More and More Updates!

May 27th, 2007

Today I had to call off work because I was sick (ok, so maybe I partied a little too hard with my Colombian friends the night before)! It felt really good to finally be able to sleep in and not have to worry about working from 6:30-11:30. I mean, the shift isn’t bad at all. It’s only 5 hours, but my boss, Merlin, has been an idiot lately and just sits there and makes fun of the other employees behind their backs and I don’t find that really cool. I believe if you have a problem you need to tell the person to their face instead of just making fun of them.
But, today Spencer, Nate, Nydia, and myself did the Mystic Falls hike. It had just opened in the past couple of days, so everyone here has been really excited to do it. This hike is a 4-mile loop trail back through the Biscuit Basin, a little north of Old Faithful area on the Grand Loop.
The trail starts out on boardwalk and then cuts off on a trail to continue the loop. You can take one of two ways. The first takes you up a steep switchback trail to an observation point. We made sure that we took a ton of pictures up there and threw some rocks off of the cliff and watched them shatter when they hit the ground.
We then continued on through a regenerated lodgepole pine forest (a majority of the forests in the park were destroyed in 1988 by a fire that burned throughout most of the park. This fire was started mainly by lightning, but also by careless campers) until finally descending down upon Mystic Falls. It was awesome to see a big waterfall that also had thermal features popping up all around it. We took the opportunity to take pictures and continued on to a point where we could just go sit by the creek for a little while and talk.
After our hike, we went back and grabbed lunch at the Geyser Grill (like our form of McDonald’s at the Old Faithful area), filled up on gas, and then continued on down to Yellowstone Lake, Lake Area, and Fishing Bridge. We were really just scoping out the area and took a short walk down along a volcanic sandbar that jutted out into the lake. The water was very very cold, although I am still going to go swimming someday just to say I did it (like I did 6 years ago when I was here last).
Got back from our journey to the lake, Nydia had to go to work so I took a nap. I missed a meeting that I had to attend, but I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. Then I went and played pool at the Pub for a couple hours with Julio, Spencer, Matt, and a kid named Thomas from Washington. I also met 2 more Colombian’s. Their names are Camillo and Ana. They, much like the rest of them, are from Bogotá (which is the capital of Colombia). They invited me over tomorrow night for Tequila and Salsa dancing, which should be fun. They don’t work for Xanterra; they work for Delaware North, which is the company that runs the Yellowstone General Stores.
After that, I walked back with Julio and hung out with him, Jefferson, and Sebastian for a little bit. Then I sat in the break room and talked with Crystal, Jessica, Ben, and some others for a while. Now here I am! Tired as hell, but tomorrow should be a great day!

Keep me in your prayers and you’ll all be in mine! God bless!