A recap before heading home! Woohoo!

My time in Yellowstone is coming to an end. Here's a recap of the summer. I apologize for the length of this post that is mostly photos. I'll try to keep the wording to a minimum.

Winter 2022-2023 brought a record amount of snow to West Yellowstone. I was in more than a little shock when I arrived in early May. What was I thinking?

Snow was piled up everywhere in town. This was behind the police station.

I made my one and only trip to Grand Prismatic Spring early in May before the hoards of tourons arrived. The parking lot is small and is nearly impossible to get into when the huge crowds are in the park.

There was a trip to the northern end of the park to visit the terraces which I find especially beautiful.

Then a stop at Undine Falls.

Followed by a hike out to Graith Falls.

On another day I drove to the most photogenic place in the park--the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone.

Then a short walk to the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone.

Who will forget this guy who "helped" a red dog out of the Lamar River. His "help" cost the calf its life after the herd rejected it. You can say he was just trying to be compassionate, but I disagree. He got a big fine which needs to happen more often in this park.

Before the snow completely melted I decided it was time to put my outdoor space together. Unfortunately it was unusable for quite a while because all the moisture brought out hoards and hoards of mosquitoes.

I only finished two paintings this summer. The first one was a painting of a photo my brother had taken. It's name is "Yvnnash" which is the Choctaw word for bison.

My friend from Bozeman came down and we went on an adventure to the Tetons. They're so beautiful with the snow.

Patty is always planning adventures. She's the hardest working person I know.

No trip to the Tetons is complete without a stop at Mormon Row.

I also made a trip to Dubois to say hi to my mom and dad. I don't know if I'll ever be back to bring them flowers.

In the government housing area they started construction of six new housing units for seasonal rangers. All summer long there was heavy machinery and lots of noise which is only a few steps from my camp site.

My horse experience made me the wrangler for the six NPS horses that are in the west district. I got the job of feeding them and keeping their water trough full this summer. I worry about what will happen to them after I leave. There's been a few days that they didn't get fed on my days off. I took a pretty good tumble a couple weeks ago when I was trying to pull hay off the top of the stack. I was pulling hard and all of the sudden the hook I was using came loose and I went flying to the ground right on my back. I was stiff and sore for a few days, but I survived. I've been much more careful since then.

Aspen came for a visit this summer. It wasn't fun for her or us. She was nervous the whole time and we weren't able to go to any good restaurants when she was here.

We found a Forest Service trail to take her on since dogs aren't allowed in the Park.

The ravens and I became good buddies during the time I spent at the horse corral. One of my co-workers almost talked me into getting a tattoo this summer and it was going to be a raven since I'm in awe of them. Luckily, I chickened out and I also decided not to make my parents roll over in their graves.

During construction of the new housing the power lines to the campsites and several of the existing housing units was cut. We went without electricity for a couple days when it was in the upper 80s and the inside of my trailer got up to 95 degrees. When you live in a tin can there isn't much insulation to keep the cold or heat out.

NPS brought in this huge generator which powered several campsites and several housing units for six weeks before the parts for the fix arrived. It worked great except when it didn't . The maintenance folks didn't know it needed oil regularly so it broke down a few times. Then they learned to restart it every morning and to maintain it properly.

Irv came for another visit and this time we hit to road to see Craters of the Moon in Idaho.

It was interesting, but I probably won't visit again.

Then it was onto Island Park, ID for a couple nights of R&R in a cabin.

It was fun. I will visit Eagle Ridge Ranch again.

I wish I could say that Hayden and Sophie became friends this summer, but that wouldn't be truthful. There are times when they tolerate each other especially when mom's electric blanket is turned on.

The teepees came back to Madison Junction so I had to go see them.

Diana and I became even better buddies this summer.

We did a girls trip to Cody, Wyoming to visit the Buffalo Bill Museum. Kudos to the museum staff who let us in for free when they learned we were Park Rangers.

The new housing units started to arrive.

I started a painting of the teepees that were at Mammoth last year. This is as far as I got. I'll continue to work on it at home and will hopefully have it ready to give to Diana for Christmas.

I went to Old Faithful to buy a pair of Smoky Bear socks that I first saw in May.

A herd of bison at Fountain Flats was causing havoc with the traffic. I always wonder if they laugh to themselves when there's a eight mile traffic jam.

A couple workers installed this next to my trailer one day. Does this mean we'll have real electricity back soon?

Then there was Christmas in August. This is a long standing tradition in Yellowstone that has been going on for 100+ years. Diana and I are the 5:00 a.m. openers so we have some good times while most people are still sleeping. It was fun telling people Merry Christmas in August. It was one of the few days that I could get the old white men to smile and not grunt at me.

Then the crane arrived and started setting the housing halves in place.

It's beginning to look like a real housing area. Too bad they took out all the trees when they cleared the land back in May.

Time for another girl's trip. This time to Missoula, MT to visit the Garden of a Thousand Buddhas.

This time we took Nolen along.

Nolen is also a good friend. She's in her early 30s and has been a pleasure to work with over the last five years. I know a lot of Boomers like to bash the millennials, but I greatly enjoy the ones I work with. She won't be back next year because she's accepted a job with the TSA in Las Vegas. Diana and I plan to have a girls trip to Vegas to visit her next year.

Then one day my my friend's daughter and her husband from Denver came through my lane. What are the chances? I'd just returned from lunch five minutes earlier.

Just one of the many beautiful sunrises that the opening shift gets to see every day at the West Entrance. People always come through early in the morning and ask me where they can view the sunrise. I tell them straight down this road.

September rolled around and Dana and Miss G joined us at our timeshare for a few days. Dad had to work so he wasn't there. We missed him.

We visited Snow King mountain on it's final weekend of the season.

I got a hole in one on the mini golf course, but Miss G got two holes in one!

We were very impressed with the interactive exhibit the Moose Visitor Center in the Tetons had for the youngsters. Miss G got to make a rope, play with old time toys, rope a steer, and make a doll.

We saw a couple moose at one of my favorite spots along the Moose-Wilson Road.

Of course we had to visit the Jackson Playhouse to see Annie Get Your Gun. It was constant laughs and we loved it. Dana looked the story up and the play is a complete fabrication of Annie's life. Oh well, the music stuck with us for a few days...Anything you can do I can do better.

On a very chilly morning we rented a side by side and headed to the back country. Fun was had by all, but the only wildlife we saw were two chipmunks.

It makes my heart so happy to see this girl having so much fun driving the vehicle. Shhh...it's our secret.

The fall colors were already coming out.

Got a great shot of Sleeping Indian. Can you see it?

Also found a very out of the way memorial to the Air Force crew who crashed in these hills back in 1996.

Of course you have to get a picture with the antler arches in Jackson.

We had to eat lunch at my uncle Matt's drugstore. It's known for its burgers and I have to admit I wasn't impressed. It was okay, but not great.

Then there was a float trip down the Snake River. Our family is in constant competition. Animals have different point values for whoever sees them first. Miss G was keeping score this day. Pappy won because he has an eagle eye for spotting eagles...8 of them on the float trip.

Miss G wasn't ready for the whitewater and to be honest, my whitewater days are done.

It was a great day for Eagle watching.

Miss G got to be our boat guide for a little while. She said it was hard work.

This happened at Sylvan Pass last week. Somehow the fifth wheel came loose from the truck and rolled several times down the hill. It left quite a debris field which had to be cleaned up quickly so that the local grizzly didn't get any food rewards. The road had to be closed for two afternoons while heavy machinery came in to get the wreckage out. Fortunately, no one was injured.

There have been lots of happy hours and dinners out with co-workers this summer. We're a close knit group who experience abuse by the "visitors" every single day of the summer. What's wrong with people? I'm going to miss this crew!

September 17th marked the 20th anniversary of my beautiful mother's passing. I miss her each and every day.

I finally finished painting no. 2. I have to admit I love it.

I've started packing up. My outdoor space has been taken down, I've started stowing away all the loose objects inside. Irv will be here in three days and we head home on Sunday. I'm beyond excited to go home!

All the heavy machinery left yesterday and now they're working on the inside of the new housing.

Big improvement over the 1970s era rodent infested housing that seasonal rangers currently live in.

Some of you think I'll be tempted to return to Yellowstone. I guarantee you it will only be as a visitor. I've had some awful encounters with visitors this summer from verbal assaults to one physical encounter with a woman who got out of her vehicle and climbed up on my curb to grab something out of my booth (I won that encounter). To make sure I won't be back I've already donated all of my uniform pieces that I've accumulated over the last five years. My boss already put me on the schedule for 2025 but I guarantee this is my last summer as a park ranger--it's too exhausting.

I made the rounds of all the gas stations in town and bought up all the Idaho Spuds. I had a request for them from Germany plus I'm putting together a care package for someone special.

I have loved wearing the green and gray of the National Park Service. These five Yellowstone employee stickers on my truck are a badge of honor. I'm glad to carry on the role of public servant that my father started.