Back in the Tetons again

As of last Friday, I have returned to Grand Teton National Park to work. I'm in Moose this time, at the park's south entrance. The reason for change? I had applied to my old place very late in the season, and all the positions had already been filled. The same was true here, actually, but they had a cancellation, so now I'm in. I've been working four days, and aside from a few curmudgeonly coworkers, it's been fine. It's great to be back here, that's for sure. Both Bozeman and writing had been getting a bit too complicated for me, and I longed for the simple life that only comes from living a 30-second walk from work and being on the meal plan. Speaking of which, this place (I'm purposely not naming it to avoid getting in trouble) has an excellent meal plan - we can eat anything off the restaurant menu, and sit in the restaurant itself. I guess that's because it's a small place, and it doesn't make sense for them to build a whole dining facility just for employees.

There's been tons of snow all winter and into spring (and into yesterday). The weather was nice and sunny and warm earlier in the week, and I did some road biking into the Slide Lake area east of the park, and also to Jenny Lake and String Lake, which were both still covered in ice and snow. Yesterday and today have been snowy, sleety, rainy, and chilly (see photo below, same view as above), and the same is forecast for the next few days. I've got two days off coming up, and it looks like I'll either be holing up here in the dorm or making my first foray into Jackson. I'm not really looking forward to either. I should look up Black George and hang out with him.



On a related note, I've got some goals for the summer. One is I want to save enough money to travel in the fall. I want to go to Nepal and Ladakh in India, where my friend Deb will be. I've been looking at air fares, and I think it might be cheaper and more flexible to get one of these around-the-world fares. And I'd like to spend a good two months away, so I really want to make and save some money here. With that in mind, I've been trying not to drive much, and haven't driven at all since I got here (one week). That's a good start, but I'd also like to do a lot of hiking, climbing, and kayaking, so I will be driving a certain amount. Just hopefully not too much. But I'd like to avoid going to town as much as possible.

I also haven't had any coffee or caffeinated tea since arriving. And I started jogging today. I'm trying to be all healthy, you see. We'll see how long it lasts.