Wednesday, July 23, 2014

A Sky Full Of Stars


Tanner and me beside Jenny Lake, near the beginning of the hike

  
Kelsey, me and Tanner, getting close to the top

Pausing for a break, almost to our goal. A lot of the hike was uphill, and the view it gave us was amazing

We made it! Tanner, me, Kelsey, and Jesse at Inspiration Point, elevation 7,200 feet. Behind us is the beautiful Jenny Lake

            I’m currently sitting out on my back porch enjoying this nice evening. It’s been a pretty simple, relaxing day off. Cristina worked the morning shift today, so she was gone by the time I got up. Turns out Tanner actually is working today, so I’ve only seen him briefly at dinner a little while ago. After sitting out here for a while this morning, Jesse and I headed to the EDR together for lunch. Nate and Elliot have been over in Paintbrush Canyon hiking around all day, so I haven’t seen either of them at all.
            After coming back from lunch, I did a short hike not far from the lodge, stopping at one point for a while to just relax and soak in my beautiful surroundings. It was only a couple of miles, but made me feel like I’d done something with my day off other than just sit around my dorm. Like I said in yesterday’s post, I’d hate to just waste my day off hanging around inside when I’m in a place like this.
            Last night after writing my last post, I went over to Tanner and Jesse’s room and hung out in there with them for a while. Cristina, who’d been hanging around Yellowstone for most of the day, eventually got back and came in to join us. After that, by the time it was dark, I grabbed a pillow out of my room and lay out on the back picnic table for a while just looking up at the sky. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post or two, the night sky here is different than I’ve seen it anywhere else. I’ve never seen so many stars; they just fill up the sky. I know, of course, that they’re always there, no matter where I am, but here in Wyoming they seem so much brighter than anywhere else. Seeing as how Wyoming is the least populous state in the country- San Antonio alone has more than double the population of this entire state- there’s hardly any “city lights” here that would usually drown out the light of most of the stars, so even the pretty dim ones are visible here. I’ve even seen shooting stars here multiple times. I stayed out on the picnic table admiring the beautiful night sky until the cold night air and thoughts of my soft, warm bed drove me inside (actually my bed here really isn’t that soft, but I’m usually so tired by the end of the day that I hardly notice).
            Tomorrow I really want to go to the pool. Maybe I can get Jesse and Tanner to join me since they’re both off. Cristina doesn’t go in until three tomorrow, so if we go right after lunch she’ll probably join us. I don’t think I’ll go back to the Whistle Pig tonight; if I do, it probably won’t be for very long. I really do love that place, but I think tonight’s more of a night to just enjoy the back porch that is my favorite spot in this entire park, as I think I’ve mentioned before. I wouldn’t say that this is the most beautiful spot in the park; it faces east, so you can’t actually see the Teton Range from here. But the simple beauty of this spot is one of my favorite things about it. Everything from the smell and shade of the pine trees, the wildflowers growing all around, the regular visits from robins, woodpeckers, chipmunks, squirrels, and even foxes, make this back porch a great place to be. I think, the main thing that makes it my favorite spot is the wonderful experiences I’ve had right here with my friends. From drinking coffee out here in the mornings with Jesse and Cristina to stargazing with Tanner to grill nights with the whole gang, this is the perfect spot to enjoy the great company of my amazing friends here.
            So Jesse took some pictures of us from the day we went hiking up to Inspiration Point a couple of weeks ago, but hadn’t been able to post them because of an issue with his computer. Well, he finally posted them earlier today, and so I’ll include some of them here. Better late than never! It was a pretty strenuous hike, but the view from Inspiration Point was completely worth it! 

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