The Treacherous River

I officially have 2 more days of work left! YAY! I really like my job, I'm just tired of the heat. I am looking forward to this week because Wednesday we are having a cook out for the 4th of July. However, I'm a little bummed because there won't be any fireworks :( The fire hazard level is at extreme as of now and it's way to dry. Oh well, I can do with out. I also hope my family's 4th party is a success on Wednesday- I am sad I am missing it.


I forgot to mention in my last post that Daryl and I got a new roomie on Saturday. She is from Germany and her name is Sina. She is a really sweet and fun girl! We got really lucky and we all get along really well. This weekend we went to the beach and took her floating down the wind river. She loves taking photos of everything because this is her first time in the U.S.! 


Floating down the wind river was extremely interesting. We only have 2 river tubes (the heavy duty ones). Dan and I bought two cheap rafts at the store and discovered that they were awful to use in the river. Eventually, Daryl traded rafts with Dan since she is lighter and it all went down hill from there. Daryl flipped on her raft a couple minutes in and then we hit some rocks in the shallow waters and her raft deflated. We also hit some rapids and trees on the way down, not to mention we brought chips ahoy cookies down with us. It was one of the funniest times I have had here. It was such a good last weekend in Wyoming. 

The next two days I have dig for a days and then I have off Thursday and my flight leaves Friday at 3:59pm! I am very excited.

Busy as a Bee

AND THE WORST BLOGGER AWARD GOES TO.... 


me. 


I'm so behind. A lot has happened this week. It has been so hot in the 100s. It is very smokey out this way as well because there have been a lot of forest fires. It has been hard to see outside and our house has reeked of smoke! 


This is what has happened this past week:
My roommate Daryl and I had our own DFD family. Without a summer staff member. We were sort of thrown into it last minute. Like 2 minutes before we were supposed to meet them in the morning. It went fine though and I am now more confident in my dig for a day abilities. 


I also got my basic prep lab certification this week, which is great. I now have the basic field certification too. Basically they verbally quizzed us on a bunch of different things and we got to take it in a group. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to take it before I left because time is running out and it is getting to be so busy!!


Today I had a special visit from my grandparents! I am so lucky to have family that comes to visit me out here. We got to do the museum tour together and then go out to eat! I am looking forward to seeing my whole family when I get back. It honestly cannot come soon enough. And it's too hot here. Not like it's not hot at home, but still. 

Rapids in the Canyon

Today was rafting day in Wind River Canyon! Thankfully my roommate Daryl has a waterproof camera so we got a lot of great photos. The rapids weren't too crazy because the river was low and we haven't gotten any rain in a while. However, there were some nice rapids that threw us around a bit every so often. It was around 100 degrees today so the 50 degree water felt great!

Here I am ready to roll.

Here is Daryl and I "riding the bull". We were told by our guide to sit on the front of the raft and hold on during the rapids! We fell in the boat a few times. We also got pushed in by the boys...

Our guide told us at the end that we could jump and swim down the river.

And finally, the group after rafting. We picked a beautiful day to go and our guide was great. Also, rafting in the wind river canyon was awesome because the scenery is so nice. I really want to go rafting again next time I'm out west. I'm not looking forward to work this week as it's going to be mid - upper 90s this WHOLE WEEK. Ah, help me. Only two more work weeks...

The End is Near

Well it is now officially two weeks until I come home! My internship is actually going by faster than expected. I'm really excited to see my family and friends soon and start doing some fun summer things instead of working.

This week went pretty well. I had two DFD's, one at the BB quarry and one at the BS quarry. The BB quarry is not an enjoyable quarry. It has really crappy bone and the quarry is dying slowly. In about a year, they will probably have no more bone coming out of it. Anyway, it was still an alright day because the weather wasn't too hot and the family from Texas was nice. 

Yesterday we had a 6 person DFD with the grandparents, parents, a 7 year old, and a 2 year old. I loved the kids! They were so cute and well-behaved. I kept the 2 year old occupied by having him help me clean the quarry with a dust pan and broom. The whole family was really awesome and they thanked us over and over for being such good guides. We also got a really nice tip! :)

When the DFDs go smoothly and everyone enjoys themselves, that is what makes the job really worthwhile and fun. However, sometimes you get those days where everything seems to go wrong. Today was one of those days! I broke off the end of a rib bone because I stepped on it, I didn't get much sleep, it was 90 degrees and the sun was strong today, and I had a shovel-ready dig in the afternoon. The two little boys were cute and interested in paleo, but it was extremely hot and I was crabby today. Anyway, it is now the weekend for me! Sunday is river rafting, so hopefully I can post some pictures from my friends waterproof camera. Below is wind river canyon, where we will be rafting in!

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears

Yellowstone was absolutely FANTASTIC! We left Thursday night after work for Grand Teton National Park and arrived in Jackson, WY at about 9:30. Jackson is a very cool town, it's touristy but upscale as well. There are lots of nice shops and places to eat. Eventually I would like to stay in one of the lodges there and try snowboarding...

Friday we had a wonderful breakfast at this cute little place called the Bunnery. I got the blueberry pancakes and had nothing but good things to say. Once we were full and could barely move, we started our 7 mile hike in one of the canyons (pictured above). We saw some beautiful views and Hidden Falls (below). I was also greeted by a marmot who walked right up to my backpack for food. He startled me to say the least. 

The Tetons are a better place to do hiking and there are less crowds, which is always nice. However, we headed to Yellowstone around 7:00 after watching a cowboy gun fight in Jackson. After realizing all the food places in the park close at 8:00 (which we missed  by 10 min) and letting a swarm of mosquitoes into Dan's car, we arrived at our campsite in Bridge Bay. There are like 9 different campgrounds since Yellowstone is so huge! I did not know it was that big. I'll admit, I was very scared of the bears at night. The next morning, there was so much to see and so much driving. We stopped to see Old Faithful, the Porcelain Pools, Steamboat, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, the Upper and Lower Falls, and Lamar Valley. This may not seem like a lot, but everything is basically an hour away from each other. 

 

All in all, it was an amazing trip and we got to see a lot. In terms of wildlife, we got to see huge herds of buffalo, a black bear, and a few elk. I'm really thankful I got to make it out that way and experience the park. Tomorrow it's back to work and the heat. :( Wahhh! Three more weeks. I can handle it. 

Stuck On You

I have so many passwords. SO many in fact, I forget them all the time. I should be asleep, but I had to write in here because it's been a over a week! I had to verify myself on google, long story forgot my password, etc.


Anyway, NEW POST!! 


My past week: The weather is still insane. Below is a storm rolling in as viewed on top of the digging sites. I absolutely love the views out here! That is something I will truly miss.

Another cool thing about this internship: Meeting people from all over the place! I had a shovel ready dig of 5 people from Hong Kong. They were such a nice group, I wish all of our groups were like that! Another one of us had a couple from Australia. And a lot of people from the midwest, so it's nice to talk about home once in a while.


This week has been really busy. We have had a DFD, shovel ready, DFD, and 7 person shovel ready tomorrow. OH yeah, and I learned molding and casting on Tuesday. I like that a lot, except the clay makes your hands feel disgusting. Wish I could have gotten pictures of that though! 

The pictures below are from a shovel ready yesterday at WBS. It was a crowded and mostly unproductive afternoon, but surprisingly fun. I glued my fingers together too which happens A LOT here, especially when trying to glue together small pieces. And the glue doesn't completely come off for a couple days.

Below is a picture of our quarry books. We have to take lots of information down for all of the bones we find. We have to radial map them with distances we get from the north and south stakes. We have to use a total station to get GPS coordinates (x,y,z) in order to map them on Arc software. We have to measure them all in length, take orientation and dip, sketch them, and lots of other fun things. It's very serious business!

Sorry this post has been so random. Tomorrow I'm going to Grand Teton Nat'l Park and Yellowstone, so hopefully I will have lots of good pictures when I come back Saturday to share on here :)

Until then, here is me with my fingers glued together...

Gotta Have An Uptown...

What a week of weather extremes! It started off in the 90s and thunderstorms. Then got windy and I experienced my first sand storm. I felt very much like dorothy. Today it was upper 60s and mild winds. I never know how to dress here or what to expect when I work! Earlier this week the winds were so bad, our shelter tarps ripped and/or split in half! Not good since this is our source of shade...

On a good note, my Aunt Sheree and cousin Logan come to visit me :)

It was a lot of fun and it is always good to see your family. I got to give them a museum tour and show them around Thermopolis. They also brought me so much good food and snacks! It was so nice of them. I also received the best care package from my family! They are the best! Below is a "town" in Wyoming called Kirby that has a really good bar/grill. But their receipts/bills have the address listed on them as "downtown" Kirby. Not sure how anything can have a downtown with a population of 92, but to each their own. 

Found lots of bone frags at the BS quarry this week. We brought up a mother and her two sons from Oregon on Tuesday. It was interesting to put it nicely. I'll set the scene for you: Dust was blowing at high speeds, I could barely see, the sons were not listening, one stepped on my hand, my partner Dan got hit by a rock in his side, we didn't find anything. OH and it was 97 degrees. Let's just say I was happy to be done at 5pm. 

Last day of my work week tomorrow! Hopefully something exciting is coming this weekend...