Well I got the end of a rainbow here...missed the other rainbow today.
The wind was ready to blow me over the edge here
The shadows were really cool in the canyon today, and if you waited a few minutes they would change.
Getting blue sky near the end of Hermit's Rest. And soo glad that the snack bar there has hot chocolate.
Now why is it that I take the shuttles down Hermit's Rest Road more often during bad weather? Well the buses will stop going down to Hermit's Rest on Dec 1st, so I don't get to see all these views usually until the buses start running again on March 1st. Well the wind was terrible today, even rocked the bus a little & I am sure we will still have bad weather the first week of March, when I come down this road again.
It started snowing this evening about 4-4:30pm . I just hope the wind stops blowing when I go out to get more pics in the morning.
I've been daydreaming about seeing Alaska for many years...first I had a neighbor couple in NH who used to work in some fishing village for the Summers for quite a few years. Then when I got here to the Grand canyon I started hearing stories about others going to work at Denali Park. Well my desire to see Alaska hasn't gone away; and seeing as I ain't getting no younger, I figure I might as well go up there while I can.
I've been on the website "coolworks" and searching every job I could find. I absolutely LOVE the idea of working near the water. I think it might be the 1 big thing I miss here at GCSR. Seward, Homer, Moose Pass, Cooper Landing, Whittier are all small communities located on the Kenai Peninsula; and then Sitka is on an Island in the Southeast panhandle area...they all have seasonal jobs around the water. Then further up North is Girdwood, Talkeetna, Crow's Nest & way up past the Artic Circle line is~Coldfoot Camp. Coldfoot just opened up it's jobs today for the Summer 2011 season and I have already sent my application in. And if you know where to look, then you can also find year-round jobs just like every other state in the USA.
I have this next week off from work, so I'm still decluttering my room...cuz there is no way I can bring everything with me to AK. Funny but a few weeks ago when I said something about getting rid of everything to Brenda, she made a comment something like~~ "well what are you going to do with your juicer?" Huh? I guess some people could never imagine getting rid of an appliance to make moving easier. When part of your childhood is spent with a family of 4 in a 2-room home or with a family of 9 living in a small 1-bedroom apartment...it's quite easy to get back to.
I have dropped off truck loads of furniture, clothes and different household odds&ends in the past, at thrift shops and neighbor's yards; that some little kitchen appliance isnt going to keep me from traveling around. My family even had a van crammed-full of stuff break down in PA...and we left it there to continue on our first move to AZ in 1998. And now...my juicer is already gone.
The Summers here at GCSR are to darn crowded and the heat this last Summer was more then I want to deal with again. Besides I seem to be getting stuck in some sort of rut lately, and decided I need to shake things up a bit once again. So hopefully...just maybe, by the end of April I will be off on another adventure (about darn time too).
My brother was always waiting for me to write a book, well he might get 1 about~~"from down in the hole, to the top of the world"~~about hiking in the Grand Canyon & going to the top of the world.
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didnt do than by the one you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the winds in your sails. Explore.Dream.Discover."~Mark Twain
"Adventure is a path~self determined, self motivated, often risky~forces you to have fist hand encounters with the world....the world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind & perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever be Black & white"~Mark Jenkins
Amy ran the 1/2 marathon with Diane. Diane left the dog with someone later on in the marathon.
1 of the rest stops on the 1/2 marathon...which started on Hermit's Rest Road.
Mile 20 Gang
1st runner to go past mile 20 station @ about 10:15am
These 2 guys wanted salt. They ran this marathon with no training.
This guy's hips were hurting...the only person to sit down at our station
Diane came to our table last, (about 3 hours after the 1st guy ran past) but later I find out she did NOT finish the marathon last. After Amy finished the 1/2 marathon, she drove to Tusayan and then ran backwards thru route until she met up with Diane around mile 21 station. Diane actually ran past someone before getting to the finish line at the IMAX.
I liked this strange looking tree stump. Found it on the way back home bewteen mile 20 & mile 19
Was trying to get different angles of the burnt tree
Found this tarantula in the road. Been here 3 & 1/2 yrs and today was the first day I have seen them...and today I saw 3 of them.
just a view where the tracks cross the road
I liked the pregnant tree on the side of the road.
This spot is where the well used to be on "Rowe Well RD"
Yrs ago there was a bowling alley here, but NPS didn't like it.
People used to have cook-outs in the framed structure in pic but NPS didn't like that either
I was sitting at mile 18, listening to all the birds chirping. Was surprised that there were soooo many. I saw about 5 FAT wild turkeys across the tracks but I didn't have my zoom lens with me.
I stopped into work while they were doing Super clean, to say goodbye to the internationals that were leaving today.
Luna rocking out with Robert's Anime cloak (or whatever its called)
Brenda's lanterns~her window display
The coffins that Brenda made for me & Doris. Chocolate-covered pretzels are inside. So I'm having pretzels with my morning coffee now.
Now that's scary...couldn't find my wig so I dyed my hair black at 7am yesterday
Brenda riding the shuttle bus tonight ...think we only went around the park twice. Some guests were going to the cemetary later for a moonwalk program, but Brenda didn't want to go.
3 kidswalked into El Tovar for dinner I had planned on going to the school's halloween carnival this year, but missed it.
Well I got the end of a rainbow here...missed the other rainbow today.
The shadows were really cool in the canyon today, and if you waited a few minutes they would change.
Getting blue sky near the end of Hermit's Rest. And soo glad that the snack bar there has hot chocolate.
