Getting Started

This is scary. Blogging. I never thought I would do this. It has taken a year or more of my sister Michelle's encouragment for me to have the courage to start a blog. She told me people would want to read about a person who lives in Yellowstone National Park, working seasonally and living year round here.

In 1997 I was living in Missoula, MT and almost failing out of college. I was unhappy and I knew college was not what I should have wasted my year or money on. I didn't know any better. College was what was done after highschool. I never really considered the fact that college was not for everyone.

During that year my mom had mentioned that I should work Yellowstone for the summer. It seemed to make sense. Why not spend a summer working in a place that our family had vacationed in every year for almost our whole lives. I loved it.

I went to Bozeman for the winter and wasted time until I could go back to Yellowstone in the summer of 1998. I loved it again. During that summer a bunch of us "Yellowstoners" came up with a plan to try another park. That winter I went back to Missoula. During that winter I applied to Denali National Park along with my friends. Some of us got jobs, others didn't and in the end I was the only one to go. I loved it.

While I was in Alaska a friend mine who was in Yellowstone for the summer of 1999 sent me an application for a winter season. I applied and got a winter job back in Yellowstone. What was supposed to be a summer job for me has turned into a life style. I have been a housekeeper, housekeeping manager, carpet cleaner, busser, server, barback, cocktail server, bartender, and for the past 6 years I have been a bar lead.

During my time here I met Patty. We have been together for 11 years, married over 5 years, we have bought a 5th wheel trailer where we live with our dog Tahlula. Somehow a summer job has turned into year round living in the oldest national park. I still love it. It is still what I want to do 13 years later. Working here is far from perfect...living here is as close to perfect as I can imagine.