A Place Called the Highlands

The seasonal migration from the Highlands to whatever winter destination awaits us has begun. The courtyard resembles that of a used car lot. Cars are being stuffed and are loaded down to the point that speed bumps will be touch and go for some. It is always a bittersweet time of year. Excited for the adventures that lay ahead yet sad to leave such a special place. Landscape architects often try to design spaces that will give the user's a 'sense of place.' I'm quite for certain that there were no Landscape Architect's involved in the design of the Highlands (on old motor lodge from the 1950s). Yet nowhere else I have been has quite reflected a 'sense of place' like the Highlands does. It's a mixture of about a dozen of so cabins each one with their own unique charm. Some so small you can make your morning coffee without ever leaving the warmth of your covers. Although the cabins are quaint it is the inhabitants of these cabins that makes the Highlands such a special place. Rocks thrown at metal roofs are our doorbells, clothes left too long in the dryer are often times are folded and delivered to your cabin, and dinners are always a shared event. There are always morning welfare checks for those of us who thought drinking whiskey out of the bottle until the wee hours of the morning was a good idea. We are a gaggle of Park Rangers from all over the United States and we are unwilling to let the summer go by without filling it up with as much craziness and shenanigans as possible. Each resident of the Highlands brings their own special charm to the group. Bonfires are a nightly event, complete with story telling and fire jumping. Margarita Mondays, movie nights, game nights and Family Night Dinners are all weekly festivities. Ahh yes leaving the Highlands is always emotional but we always have plenty of good stories to last us throughout the winters. It is a place unlike most others. A place that we are all thankful to be a part of and are always thankful for one more summer spent here. May you all find such a place.

Pictures--Larry carving the Thanksgiving Turkey at our last family night dinner.

Don, Cliff, and Tom at Thanksgiving Dinner

One Last Hoorah

So this past weekend we said goodbye to the seasonals, going to God knows where, Barb, going to Olympic, and Jay, our EMS coordinator extraordinaire, going to the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was emotional, but mostly we just drowned our sorrows in Jameson and tasty beverages from local brewing establishments. Needless to say, the 12 mile hike up and over Hurricane Pass we did the following day was painful to say the least. I'll get pics posted from that soon. It was a fantastic gathering typical of the Highlands--- Grills, burgers, brats, lots of dogs, fire jumping, you know, the usual. Regardless of where we all end up, we will all truly miss the folks at the Highlands. The photos of the crew are, from top to bottom... ((Jay, Barb and I (and Todd adding a little something special)), ((Jess, Kari, and Aimee)), ((Jess, Larry, Don, and Jeanne)), and ((Clay and Aimee)). Good times were had by all and we all counted ourselves lucky to have spent time with such an all star group of people for at least one last season...

Weekend with Mom

So, my mom is visiting... Good times. So far, we've had an ambulance ride, came an inch from the rear end of a moose, 10 feet from a bison, and dumped a canoe into the Snake River and lost a paddle. You could say we were up a creek without a paddle and you would be 100% correct. If she were a lesser woman, she would never come visit us again. The river rangers had to come bring us a paddle. Embarrasing? Eh, if you can't laugh at yourself... Right. As it is, however, she appreciated the attractiveness of the medical staff at St. Johns Hospital, is not afraid of large woodland creatures at close range, and thought that flipping the canoe in a raging torrent was a great adventure. Thank goodness! She is, however, beating us all royally at Euchre and I think enjoying every minute of that. Today I suggested she lay low, read a book, and hang out with Bear. She said he made it to the dumpster in the parking lot before he realized she was not me and laid down in the road. He's a bit snobby. I'm back at work, lamenting. Hopefully the rest of the visit will be a bit more uneventful. ;) Clay and Aimee and I decided that every weekend should be at least three days long.

Ice Cream Headaches on Scooters

I've noticed that in September, motivation for working goes significantly downhill. Thoughts turn to buttered rum and skiing. Today, for example, Bear, no doubt napped after trying to figure out what animal was making the gutteral groaning and screaming noises during our 6am walk. The leisurely bike ride to work was absolutely frozen! Aimee took the sweet scooter. Bad idea. Ice cream headache the whole way. Still trying to get feeling back in her ear lobes. When you have to scrape the ice off the scooter cover, it's a sign. Aimee struggled through the morning on the desk making decorations out of the pieces of paper left in the hole punch, which found their way to my desk. I detailed myself to work with a friend to make parking barriers out of the sappiest logs ever. Note to self... need to get chainsaw certified. Seems a good way to get out of desk work. The vast majority of our staff has started detailing themselves quite often. Not even sure where they go all day, but at least they take radios. This afternoon, to the range to shoot stuff, maybe do a ride along. It's kind of like office space... maybe 15 minutes of actual work. I did actually post some internship announcements for a couple of hours this morning. Also, rode the scooter to lunch. Nothing makes you really feel like you've accomplished something like tooling around in your park service uniform on the orange scooter. Weekends in September are fantastic!!! Family dinner night this evening... Soup night is the theme. Maybe someone will bring the buttered rum. It's kind of soup-like. Snow in the forecast to encourage thoughts of skiing. See, its all coming together.

Push, Pull, Paddle

This weekend, to the great up north... Took a paddle, sloppy crawl, and hike up into Moose Basin. Jackson Lake was exceptionally muddy, thanks to the need in America for potato and potato products. I think at some point we were all knee deep in mud that had been at the bottom of a lake all summer. Mmmmmm.... Smelled delicious. Then a beautiful hike up, up, up into Moose Basin to a camp above a glacial lake for sunset and, as Carl Sagan would say, billions, and billions and billions of stars. Pics to follow. The trip out involved an uneventful hike down Webb Canyon and a slog of a push, pull, and paddle to get across the lake. Better planning would have helped, but the Karate Kid maneuvers on the tree stumps made up for it all. :)

Playing in the Winds

We took this pic after a delightful day of hiking and getting hailed on in Wyoming's Wind River Mountains. Bear had to spend the weekend with his girlfriend Koka. Poor Bear.