First Domestic Trip

Jackson hole, my home for the summer. The night before my first trip here, I wasnt really that nervous. I wasnt for my VERY first trip either, and like I have said before, that is really weird for me.

We'll talk logistics first, so ya'all can see what exactly it is that I "do." We pick up the guests at 7am (this is early for them) at the Wyoming Inn in Jackson, and make the 3 hour drive up to West Yellowstone, stopping at the entrance for a bathroom/coffee break. We drive to Madison Campground for the picnic (Backroads picnics = gourmet to the max!) We do the bike demo, safety talk, etc, and ride to Old Faithful with a plethora of van support along the way. We watch the big guy go off, and shuttle back to camp. We come back to our little camp city, all set up with bags already in the tents and everything, and eat a delicious gourmet dinner made by our AMAZING camp chef. We play some football, sit around the campfire, one of us does the "orientation talk" aka the "get excited for the best week ever!" speech, talk a little jive and watch the stars. Day 1!! Day 2 is waking up to an amazing breakfast of french toast, bacon, coffee, tea, cereal...you name it, we got it (this speaks for all of the breakfasts throughout the trip), then it is off hiking the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone followed by the pack lunch we make in the morning. A kids activity (kick the can, eating copius amounts of ice cream, etc) in the afternoon, showers, then another delicious dinner. Day 3 is breakfast, kayaking on Lake Yellowstone with our subcontracted kayak guides, and a picnic set up very secretly on a beach midway (the guests think this is just so cool), biking to the Continental Divide in the afternoon, and dinner at a new fully set up (again) campground. Day 4 is OYO (on your own) with a kids dinner and adult margarita night. It gets a little wild :) Day 5 is a bike ride through the Tetons on to Jackson for the afternoon (this is our only "long" ride all week so of course I love it!) and then the final dinner followed by what we call "Cake on the Lake" (pretty self explanatory, no?) We let the kids be the "leaders" and walk everyone down to the lake where we have a big dessert picnic set up at sunset. Sigh...Day 6 is a bike ride to Jenny Lake (a lake that sits right below the Grand Teton) and then a final signature Backroads picnic where we give out framed photos of the group taken throughout the week. They love us, we schmooze over the week's events, and finally drive them back to Jackson to say (and cry!) goodbye.

My first group in the Tetons was AMAZING. One semi-overbearing mom who wanted to put bug spray and sunscreen on her son every 15 minutes and set up a tent INSIDE her tent cabin was the hardest part of it all - and really, she wasnt all that bad. Plus, her adorable son, who is all of 10, made some amazing sesame teryaki marinade for the fish he caught on Day 4. The kid is the next Emeril, I'm telling you! We had 7 boys as our kids crew. I fell in love with all of them! There was a group of 3 brothers from Seattle who totally stole my heart. The youngest of them, Aaron, was 10, and just the cutest little blond kid ever who read like 4 books in 6 days and was a hilarious cheater at card games! Everyone in our group was really close-knit - we all sat around every night by the campfire and laughed and told jokes and played games like "2 truths and a lie." Our camp chef and camp assistant were fabulous. My 2 co-leaders and I got along really well, and even pranked another trip by tee-peeing their trailor one night. All in all, I had an amazing, amazing time. It was the ten-thousandth thing to make me love this company and this job.

Since that trip, I have gone camping in Moab (a crazy red dirt desert in southeast Utah near Monument Valley, Zion Nat'l Park, etc), hung out in Salt Lake, loaded a camping unit, drove the van + trailor + 24 bikes by myself to California, spent a few days with family and close friends, bought a bridesmaid dress, flew back to Jackson, and currently I sit in my leader house up here in Victor, getting ready to go on my next trip in 2 days! Its so nice to be back at my summer home, hanging out with my beloved friends and breathing this mountain air. Coming up, its back-to-back trips through the end of August. I find out where I will be in September and October in a few weeks - keep your fingers crossed I get sent back to Italy! We are doing one of the "epic" hikes tomorrow in the Tetons called Lake Solitude. 14 miles of fun!

Even though this has been a really great summer, I miss the family and all of my friends very much! After seeing some of the most important people in my life in those 2 days in CA, I feel both refreshed and nostalgiac. I realized that even though I long to be with a lot of you, and am missing out on life back home, I am making some memories here that I wouldnt trade for anything. Hearing from family and friends means the world to me, you guys keep me grounded, and it is comforting to be reminded of familiarity. Much love and happiness to everyone, hope summer is going well. I'll try to update sooner next time :)

Baci baci!

Welcome to the Tetons...

Well, for a situation I was partially dreading, I would say that it has turned out quite nicely. I think I am quickly learning that a) in this job, we only go to beautiful places and b) if a person works for for this company, they are most likely incredible! Such are all of the people here in this region.

Its been a whirlwind of a month. My first few days here, I stayed at the office in one of the 5 beds we have for when leaders are prepping trips, and helped set up the office and got to know the Regional Manager, a couple of TS's and some other leaders (awesome people). I did a FAM, or familiarization, for the Multisport camping and Inn trips for 3 days with another new leader (again, awesome), starting with the Day 1 drive that is 3 HOURS to the West entrance of Yellowstone. We actually got to help out with pre-search, as we camped both nights with 4 other returning leaders (two of which are the trip specialists) and our RM in Yellowstone and Teton National Park because we were both out researching at the same time. Great experience, not only having a hand in the trip development, but we got to know the leaders and our manager really well. Its the kind of thing that gets you really pumped for the rest of the season. After this FAM, I feel so comfortable and way more knowledgable about this area than I could have ever imagined, and surprisingly, I am more excited about the family camping trips than anything! We do some really, really awesome stuff with these people, and by the look and sound of it all, these camping trips are super deluxe. We spoil these people, let me tell you...

Did I mention that we hiked in a snowstorm, and it was crazy cold the entire time? It was really sort of fun. It's June but it feels like February! I've had to invest in a ton of warm clothes this past week. But snow or no snow, this area is beyond words when it comes to trying to explain how beautiful it is. The Teton mountain range is like nothing I have ever seen before. There's something really intimidating about them, and also really intriguing. There are so many awesome hiking opportunities around here. I am thinking that with one of my weeks off later on, I want to climb one of the Tetons. Probably not the Grand, though...not yet, anyway :)

Sorry for the sporatic style this post, I am at the Victor, Idaho library using internet since we have not hooked up wireless at the house yet. In Victor, there is a library, a small market, a pub called the Knotty Pine and about 2 restaurants. Its really pretty charming. You can ride your bike here in about 20 minutes, across the gorgeous flatland valley just behind the Tetons. Ya...not bad. Not bad at all!