Born In The USA

The Gros Ventre River that we jumped into

The rock that served as our diving board

This place was absolutely beautiful

Getting ready to take the plunge! 

My Fourth of July barbecue provided by Grand Teton Lodge Company. It was delicious!

            So today is the first Fourth of July that I’m not home in Texas with my family. It feels kind of weird to be here in Wyoming with my friends, in seventy-five degree weather, instead of in San Antonio’s ninety-something degree weather with my family. But considering I spent last night sitting by a campfire up on a hill drinking beer with friends while listening to Born In The USA on repeat, and just sat by the pool and ate a delicious hot dog with my best friends, I can’t complain. I guess I’ve still spent the last few days in a very American way. Let’s start right where the last post left off.

            Yesterday evening at about nine Tanner, Cristina and I headed out from the lodge to meet Colin, his girlfriend Cassie, and some other people we know to the camping area for the night. By the time we got there they’d already gotten a fire started up and most of the tents were set up as well. We used the last of the daylight to set up the tent that Jesse loaned us (he’s such a great neighbor!), then went and joined the others by the campfire. We hung out, drank beer, and joked around late into the night. At first it was pretty cloudy, but as it got later the clouds moved out to reveal a clear, beautiful sky absolutely full of stars. The night sky over San Antonio, or really anywhere else I’ve been, can’t possibly compare to the sky here. It looked like a big black blanket with little diamonds spread all across it. I couldn’t help but just stare up at it.

            Finally I went back to the tent that I’d borrowed from someone else there, crawled into the big, folded over blanket that I was using as a sleeping bag, and drifted in and out of sleep throughout the night. It was really cold out, even in July, and the ground beneath me wasn’t exactly soft, so it wasn’t a very restful sleep. I eventually got up at a little after five in the morning, crawled out of the tent, and went and sat by the campfire, which some people had kept going all night, and stayed out just long enough to watch the colors of sunrise fill the sky. I knew Tanner and Cristina wouldn’t be up for several more hours, and I wouldn’t be able to sleep very well in the tent, so I pulled my pillow and blanket out of the tent and into the back seat of Tanner’s car, which he’d thankfully left unlocked. It was still pretty cold in the car, but overall it was a big upgrade from sleeping on the ground. Almost immediately after laying down across the back seat, I fell asleep until almost ten, when I woke up to see that most of the tents had been packed up and some people had already left. Tanner and Cristina were taking down their tent as I got out of the car, and together we packed up his car and headed back to civilization (if that’s what you can call the lodge).

            It was nearly eleven by the time we got back to our dorm, so we unpacked Tanner’s car, cleaned up a bit, and almost immediately walked over to the pool, where the company was providing an employee barbecue. By the time we got there, a lot of employees we knew were already eating, including Jesse and Colin, so when we got our food we went and joined them at their table. The hot dog I got was definitely the best hot dog I’ve ever had, and the chocolate chip cookie was really good too. I got some iced tea as well, to make the meal even more American, and we sat by the pool, in the shade of one of the trees, enjoying the nice day and great company. As I was walking out of the pool area after eating, I saw Nate, who’s working the earlier shift today, and talked with him for a bit about camping. So far, even though I’m not at home, it’s been a pretty much perfect Fourth of July.

            Cristina and I work from three to eleven today, so we can’t go to see the fireworks. Understandably, fireworks are prohibited inside the national park itself, but there’s going to be a little show of them in Jackson tonight. I don’t really mind though; I’ve just had one of the best weekends of my life, and it’s been wonderful spending this Fourth of July in this beautiful place with my awesome friends. All things considered, I can’t really complain about missing the fireworks, especially since I know there will be plenty of pictures taken by other people I know that will be there. Besides, I’ll get to work with Cristina today, which will make the shift more fun.

            I didn’t have time to include cliff-jumping pictures in yesterday’s post since I needed to get ready to go camping, so here they are a day late. Happy Fourth of July everybody!! Go enjoy the most dangerous US holiday!