All By Myself

Well, I think this is the first time I've worked the later shift at the desk when I haven't posted a blog update earlier. In fact, I'm currently writing this post as an email note to myself while standing here at the desk. Normally I'd have no trouble updating my blog before coming into work, but it's already been a really full day for me! I'd been needing to head into town to pick up a few prescriptions and other things at the Albertson's there, but I hadn't been able to find anyone I knew that was going. Yesterday at work I grabbed a shuttle schedule and printed out a schedule for the bus that goes around the town since I knew that I had to pick up the prescriptions today. Thankfully, both the shuttle around the park and the town bus are free and pretty easy to use.

After getting up as quietly as possible to avoid waking Cristina, who's off today, and grabbing breakfast in the EDR, I got on the shuttle in front of the lodge at about 8:30. After making several stops in between, we got to the edge of town a little before ten, and just a few minutes later I was on the town bus heading for the Albertson's. Thankfully the bus dropped me off pretty much right outside the parking lot of the store, since the temperature was in the thirties. The sun was fighting to come out, so it eventually warmed up a little, but not too much. After grabbing my prescriptions in the pharmacy, I picked up a few other things, then ordered a small cup of coffee from the Starbucks that was inside the Albertson's and sat at a little table by the fireplace to relax for a bit. Yes, you read that right- there's a fireplace right inside the grocery store. And, even crazier, it was lit and burning brightly in August! It was insane for me, but here they seem to actually need it. It definitely felt good to warm up there by the fire with the coffee. When I was finished with that I left the store and walked a few blocks over to a small fast food place to grab a quick lunch, since I knew that by the time I got back to the lodge, the EDR would be closed. As I was eating lunch, I realized it was a little strange how comfortable and at ease I felt. I was on my own, with only the buses for transportation, in a town that I'd only known for a few months. Yes, Jackson is a pretty easy to navigate place, but it still surprised me how at ease I felt, especially considering that I had to be back at the edge of town by 12:30 to catch the shuttle back to the lodge. Despite being alone and on a time limit in a fairly unfamiliar town, I didn't feel at all rushed, lost, or unsafe. At one point I actually thought to myself, does this mean I'm growing up?

I ate lunch, got the town bus to the edge of Jackson, and caught the park shuttle, getting back to the lodge at about two. Cristina's been feeling a little bit sick the past couple of days, and when I got back to our room she was sound asleep. I put away the things I'd picked up and had just a few precious minutes of relaxation before getting ready to head into work.

So I've basically been running around since I first got up this morning, which is why I haven't been able to write a blog post yet. Using the shuttles to get both to and from town, as well as around inside it, was surprisingly very easy. Looking at the schedules at work last night I thought I might be a bit rushed to get back to the edge of town by 12:30, but it wasn't hard at all. The first shuttle actually dropped us off in town a little earlier than the schedule said, so I was able to get an earlier bus to the Albertson's, which definitely made me feel less rushed.

The weather today has made it pretty clear that summer here is over. When I headed out this morning it was 36 degrees outside, and stayed that way for most of the morning since it was mostly cloudy. While I was eating lunch the sun started fighting its way out, so it warmed up some this afternoon, but not much. I think it might've gotten into the mid fifties at some point this afternoon, but now it's gone down again. Right after I got into work it started raining. The downpour didn't last long, but while it did, it was strong!

I currently have about an hour left of tonight's shift, and there are already less than ten check-ins left. I've been working with Sofi and Maggie. Jen was here for a while at the beginning of the shift, but she left because she wasn't feeling good. Thankfully it's been a really slow night, so Maggie, Sofi and I can easily handle it. I think tomorrow I'll probably sleep in since I wasn't able to do that this morning. I go back into the desk at three, then I have Wednesday and Thursday off. Today's been a busy day, but hanging around Jackson by myself this morning was actually pretty fun. Don't get me wrong, it's fun to hang out there with friends too, but sometimes just being independent is nice.