work at YNP this summer.

The drive was beautiful! The snow capped mountains popping up out of the nearly completely flat land are breathtaking. Well, the mountains aren't exactly snow capped because it's more like a complete icing. The cattle fields at the feet of the mountains are clear of snow by now, though. The sky was a clear blue with a few intermittent clouds. Everything is beautiful despite the fact that the landscape is variations on the theme of brown. The evergreens aren't brown of course. I'm thinking everything will become a little more green in a month or so.

We arrived at Gardiner at 9 AM and proceeded to check-in and uniform fittings. With 70 new employees (most of which are from Asia and don't speak English as their native tongue), both of these processes took until 1 PM. I met three nice students from Singapore and talking to them helped pass the time. Needless to say, it was a long morning. My housekeeper uniform consists of a baggy maroon button down shirt and black pants with front pleats. It's not the most glorifying uniform to say the least, but considering everything, I don't mind it too much.

From Gardiner (which is about 300 yards north of the park), we went to Mammoth (which is a few miles inside the northern park boundary) where there was an official orientation for us as Xanterra employees. This consisted of basic safety precautions on the flora and fauna, letting us know about all the free tours we can go on, and the recreational equipment available.

From Mammoth, we split into our location groups and set out for those. It took an hour and a half to get to Lake where I'm stationed. My co-workers are all very friendly and good spirited. A few of them are returning employees. At Lake, we found our rooms and moved in. Jillian won’t be getting here until Saturday and she’s my roommate. The employee dormitory is very similar to a college dorm. My room shares a bathroom with the room next door. The window looks out on a few scattered pine trees on a small snowy field.

I should mention that I saw a lot of wildlife on the bus rides. These included a bison, a few elk (they’re everywhere, though), a few mountain goats, a bird that looked like a king fisher (he was flying along the creek that the road followed and he was going as fast as the bus-probably 35 mph), and two hawks nesting on a telephone pole just outside the park.

This evening I went to dinner at the EDR (employee dining room) with some guys and girls on my hall. Quite a few of them actually drove out here. One came from Massachusetts, another from Alabama, and a few others from other southern states. After dinner at the EDR (which is just behind the Lake Hotel) we went to see the lake. It’s enormous! I think it’s frozen from shore to shore, but that’s difficult to say because the lake is 14 miles across at its widest I think. It’s surrounded on most edges by spiky and snowy mountains. The clouds were spectacular as well. It was spotty cloud coverage and I could see snow falling in the distance.

That’s all for now! I have got to finish unpacking and get to bed early because I’m super sleepy. This is probably the result of jet lag, a long 2 days, and a huge elevation change. The Yellowstone Lake area is almost at 8,000 feet elevation!