Idaho

So, as a number of you already know, I recently had an amazing opportunity present itself to me. One of my friends from Spring Arbor called me up Sunday night, asking if I wanted to work on an organic farm in Idaho with him from September to December. Needless to say, I wanted to give him a "Yes!" right then and there, but a number of things had to be sorted out first.

I have spent this whole week thinking and praying about this, trying to sort out my options, and thinking about my job, housing, financial, and ministry situations...and now, at the end of this week, I have decided to go all in on this adventure. My mom and pastor are in support of me going (which are both very important to me), and I've put in my two week notice at Preuss Pets. The right steps have been taken as much as possible, and I'm ready to start preparing for the craziest thing I've ever done.

We will be leaving September 2, taking a week to have a fantastic road trip out there: South Dakota, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, the Montana Rockies. The farm itself is in the northern end of the Idaho panhandle, twenty miles from Canada, and right next to Glacier National Park. Each workday will be done by 4pm, we will be housed in a cabin with a wood-burning stove, all our food will be provided, and we will have three-day weekends. Can you say, "road trips every weekend?"

All in all, this is going to be amazing. I've been looking for opportunities to get away from everything, particularly seasonal jobs like this. I feel I function better in short-term jobs...maybe it's a result of working at camp for too many summers.








One thing in particular I'm very excited about is the alone time I will have. It's been too long since I've disconnected from everything. I'll have a lot of time to connect with God in the mountains, to work on music, to read...to just enjoy life.

I will be coming back to Michigan probably via train in December; my friend will be looking for other opportunities elsewhere. When I get back, I will work on finishing up the albums for which I've been trying to raise support, and looking for a new job and place to live. I still don't know exactly where I will go once I'm back home: my family's house in Williamston is where I will go initially, but I will probably be looking for jobs in other parts of the state as soon as I can. My time in the Lansing area is coming to an end. My church will be waiting for my return, and I will be there for a time as the worship leader again, although I do not yet have a guess for how long. I'm trying not to think too hard about what December will bring, though.

Anyway, I'm very excited about this whole thing. I feel it's a very good and important step in the right direction. I want to be able to make at least a little time for anyone who wants to see me before I leave, so let me know! Tonight, I will be at Center Lake Bible Camp to say goodbye to my former employers, who are going on their own journey to work at a camp in Santa Fe. Lots of people I know will be there, and, without trying to steal the moment, I will have a chance to say goodbye to many of them as well.

Your prayers are appreciated.

Peace.

Westward 2011, Day 9

So, I don't have any pictures today. Sorry in advance. However, today was sweet, and I wish my camera was good enough to take pictures of what we saw.

The day started at 4:30am when my mom's alarm went off in the motel room. Ick. We got picked up for a sunrise wildlife tour at about 5:50am. Within the first two hours we saw six moose. Six. That is a lot of moosen. Two cows each with a calf, one other cow, and a big ol' bull. One of the cows with a calf was actually walking along a river grazing with her calf roughly fifty yards away from us. It was awesome. Various sections of that river were where we saw all six of the moose, actually, and not very far away from each other.

Moose are freaking huge. The bull was about six feet at the shoulder, to give you an idea. Dark brown fur, long legs, and a goofy, but friendly, face. Our guide was telling us (and we witnessed this to be true) for such a large animal, they could somehow simply disappear into the foliage and be completely lost from sight in a matter of seconds. I commented, "It's probably because they're one with the shadows."

EVERYTHING FINALLY MAKES SENSE.

Anyway, along the same river we saw a long-tailed weasel as well. He ran up the river bank, stopped at the edge, and gave us this look like:

O.O
OMG PEOPLE

Then he ran away. lol. Later on the trip we saw more bison and pronghorn, along with a Swainson's Hawk with intermediate plumage. Sorry...the excessive bird info will not stop.

To be honest, the trip would've been pretty lame had the guide not had a really charismatic personality and been very intelligent. She was extremely knowledgeable regarding almost every animal we saw (minus the small birds) and actually provided us with a good historical look at Jackson Hole as well. We also got on the topic of how she was affiliated with the Teton Science School, which provides the tours, and got a glimpse of her life story, which was nothing short of epic. Trapping animals for research in Yellowstone National Park...working for federal and state agencies in ecology jobs...living in the woods for extended periods of time...driving around to new places and new job opportunities when one would expire.

Let's just say...I'm glad I haven't officially set myself on geology this spring just yet. Both geology and ecology are areas which God has given me a huge passion for. I'm going to be praying about which direction God wants me to take at this point...but I know He's given me these passions for a reason, and I also know that "all things work together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose." Personally, I currently think I am more prepared to go into an ecology-type field. I have a strong desire to see us use our natural resources more wisely and become better stewards of Creation. Maybe I should go save the whales. I don't know.

I would appreciate your prayers about this issue. If you read my "Schooling and Goals" post before you read this one, you can probably already tell I need the prayers, ha. Prayer is a good thing. I'd appreciate them in general. There's a lot going on with my family, too. Thank you.

Peace.

Westward 2011, Day 8

So, it looks like the westward travels are officially subsiding. Things are no less awesome than they were yesterday, however. We took an aerial tram ride up a mountain today. I stood on the summit at 10,450 feet above sea level. Awesome. We had breakfast on top of the mountain, too. My mom had a waffle with brown sugar and butter...mine was with Nutella. Delicious. We walked down the summit a little way on a short trail, which was actually fairly tiring. I could really tell the air was thin; just walking the half-mile loop was pretty difficult. There were several groups of people with huge packs headed out on some of the trails which went through the mountains. I pitied and envied them at the same time. A bunch of people were also going on tandem paraglides down the mountain, which was freaking sweet. I would love to do that someday.

Standing on the summit, looking out over the valley, wind in my face and storms rolling through the mountains around us. Best experience on this trip yet.

After we came back down the tram, we headed to the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve. The preserve had some nice trails which we checked out, and it was very beautiful and peaceful.

Now we're back in our Motel 6 in Jackson. At 6am tomorrow, we're getting picked up for a guided wildlife tour around Jackson Hole. Apparently, we're the only two people who signed up for it, which should make it more interesting and personal. The tour is run by the Teton Science School, an institution here in Jackson Hole. It looks like a pretty awesome school from what I saw on their website.

After the tour, we're heading out and back toward home. Now we're thinking just getting back in a reasonable amount of time before Labor Day, so we're just going south to I-80 and heading across Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois to Michigan. Yes, corn. Oh well. Everything we've done so far has made a trip through the universe's cornfield worth it.

Peace.

Westward 2011, Day 7

So, we finally made it to Yellowstone and Grand Teton today. Holy cow. My brain was exploding at the scenery at Buffalo Bill State Park, before we even made it to Yellowstone. The Rockies are beautiful. We traveled west to the center of Yellowstone, then south along Yellowstone Lake, which was enormous.

I wasn't expecting to be doubly amazed by Grand Teton National Park. Dear goodness, God put some of the best scenery in the world here. I was expecting to want to stay in Yellowstone for a few days, or at least want to travel back to it for a day trip. Nope. We made it to Jackson Hole tonight, and we're spending the rest of our time checking out Grand Teton. Tomorrow morning, we're taking an aerial tram up a mountain...roughly 10,000 feet up, actually. We'll spend some time hiking around up there, and eating waffles on top of the dang world. Yeah. The next morning we're going on a guided, sunrise wildlife tour around the Jackson Hole area. Should be sweet. I'll be sure to get some sweet pictures of those things.

Here's the Grand Teton itself:

Peace.

Westward 2011, Day 6

So, today was a more chill day regarding travel. In the morning, we walked around one of a series of reservoirs in Beck Lake Park just outside Cody. There were tons of birds, several of which are native almost solely to Western sagebrush habitats, so it was pretty cool to see them.

After this, I started getting a pretty awful headache. This happens with some regularity with me, and I've been trying to figure it out this summer. During the afternoon, I rested and checked out possible reasons for this online. I've been thinking it might have something to do with barometric pressure changes, and some research today along with firsthand experience makes me think my hypothesis is accurate. I felt increasingly terrible in the early afternoon, then a storm rolled in, and as it left, my headache started to slowly subside. A lot of people online say that high barometric pressure can cause headaches, as the strong pressure can cause blood vessels in your head to constrict. Some people offered up some effective-sounding home remedies for it, but most sources agreed there is little which can be done about it, other than drugging yourself up. Sad day.

Anways, we couldn't really go looking around the town much today because of how crappy I felt, which was too bad. After I started feeling better toward the evening, we went for another walk around the reservoir. We took an alternate trail off the main paved trail this time and walked through the sagebrush. It was sweet. My mom suggested I look for job opportunities out here, and I'm inclined to think it would be a good idea. I love the scenery, the people, and the climate out here. It's been very hot each day, but the humidity is very low, which makes the heat a lot more bearable, and actually somewhat comfortable. I could definitely spend my life out here.

Tomorrow we're heading to Jackson Hole, spending the morning in Yellowstone. We'll be spending the next few days in the Grand Teton/Yellowstone area, so my lack of photos today will be made up for.

Here's my one picture for the day:

Peace.

Westward 2011, Day 5

So, we finally made it to Wyoming today. Holy cow, it's very different from entering South Dakota. We couldn't really see a difference in South Dakota from other places in the Midwest at first. Once we entered Wyoming, however, the scenery completely changed. We definitely felt like we were in Wyoming when we got here. Low, rocky hills covered in yellow grass and green shrubs, beautiful rock formations off in the distance, and a clear, blue sky above us...it was amazing. I instantly fell in love with Wyoming...and my mom and I both agreed that Glacier National Park might be less of a priority...enough so that we might just skip it entirely. It's sad to say it...but I'm feeling so at home here, and I can't imagine Yellowstone and Grand Teton are going to make me change my mind about it.

Right in the middle of the state, we ran into the Bighorn Mountains. Not the Rockies, but the first snow-capped mountains I've ever seen. While we were driving through them, we found a little rest stop with a couple viewing points over the Shell Falls. We were practically the only people there, and it didn't seem like a huge tourist attraction...but I thought it was cooler than the Tahquamenon Falls. Hilarious. Also saw a yellow-bellied marmot on a cliff on the opposite side of the river, which was pretty cool. We then drove through the Shell Canyon out of the Bighorn Mtns., which was also an amazing experience. The highest edges of the canyon were sheer rock faces, but they turned into grassy, rocky slopes for most of the way down until they came close to the Shell River, where they turned back into small cliffs.

Tonight we're staying in Cody, which is about fifty miles east of Yellowstone National Park. We went to the world famous Cody Rodeo when we got here, which was pretty cool. After all day of being in a car, though, I was pretty sick of sitting and looking at stuff, so we left after it was about halfway over. Tomorrow, we're just going to check out the town and chill. Should be a good time.

Here's a picture of part of the Shell Canyon:

Peace.