Once again, I've been completely busy 99.9% of the time. my uncle, aunt, and cousin- Greg, Lilly, and Owen- came in and visited the area, so I spent most of the free time I had with them. They definitely spoiled me when I was with them. I've had some of the most amazing food since I've been here because of them. Due to my schedule, I was capable of spending two nights with them in West Yellowstone (which is in Montana). I had an afternoon/evening off, the next day completely off, and the following morning off as well, giving me 48 consecutive hours off for the first time since I've been here. Sometimes, I only have 8 hours from when I leave work in the evening til when I have to be back at work the following morning. During our full day in Yellowstone, we went hiking, saw some geysers erupt, walked around a bunch of springs, and of course, ate very well. Unfortunately, we didn't see much wildlife; however, we knew we wouldn't due to the things we chose to do that particular day. They left this morning, so I won't be getting anymore great meals until my parents decide to eventually come and see their youngest son. I was also able to take them on a float trip Thursday evening, which I think they really enjoyed. I know Mike, the guide, definitely enjoyed them on the raft and fortunately, Mike did not harass me too much during the trip.

I've had a few interesting things happen to me lately while on the job. Earlier this week, I was driving to the river with Mike as my boatsman. I had noticed a minivan parked on the opposite side of the road with the passenger door open. This is pretty common here, so I didn't think anything of it. However, I then saw a Park Ranger pull in front of the van turning on his lights. My immediate thoughts were the Ranger was going to talk to the van driver about pulling all the way off the road before stopping. However, all of a sudden, Mike yelled at me to stop, so I immediately hit my breaks and came to a complete stop. The van behind me almost hit me as he had to drive a little off the road. Then I noticed behind the van was a black bear with two cubs. She was trying to cross the road, and if Mike hadn't yelled at me to stop, there was a very good chance I could have hit her or one of the cubs. Of course, the guests didn't mind the sudden stop, especially since it meant they got to see 3 bears very close. The very next trip, I was driving back to the Lodge with guests and saw the exact same bears while I had different guests. And of course, then they say they want to see a Moose! It amazes me how much people can't be satisfied.

The next story is interesting, but not interesting in a good way. I had the early trips, so I was at work by 6:15 in the morning. On the way to the 6:45 trip, I had older lady vomit in the van. It was not very loud, and with only hearing the reactions of people, I had thought somebody had spilled coffee on themselves. I definitely wish that is what had happened. I was not far from the lodge, and had offered to turn around, but she said she didn't want to go back. Due to driving, I was not able to turn around see how much was there. My guide, Jake, was sitting in the very back seat, so he did not know the extent of it either. We got to the launching site, and that is when I had noticed how bad it was. The smell had actually made me nauseous, and I was surprised I didn't do the same thing the lady did earlier. However, she kept insisting she go on the trip, even with vomit on her. We had a family of four that had actually said they did not want to go on the trip if the lady was going. Fortunately, Jake was able to talk her and her daughter into re-scheduling for later in the day, so I had to take them back to the lodge. Unfortunately, guess who had to clean the van out? Yup, it was me. I had returned to the lodge around 7:50 and was supposed to take a group down to the river at 8:00, but fortunately we had a small enough group that another driver could take all of them down in his van. I ended up mopping (thankfully I had rubber flooring instead of carpet), disinfecting, vacuuming, rubbing it down with a wet rag, and using an Armor-All Air freshener on the whole interior of the van, and I still was hesitant to use the van. Later in the day, when I was using a different van, I thought I had smelled it, but then realized that it was such a distinct, very bad smell that my mind was playing tricks on me and made me think I was smelling it. Even though I was covered with long sleeves and gloves, I made sure to wash my hands plenty of times yesterday and take a shower as soon as possible. Hopefully, this will be a once-a-lifetime experience.

Anyways, back to the happy stuff, I will be adding pictures of Yellowstone and the float trip soon, so feel free to look at the end of the same album I've been using.

Take Care,
Adam Conrad