I'm Back

Let me fill you all in on what has been going on in my life since Montana.  I have a new job, I'm living in Wyoming, and I finally decided to give in to my wanderlust while I can.  I live and work in Grand Teton National Park, near Jackson, Wyoming, and the only reason I am not outside enjoying my summer in the mountains is because I have a nasty cold. On my weekend.  Jerk.  I'm no longer working for a national, super-corporate company, and I no longer have to deal with snotty customers.  I'm back in the kitchen, and I love it.  I'm moving to New Orleans at the end of the summer, and I'm going to keep cooking.  It's going to be awesome.  

While I've been out here, I have hiked around 60 miles, significantly worn down the tread on my hiking boots, encountered several bison, 3 bears, a couple moose, 4 elk, and many mule deer.  I almost hit one on my way across Wyoming to get here, actually.  There is a mule deer that lives near the dorms out here, and I see her almost every day either on my way to or from work, or on the way home from the bar.  Yes, we have a bar here that is within walking distance of my bed.  It works out nicely.  

I have some pictures from my adventures, but I can never remember to charge my electronics up here, so I don't have as many pictures as I would normally take.  And cameras are heavy and bulky.  Also, I have my backup computer up here, so I have no photo-editing software to fix my pictures.  All of these are straight off the memory card with zero alterations.  

I went for a hike the other day to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point on Jenny Lake, and I saw some moose. They were just chillin' by Moose Pond, like moose do.  Baby moose are the weirdest looking things ever.  The pond was pretty far from the trail, so I apologize for the blur.

I think moose are cool, but I'm glad I didn't see these two on the trail.  Moose are far more dangerous than they look.  Hooves and antlers will mess your shiz up.

I found this guy trying to get into my pack.  Silly moose.
























Actually, this is Archibald, my new traveling companion, since I can't have real animals here and the National Park Service frowns on people taking wild animals as pets.  And by "frowns on" I mean it's a felony.


Archibald is such a ham.  I really wanted a picture of Hidden Falls through the trees, but Archibald jumped in front of the camera and demanded I take a picture of him instead.  Fun Fact: Hidden Falls is actually really pretty up close, but the trail no longer gets close to it because the Park Service is trying to get the habitat to regrow where the trail used to be.  Apparently people don't care about a little bush when there are pretty waterfalls to look at.  Who knew?  You can kinda see the falls through the tree branches.  It's the white blur behind the green.

I brought him up to Yellowstone with me, but that's a story for another day.