Yet another view of the Grand Canyon from the North Rim. I never get tired of seeing it. I tell people my eyes can’t see it enough. This was taken on May 24, 2009.
North Rim
Scenic Sunday
The Night Before
The night before we opened, our department had a cookout at the campground. The campground host cooked us some hamburgers and baked beans. We had a fun time, socializing and getting to know each other better outside of the classroom. It was a great time, and helped loosen us up a bit. Of course, the campground was empty because we were still closed. The gates opened the next day, and we haven’t had time to breathe since.
I Think We’re Ready, The Park Opens Tomorrow
Finally training is over! It has been three weeks for me–the first week getting everything ready, then two weeks of actual classroom and hands on stuff. Training always exhausts me, because you have to be alert and paying attention all day long. Yesterday when we finished up, we still had a couple of hours, so we drove up to Point Imperial. It is one of the most scenic parts of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Here I am, hanging out at 8803 feet:
The view changes with every step you take. I often wonder how those first people to see it felt when they came to the edge of the canyon:
This is Mount Hayden, one of the most photographed landmarks in the Grand Canyon. Awesome:
We are starting out the season with only 4 on staff–we should have 7, and they are on their way, but when we open the gates tomorrow, it will only be me, Susan, Val, and Mary. They are all just as excited as I am that we’re done with the book, and getting on to the real thing.
How many times do I have to say, “I just can’t see this enough?” I love this place.
Scenic Sunday
For more Scenic Sunday photos, click here.
I Really Do Work With A Bunch Of Turkeys!
It’s Friday, and I have been in training all week. Part of the week, I was the student. Part of the week, I was the instructor. Either way, training is always exhausting to me. On top of that, I have also been doing tasks outside of the classroom—cleaning, organizing, straightening of the entrance station; last minute things to get the campground kiosk and the entrance station ready for opening day, which is Friday, May 15th.
One of my tasks today was to ride out to the entrance station with the campground host to unload a pickup truckload of wood for our wood stove out there. We use it as our heat source on cold mornings. The weather here has been unseasonally warm, and very warm compared to last year. This time last year, we still had snow on the ground. It was below freezing every morning. We had to wear our winter coats every day.
This year, though, it is warm and sunny and gorgeous. Just the right weather for courting. Just look at that guy! There were a couple of girls out there too, but they ran for the woods as soon as they saw our truck. Not Old Tom, though. He was really strutting his stuff, right down the middle of the road like he owned the whole place. OK, so he DOES own it, we are the intruders here, but he was making it clear that it was his and we could just wait.
Just look at him. He took his sweet time going across the road. He puffed up his chest feathers, and spread out his tail, and made a LOT of noise. At times, he would turn around to look straight at us, and hiss (or croak, some awful noise), just to let us know just who was boss.
He finally got over to the side of the road, but just look at that self-assured, high stepping strut! I only wish I had a video camera, because he did look like he was doing a little dance, The Turkey Trot, maybe. He dipped, and fluffed his feathers, and turned around in circles.
After he got to the other side of the road, he was not finished. He didn’t run off immediately looking for the girls. Oh, no! He wanted to intimidate US and show off for THEM, showing them how brave he was.
Finally, we slunk off down the road, and let him think he was The Bomb! What a treat for a tired old lady on a Friday afternoon!
Settleing In At The North Rim
We arrived here last Saturday in the afternoon. We set up the trailer and rested on Sunday. I started working on Monday morning. For this week, there was just me and my lead (supervisor), Kathie, here. Training starts tomorrow, but we were busy all last week getting things ready. It was my job to make copies, tons of them, to make the training manuals.
When I finished making the training manuals, the two of us went through all of them to make sure they are all the same. They were, thank goodness.
Then, I went over to the campground to clean and stock the campground office. The building was new last year, and has lots of cabinets and drawers in it. Last year, none of them were labeled, so I took a couple of hours to making labels and attaching them to all the drawers and doors. Now we will be able find things quickly!
The next task was to inventory the signs at the various bulletin boards around the campground, and make new ones. Printing was pretty quick, but the laminating took a while as there are lots of signs.
Meanwhile, the volunteer camp host was busy splitting wood from trees that fell over the winter for us to use in our wood stove out at the entrance station:
Doing all that stuff involved a lot of walking around. Our office is about a hundred yards from the admin office, and every time I had to make copies, or print in color, or use the laminator, I had to walk over there and back. Walking around the campground taking inventory of things was another long stroll, too. Combine all that walking with getting used to an altitude of over 8800 feet, and I was pooped out at the end of every day!
On Friday, when all the campground stuff was as done as we could get it, Kathie and I drove out to the entrance station to start the process out there. The entrance station is 10.5 miles from our office. We had been hearing co-workers from other departments telling us about seeing a couple of turkeys out at th 7 mile marker on Hwy 67, so we both had our cameras with us, ready if we saw them. Sure enough, we DID run into a couple of turkeys out there on the side of the road, just not the ones we were looking for:
Today, we got up very early and decided to drive down to Jacob Lake, about 45 miles away, to have breakfast, but the main reason for the drive was because it was such a beautiful day. The sun is shining and there are fluffy white coulds floating by. We saw a few deer, but I still did not see the turkeys. On the way back, the combination lock on the gate was messed up and wouldn’t open. I was going to drive back 5 miles to the nearest pay phone and call for help, but I passed a law enforcement ranger who stopped, and he had a key to let us in. Hooray for that!!!
The rest of the afternoon was spent baking. I made some blackberry and some strawberry muffins, with real fruit in them:
Also, a dozen Kinniknick rolls:
I should be set for a week or two on breads. I am also thinking about making one of those yummo Lemon Cakes. It sure would taste good!
Scenic Sunday
This is the entrance station at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The photo was taken on May 9, 2008. The park opens on May 15th each year. I was there because this is where I work. I am a seasonal park ranger there. I just love my cubicle!