Glacier Point at Night

So on Friday night, one of my coworkers and I went up Four Mile Trail so that we’d be up at Glacier Point when it was dark out. I don’t really have much to say about it except that the view was sweet. I mean, Glacier Point during the day is awesome because you can see absolutely everything all around the valley. But at night, we got up there just as the last bit of light was fading away and all the stars were coming out. It was so cool. Imagine yourself in one of those inflatable planetarium things when you can see all of the stars all around you—except that it’s real and there are mountains and you’re sitting on rocks instead of the gym floor—and it’s just completely surreal.

Sunset on the way up Four Mile

View of Half Dome from Glacier Point at Night

Photo: RJ Franklin 

I'm going to butcher this explanation, but my coworker RJ has this thing on his camera where he can leave the shutter open for a certain amount of time and capture all the light and the movement of the stars and stuff. So after fifteen minutes, the picture basically looks like it was daytime—but you can see all the stars' movements and the planes' paths. Pretty sweet!

Also, the pool opened yesterday which meant we spent Thursday carrying everything out from storage, vacuuming, sweeping, scrubbing tile, etc. The maintenance guy was freaking out that we were opening Friday instead of Saturday because he didn’t think we could get everything done…we finished by 1:30 and we started a little after 9:00. So the three of us litter-picked around the tent cabins for a few hours before we went home early.

After discovering that Shelby and I both play/played Ultimate for our college teams, we went to the beach after supper and got the regular volleyball crowd to throw around a disc instead. It was absolutely fantastic! I hadn’t touched a disc in almost a month and I was definitely craving it. Like craving ice cream…only ice cream tastes better.

Yesterday I had the day off, but I still wound up at the pool and just ready my book for like four hours on one of the lounge chairs that I set up. Might have been a little too soon for that because I burned the crap out of my extremely white feet. The rest of me is fine, but I do have a really nice watch line that makes it look like a have a white watch on when I don’t. ;) I’m sure it will only get worse.

Also, I don’t want to disclose too many details, but if you could keep my friend’s mom in your prayers, that would be much appreciated. She just received a very unwanted medical diagnosis that requires immediate surgery to try to remove a tumor on her second vertebrae. So if you’re the praying kind, I know the family would much appreciate the support.

Don’t have much else to say—have a great day everyone! :D

Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance

Mr. Morris—the high school guidance counselor, schedule maker, and driver’s ed. Instructor—always had this saying, “Prior planning prevents poor performance.” Let’s just say that phrase kept kicking me in the butt today…

Let me start from the beginning. First of all, yesterday was my last official day as a roomskeeper! Whooooooooo :) The other lifeguard Shelby and I got ice cream after work to celebrate. We both had today off and tomorrow we start at the pool, which opens Friday.

So this morning I got up, did laundry, and read. I do a lot of reading out here—it’s great. Since we’re required to take a full 30 minutes for lunch and I eat in less than five, one of my coworkers suggested bringing a book. I’ve knocked out lots of books already, so many in fact that the one I’m reading right now I borrowed from one of my roommates and after this my friend RJ said I could borrow from his collection.

But anyways, a little before 11:00 I headed out to do the western portion of the Valley Loop Trail—really just wanting to go to Bridalveil Fall. Well I was looking at my trail map and I decided that it wasn’t too much further to do the entire loop rather than just cut across on a meadow trail over to Bridalveil. So I went that route. I passed The Three Brothers and El Capitan on the north side of the loop. El Capitan is the largest monolith in the world and all kinds of people try to climb it. There are tons of climbers at Yosemite and if you work here it’s a huge topic of conversation. Whenever anyone asks me about climbing I say, “I hike; I don’t climb,” and usually they say something to the effect of “yet.” Wrong. Do I look like I have the build of a climber? Not even close. In order for me to be a climber, I’d need a lot more of the muscle that’s in my legs to be in my arms. Not gonna happen.

 

El Capitan

 

The Three Brothers

 

El Cap

Back on topic—I pass El Cap and am still headed west for a ways until the trail comes back on the south side of the Merced River. The trail in this area is extremely muddy, and in one place I had to cross a creek by skedaddling my way over on a log. The water’s pretty high, but so far, so good. Good steeplechase practice. And then it starts sprinkling. While not the most fun thing ever, it’s not bad and I keep trekking along. Then the thunderstorm hits. And this moron forgot to bring her raincoat, so all she has is a sweatshirt and a backpack full of stuff. Prior planning prevents poor performance. Mr. Morris would be so ashamed.

So I get to cross a few more creeks that are really high and manage to make it over those also. (I’m getting pretty good at balancing on wet, slippery logs. Must be from Ants on a Log back at good ol’ Pilgrim Heights.) At this point in time, I meet two hikers (Amy and Rachel) that are much more prepared for this weather than me—backpacks under rain covers, raincoats, rain pants, etc. They also get to cross these lovely rivers with me. Then it starts hailing. Hailing I tell you—in May!!! It was like God was flinging frozen peas down at us. Crazy.

little pea-sized hail that decided to pelt me

A little bit later I got a view of Bridalveil Fall. I’m definitely going to have to go back and see it some other time though since it was raining/hailing so hard I could barely see.

Bridalveil Fall in the downpour

Then Rachel and Amy asked where the nearest bus stop was. I laughed. Probably 2-3 miles away. So on we went. They kinda walked slow though, so I lost them after a little bit. Self-preservation. From there the trail was entirely under water and I was up past my ankles in muddy running water coming down the trail from all angles. So much fun. Really glad I bothered not getting my feet wet earlier in those creeks. After another like 30 minutes on the crummy muddy trail, I decided that the road would be shorter and less muddy, even if it meant that I was slightly more out in the open and had to worry about vehicles.

Not ten minutes into my journey on the road and a car slowed down and asked if I wanted a ride. Nice looking people…I said that I was soaked though and didn’t want to get their car wet; however, they insisted it was fine. As soon as I got in the man said, “We’ve been hunting for hitchhikers,” and the woman goes, “He doesn’t mean it like that!” Great…I’m about to become a statistic in the hitchhiker fatality books. But I didn’t—they were super nice. She was from Germany and he was from California and I helped them get to the Visitor Center. So now I can check Unintentional Hitchhiking off my bucket list. :)

Back in Yosemite Village it was barely raining at all. Apparently the thunderstorm was currently only affecting the western portion of the valley. I walked back to my tent, took a shower to get the mud off, threw all my clothes in the dryer, and scattered my belongings from my backpack on the boards above our heater. It is all soaked. There were only a couple square centimeters on me that weren’t wet all the way through. My camera appears to still work for the time being; however, I think my phone may be toast. I took it apart and dried it off, but the battery has a red little spot instead of white. We’ll see if it turns on later. I doubt it. And I’m definitely going to have to replace my roommate’s book. The bottom quarter is all soaked. My deck of cards that was already in pretty rough shape might be a goner also—don’t want to peel them apart yet until they’re dry.

Life lesson—check the dang weather forecast before you go hiking. So dumb…so, so dumb…

Also, tonight was the Employee Welcome Back Feast at the Community Center, so naturally we went and ate free food. I had a delightful buttermilk chicken sandwich, fries, and a cookie. Hurray for not having to cook!

On Sunday I went to the evening church service, and the pastor invited me to bible study at his house on Tuesdays at 7:00, but I completely forgot to go yesterday. So now as I’m done writing this I’m going to head to church again to see if Wednesday evening services are the same as Sundays or not.

P.S. My phone turns on and gets messages, but the touch screen doesn’t work so I can’t view them or respond. Peachy. Don’t text me. :)

Upper Yosemite Fall Trail

After more exciting days of work, I had today (Thursday) off. I decided to knock out another hike from my to-do list and I headed over to the Upper Yosemite Fall trailhead this morning. The sign said that it was 3.8 miles to the Fall lookout point and then 4.6 miles to Yosemite Point. More on that later.

This is classified as a strenuous hike, class 4 I believe—same as Four Mile Trail. This is for good reason! This hike had over 60 switchbacks with rock underfoot, and it was by no means easy. When I say it was breathtaking—that’s for more reason than one! I stayed up later than usual last night so I wasn’t feeling in tip-top shape this morning. I also stupidly forgot to fill both my water bottles before I went, so I stopped by a water fountain. You could only get it half full before it dribbled out, so I half-filled them both, dumped the water from one to the other, and ended up with 1.5 bottles of water. (Not enough—bring more!)

Although I wouldn’t say it was crowded, I would definitely say there was an ample amount of people on this trail. After ~one mile, you get to Columbia Rock and there’s a lookout point there. After that it gets steeper, and some people choose to turn around. From there you have another “2.8” miles until you get to the overlook, which is actually down a pretty narrow staircase and onto a ledge surrounded by a railing. The climb to that point took me about an hour and forty-five minutes, a little depressing for 3.8 miles.

View from Columbia Rock

Upper Yosemite Fall from the slightly scary overlook

I ate my pb&j on a rock for lunch. There’s a big flat spot before you go down the staircase to the overlook, and there were many, many people eating their lunches and taking breaks on the rocks. I attempted to take a short little nap, but it didn’t work out, so I continued on.

Having nothing better to do with my time, I decided to see what Yosemite Point was like. It only took roughly fifteen minutes to get over there (it’s on the other side of the falls). It was definitely 100% worth it! I would venture to say that anyone who makes it all the way to the top of that crummy hike has really missed out by not continuing to Yosemite Point. The trail over is not difficult, and the view is fantastic!

 

Spectacular view from Yosemite Point!

Just for fun, I decided to jog down the trail. Why? Because I could. The people on the way up looked at me incredulously, but I told them I didn’t run up too. ;) That would’ve been way too difficult. I wouldn’t call it a run since with all the switchbacks, rocks, and wet, smooth stones; I was never able to actually hit a decent stride. Quite unfortunate. I shaved off 25 minutes though and got back down in 1:35 from Yosemite Point.

I met a lot of really nice people, especially at Yosemite Point. It was there that I learned that mileages around here are measured as the crow flies. So the trailhead to the lookout point being 3.8 miles doesn’t account for the actual trail itself. From the trailhead to Yosemite Point, the woman said her device measured in at just over 7.5 miles. So round trip from my cabin was a little over 18 miles. All in all, I give this trail a 4.5 out of 5 star rating for scenery and believe it’s categorized right where it belongs as strenuous.

Hikes by yourself are like a good run in the rain, minus the steeplechase part if you’re in Cedar Rapids. It’s such a great way to clear your head and just really reflect on things. So today, I’m thankful for alone time.

I’m also thankful for sunshine, which turned my shoulders a nice shade of lobster.

P.S. I actually ate ice cream tonight. :) I went to the cafeteria at Yosemite Lodge for supper—I had Peanut Butter Cup. It was delightful.

P.P.S I had read on our bulletin board that church services at the chapel were on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Thursday evening, so tonight I wandered my way around until I got to the chapel only to see that the sign said Sunday morning, evening, and Wednesday evening. So that was a bummer, but I’ll try again next week.

My Long Day Off—Four Mile Trail, Panorama Trail, and…Honesty

I’m going to start off this post by saying that when I created this blog, I always intended to be as honest as possible. So today, when you read this, know that I’m just being as brutally honest as possible—I intend to mislead no one.

Let’s just get this out in the open that I hiked about 17 miles today. I left my tent cabin at 8:00 in the morning and did not return until almost 5:10, and only about 45 minutes of that was spent not actively walking/hiking. I want to cut my feet off. The last few miles were spent less in enjoyment of the scenery and more in the mindset of “I want to get this over with”…for more than one reason.

When I viewed the employee calendar, comparing my days off to the activity schedule, I headed over to the wellness center to sign up for their Bridalveil Creek Hike. The person who essentially runs the place (I’ll call him Bob) convinced me to un-sign up for that hike and go instead with him on Four Mile and Panorama. It was on my to-do list, so why not?

That same night I participated in the employee bonfire—free s’mores—no one can pass that up! Well I ended up leaving that early to distance myself from the activities going on. Here’s the thing, anyone who has ever said that the employees at Yosemite have a drug and alcohol problem were extremely right. Larry told me that because their son came out to work, but quit because he couldn’t get any sleep and kept being offered marijuana. A large number of park employees smoke pot. There it is. I said it. And as soon as that started happening at the bonfire, I went back to my cabin. I’m still in Week 1 and I feel like that was only the first of many times I’ll do that this summer.

Oh and by the way, since the wellness center is in charge of all those employee events…that’s right, you guessed it, Bob was totally at that bonfire—and definitely participating in the shenanigans. Perfect.

So when I showed up at the Stables in the morning to meet Bob to go on our hike, he still smelled terrible. I mean, ridiculously terrible. My roommates at Coe can attest to the fact that whenever we walk into the building they gag from the smell and I can’t smell a thing. Well I could definitely smell it on him. Going to be a long day…

Anyways, we walked probably a mile and a half to two miles to the beginning of Four Mile Trail (which is actually 4.8 miles). Four Mile Trail is known for being a killer—it’s all uphill. Well I didn’t think it was that bad, but Bob’s lungs weren’t exactly in tip-top shape, so he was struggling a bit. Don’t get me wrong, it was in no way easy—I was most definitely breathing hard, but I didn’t find it impossible, just strenuous as the trail map says. Lots of switchbacks! Bob struggled and we took breaks pretty often at times. Good thing the views were fantastic so I wasn’t bored staring at my shoelaces. There were great views of Yosemite Falls, El Cap, and all the surrounding mountain structures.

Yosemite Falls from Four Mile Trail

Cathedrals and El Cap 

Notice all the everbrowns on the valley floor--due to the evil bark beetle.

Sentinel Rock far left, Yosemite Falls far right

Just a tree that I thought was cool because it looked like a ladder.

SNOW!!! In MAY!

Let me also say that when we were within earshot, we actually had an interesting banter going, seeing as how sarcastic I am. I don’t want you to think Bob is a terrible, terrible person because that would be really mean of me. He actually reminds me a lot of my friend Grant that was a few years older than me at Coe. Similar backgrounds, personality traits, and outlooks on life.

Fast forward a couple hours and we get to the top—Glacier Point! Bob goes to get lunch and lie down and I went over the lookout points. It was extremely crowded with tourists because you can pay to take a bus up there ($25 per person), as hardly anyone takes Four Mile Trail. When I was done playing tourist for the moment, I ate my PB&J, waited for Bob to finish his mini-nap, and soaked up the scenery. It really was absolutely stunning.

 Half Dome, Nevada Fall, and Vernal Fall

 

 Nevada Fall above, Vernal Fall below

Then we started on the Panorama Trail. This 8-mile trail down from Glacier Point has some of the best views of many things in the valley.  I give it a five out of five for scenery! (I’ll give Four Mile a four.) I dropped the ball on getting a face-on shot of Illilouette Fall, but other than that, it really was great. This trail, while still challenging, was not nearly as difficult as Four Mile. Keep in mind though that it is May, so parts of the trail were dealing with significant amounts of water. Also, the last portion of the trail going down from Nevada Fall to Vernal Fall back to Yosemite Valley is stone stairs and was extremely wet and difficult. My feet did not hurt even a little until this portion of the trail. So, call me crazy, but if I were to do this hike again, I would start there and go up all of those weird stairs and stone paths, go all the way to Glacier Point, and down Four Mile Trail. Oh, and as much as I enjoyed his company most of the time (except for when he was well behind me, smoking away, knowing full well it bothered me), I would probably find someone else to go with other than Bob. :)

 

Double rainbow at the base of Illilouette Fall

 

Illilouette Fall

 

I thought this sign was really stupid; however, apparently about a dozen people each year die because they go over one of the waterfalls. A sign later said, "Is a photo really worth your life?"

 

Top of Nevada Fall---SO MUCH WATER going over right now!

Vernal Fall from the Mist Trail

Ready for some more honesty? This part makes me really upset and I forgot to mention it earlier. When I was getting trained for housekeeping, my trainer continually combined the trash and recycling bins in the guest rooms and threw them both in the garbage. When I asked him about it, he said we don’t have time or room on our carts to sort them into two bags. I was not very happy at all to say the least. So I asked what I would do if I decided to make time. The response—get a clear plastic bag for the recyclables and a normal one for the garbage, then throw them both in the garbage and the facility in Mariposa will separate them. THAT’S DIFFICULT?!? No, it is not I tell you, yet some of my coworkers think I’m a nut for separating them. However, that is exactly what I’ve done every day since then and I still get done with all of my rooms early and have to go help other people. That includes yesterday—Sunday—our busiest day. All of the employees were working because ~75% of our cleans were Departures. Yuck. I came in for lunch with five rooms left, then found out that two of my three stayovers (which I had already done) had turned into departures. So I had 18 departures and 1 stayover yesterday. Yuck yuck yuck.

Interestingly enough though, when I finished cleaning yesterday, Sabas asked me to clean/organize the office. This is not a task I mind at all. However, I found it really amusing that I was asked to organize somewhere that I’d been less than a week. Sound familiar? That’s right, my second day at Habitat last summer was spent organizing a warehouse that I had been given a tour of once. I found this extremely ironic and very funny.

Lessons to be learned within this post:

1)   If you don’t know someone very well, don’t agree to a 9-hour hike.

2)   If you have a problem with drug-users and alcoholics in general, don’t come work in Yosemite. Allow me to clarify. Some people, like me, are okay with the people but not the actions. If you are someone who is not okay with the actions or the people—don’t come work here.

3)   Aramark may have environmental standards and goals, but not all of its employees are on the same page. I gave one example here, there are many, many more that I could elaborate my frustrations about.

On my hike today (and other days), I kept remembering one of Dave’s sayings (Dave Mears), “It’s not about the outcome; it’s about the process.” Don’t think about the end of the trail or what’s next. Enjoy where you are and soak up the journey. I’m living in a beautiful place—a place that I still can’t fathom how God is so talented that He created all of this. I get to live in His magnificent creation, and for that—I am eternally grateful.

Now I think I need a boatload of ice cream. And ibuprofen for my feetsies. Ibuprofen I have, ice cream, though—only in my dreams.

First Day of Housekeeping and “Middle Earth”/Fern Ledge? Hike

I reported to Half Dome Village for my first day of housekeeping. Man oh man, let me tell you, it was so much fun. Not. Not even a little. Between the turnovers, departures, and my personal favorites—the stayovers, I had a jam-packed day of anything but excitement. I did, however, learn that the uncomfortable hat-wearing is optional, and our sweet manager Sabas lets us listen to music AND roll up our khaki pants into kapris (male and female) because it is hooooooottttttttt (especially if you’re cleaning a tent cabin with a heater that the guests used and forgot to turn off…).  Let me walk you through the housekeeping process (you’re going to love it—I swear):

Get your clipboard with your assignments, your master keys for the huts, and fill up your cart from the linen hut with everything you could possibly need for the day and more.

A Departure Clean—used for Turnovers (priority—do first!!!) and Departs

1) check bear box to see if there’s anything there—this is generally a good way to tell if your guests are still in the room or not. If there’s trash, pick it up.

2) Bang on door, announce yourself, and unlock.

3) fold blankets and stack on chair

4) remove towels and linens from bed and place in linen bag

5) attain proper fitted sheets, ensuring they aren’t rejects (dirty, stained, or holy)

     a) if a reject, keep trying until you get a good one

     b) place all rejects in a separate bag to be returned to the cleaner

6) stack blankets on the foot of bed

7) stack fitted sheet on top of blankets

8) put pillowcase on pillows, folding the ends in like an unsealed envelope

9) empty the recycling and trash bins into the big bags on your cart

     a) replace bags if necessary

10) attain proper number of towels and do a rolled trifold

11) attain proper number of cups

12) spray disinfectant all over the floor

13) mop it up

14) lock the door and cross it off your list, noting if you have any items that need to be taken to the lost and found, if the safe was locked, or if there are any maintenance concerns

Stayovers—used for people…staying over

1) Bang on the door, announce yourself, and unlock

2) Check the towels and replace if necessary

3) Check the garbage/recycling and empty if necessary

4) Lock the door and cross it off your list.

Now do you see why Stayovers are so much better? Yeah, me too. I was fortunate enough to get all of my turnovers and the majority of my departures done before lunch around 12:45, so my afternoon flew by. One of the trickiest parts was finding the dang huts on my list.The numerical system makes sense for the most part, but there are times where I could not find a couple of the huts. One hut took me fifteen whole minutes to find because it was off by itself with its back to everything else, so the number wasn’t visible. Stupid 742, what a pain…I finished early so Sabas had me go help Shelby, who had a tough load. Shelby is the other lifeguard that’s here stuck in housekeeping with me until the pool is open. Fridays are usually pretty busy, Saturdays are kind of “relaxed” and Sundays suck. Every staff member always works Sunday! (I anticipate it being terrible.)

So after I got off at 5:00, after I grabbed some food (a grilled cheese kid’s meal—solely so I could have a fruit cup and chocolate milk), my friends and I decided against the hike we had planned because we thought it’d take too long, and instead had Abby’s roommate Val take us on a different one. Boy oh boy, that was sure interesting. Another questionable life decision by Bethany. It was an off-the-beaten path trail, complete with cairns left by who I deem—crazy people. Less of a hike, more of a climb-the-rocks-and-don’t-miss-a-step-by-a-single-inch-for-fear-of-death journey. It was also a race against the clock to get back down before we ran completely out of light. Val called it Middle Earth. We ended up on a ledge by Yosemite Fall, and it was spectacular; I will 100% admit that. The view was great, I was just petrified about 85% of the time. I believe John Muir referred to this point as Fern Ledge, but don’t quote me. The description is his book sounds pretty accurate though.

 on the way up

from a ledge on the way up

 

"Middle Earth"

 The "Look I'm Alive and Made it Up Here" Grin :)

Clockwise: Bethany, Val, Andi, Abby

Also, we all made it back alive and before a flashlight was desperately needed to see. Now, seeing as how I was exhausted before supper, I am about to fall over tired, so I’ll post this in the morning.

I forgot to mention that when I arrived in the housekeeping building in the morning that I walked in, stood there uncomfortably having no idea what was going on, and one of the guys goes, “So you’re new here huh?” Apparently it was pretty obvious…

I cannot wait for Memorial Day!!!

Orientation, Lower Yosemite Falls, and Mirror Lake Trail

Orientation was just a blast. The only decent part of it was when we got to hear the NPS rangers talk to us. Basically, don’t do anything stupid so they have to come get us. The rest was a bunch of Aramark blah blah blah we’re cool stuff. Luckily for me, I only had to go through general orientation from 8-11—and not the other two for tips and food. Because no one tips a lifeguard and the only time we deal with food is vomit. ;)

So after our lunch break I went to the visitor center and read every single sign there, absorbing all the information that I could: 1) to kill time and 2) because I’m a nerd. I asked the person at the front desk if he could give me a brief overview of the different trails because I’d be here all summer, and he handed me one of each of their trail maps and pamphlets. Somehow I still got out of there in just under an hour.

The first thing that I decided to do was the Lower Yosemite Fall Trail. It’s really short and paved, and it was super crowded. The falls were so big that they were spraying everyone on the bridge. It was pretty sweet.

At the end of the Lower Yosemite Fall Trail, there was a sign that pointed to the right that said, “Mirror Lake Trail—4.5 miles.” I still had time to kill until my friends were done with ServSafe, so I decided to take that option also. I later realized that it meant 4.5 mile to get to Mirror Lake—not 4.5 miles total. Also, the listing on the trail map rated it as “Easy,” but I would give it a “Moderate” considering there were a whole lot of stairs and I think any old people that tried to do it would’ve had trouble with all the rocks. The Easy only applies if you park super close and walk on the paved path.

Along this path was a great example of the rock slides that everyone talks about. Apparently a rock falls in Yosemite each day, so if you hear thunder—you better find solid shelter fast. It is the most common cause of natural change in the park today.

Also visible from the trail were the Royal Arch Cascades. They were so large that they were actually flooding the trail in a couple locations. I got a closer view later tonight—but more on that later.

Then, much much later, I finally arrived at Mirror Lake. It’s a pretty big lake and I wasn’t too impressed with my first glimpse. Then as I rounded the corner, I understood why it was called Mirror Lake. My picture doesn’t do it justice…but hey, I tried.

Okay, so I finally made it back to my tent cabin and Andi and Abby finished their ServSafe class, so we ate supper and then were going to go “bouldering.” It’s really just a fancy name for rock-climbing (also called “scrambling”). Whatever. You climb rocks. Well, we did that for a little bit and then we went on a hike that’s not on the maps. Part of it had carved out stone steps though, so I don’t really know. It was called Devil’s Bathtub and the entire time I was mainly thinking that if I didn’t die my parents would kill me. At the top we were at the base of the falls that I saw from afar earlier. The view of everything was spectacular though!!! That’s enough said about that. Don’t want to get in trouble. :)

 

Well, that’s about it for today. I get to start my temporary housekeeping position tomorrow…yippee.

Arrival in Yosemite!

One of the things Larry had mentioned was that California produces 80% of the world’s almonds. The morning paper said that the predicted yield for this year was 2 billion lbs. of almonds. Many of those are grown right in Merced County. On the YARTS bus this morning on my way into Yosemite Valley, we passed many almond groves (amongst other things).

Almond Grove--Merced County

The Merced River is extremely full right now because the warm temperatures have been melting the snow. That means the waterfalls are absolutely beautiful right now! I caught my first glimpses of a few of them on the bus ride into the park.

Merced River 

 

Ribbon Falls

Yosemite Falls

Half Dome

Day one of “on-boarding” was quite the process. I'm going to consider it a good way to get to explore the park, seeing as how I went from the HR office—to Uniforms—to my manager—back to Uniforms—to the housing place (where no one was)—back to HR—back to housing—then finally to my tent cabin. (And then I went exploring so I could time how long it took me to get from my cabin to work.) Because the pool doesn’t open until Memorial Day, I’m going to be working in Housekeeping until I start lifeguarding, hence why I had to go back to the Uniforms place to get additional uniforms. Lots of fun.

The housekeeping uniform pants are easily the most uncomfortable pants I’ve ever worn. They’re Dickies khaki pants and the material is super warm and awful. They also fit terribly. I have a theory that because they’re unisex pants, they forget that females tend to have hips. Aka they fit weird in all the wrong places.

I did get somewhat of a nice surprise for my housing. I’ll be living in Ahwahnee Tent Cabin #1, so I’ll have two roommates and my rent is only $7.08 per week. Can’t beat that. And there’s only three tent cabins and a dorm in that area, so it’s supposed to not be too crazy.

—I'll get a picture of my little cabin later. For now, picture a dorm room with three beds, three cabinet things, and a box outside to put all of your food in so the bears don't eat you. :)

When I went exploring, I went to scope out the pool where I’ll be spending the majority of my time. You can’t really tell from my pictures because they were through a chain link fence, but my view from work > your view from work. :)

Supposedly tomorrow I have lots of orientation which I’m sure will just be delightful. Tonight I intend to get situated, memorize the location of everything, and how to get everywhere. It’s gonna be good. Peace out girl scouts.

Journey Part 2 and Welcome to California!

So…lots of sitting down on a train. Not too exciting but also not as terribly boring as I was expecting. I got a lot of books read, Big Bang Theory and MASH watched, and became the Pokemon League Champion. What more could one hope to accomplish?

Nebraska was boring, Colorado was pretty but took forever with all the tunnels and switchbacks, Utah was dull and I slept through most of it because it was at night, and Nevada was nothing to talk about either. Oh, and there was snow everywhere in Colorado. Don’t they know it’s May? I now believe my super smart fifth grade teacher who taught us about land biomes and how different biomes support different plants. There weren’t exactly any cornstalks or soybeans growing in the gross dirt of Nevada…Regardless, I took some pictures of each just for kicks and giggles.

 

I got to Sacramento early so I had an even longer break before my connection to Merced left. With the guidance of the man working at the baggage area, I headed to “Old Sacramento” to go exploring and finally use my legs for walking again. It was super duper warm and I was carrying a 30+ lb. backpack, so naturally I stopped and got ice cream and mini donuts. Mini donuts because my Grandma Joyce absolutely loves them, and ice cream just because I have an unhealthy obsession with the delightful substance.

I ran into these two women who saw my UNI t-shirt who happened to be Waterloo natives AND THEY KNEW WHERE PLAINFIELD WAS!!! (Nobody knows where Plainfield is so this was quite the discovery.) :) I talked to them for quite a while on a park bench—they were extremely nice and were in California for the week. They had just been to Yosemite yesterday—pretty nifty.

Then I decided to go walk around a different direction and wound up in Cesar Chavez Square. There I borrowed the Sacramento Public Library’s internet to catch up on emails. Backtracking a bit, I received a phone call from a man in the Yosemite Aramark HR department essentially apologizing for his coworker’s blunder about not sending me the information I was supposed to receive. So he sent it to me on Monday afternoon while I was on the train. Included in this super helpful email was a packet about living at Yosemite and a packing list. Pretty useful packing list to finally read while I’m already in California. Not. Whatever.

Then while I was still in the park I witnessed a fight break out that was so loud and so bad that the police showed up and had to drag the infuriated people apart and had a long sit-down conversation with them. So that was an interesting sight. Then I meandered my way back to the Amtrak station so I didn’t miss my next train.

The second train’s setup was quite a bit different. Still two stories, but this one’s upper level was a mixture of four seats facing in towards a table and then the two seats. But these seats weren’t as comfy and there wasn’t as much leg room. The perk was that this train had internet, so I could finish everything I started while borrowing the library’s internet (aka my continual checking of my grades). So boo—comfort and yay—wifi for the nerd!

After yet another train ride, I arrived in Merced 51.25 hours and 2267 miles after I began in Mount Pleasant on Sunday. Larry came and picked me up from the train station and then he and Jan led me through a nice little info session on the area. (It wasn't actually little, but it was extremely informative and factual.) They have some peculiar rules, but I don't really mind any of them since I'm an early bird also.

Fun fact #1: I looked at the map of hostels in the United States and there are zero in Iowa. Good job Iowa.

Fun fact #2: In case you didn't understand my reference earlier—my fifth grade teacher was my mother. *light bulb* (Also, I’ve referred to my dad as “Plant Guy” for forever, so if I didn’t understand how the USDA vegetation zones explain plant growth by now, I’d be an idiot.)