5-22-09 First day of job training and exploring Canyon Lodge

The dining/lounge area in Canyon Lodge. It is above the EDR. This what it looked like when we arrived here, but staff members are trying to get it ready for the Saturday opening.


The door leading to the Employee Dining Room (EDR).


More snow! It is still taller than both of us in some places. Sometimes it's still taller than some of the cabins! But notice, Samantha is wearing a t-shirt; this is because it is really warm out. So weird!

Us by the Front Desk building at Canyon.

Canyon Lodge as it looks now. The boards are put over the windows during the winter to keep the snow out. Maintenance should be taking them down before Saturday because that is when Canyon officially opens.

Doesn't she look cute (and embarrassed)!

One of four counters in the soda fountain.

Inside the General Store at Canyon...there is an old fashioned soda fountain! Dad and Mom(Carroll) would love it!

Molly on our first day of work.

Samantha on our first day of work--doesn't she look thrilled! (She's super tired.)

5-21-09 travel day #2 - From Bozeman to Gardiner, MT then to Mammoth Hot Springs, and then Canyon Village!

Hi! We have internet access here in the dorms, but it's really slow because there are so many of us trying to log online. It's a miracle that we're able to get on to upload now!
Peace,
Molly & Samantha



Our hallway inside Grizzly dorm.


The steps on the outside of our dorm. Samantha is standing with Harrison, another Room Attendent we met on our first day.


He he he :)

Snow! There is still tons of snow here but it can be quite warm during the day!

Samantha walking back from the lower falls with some other RAs we met.

That black dot in the distance (on the biggest patch of snow) is a bear, or at least we think it is. There also appeared to be wolves or coyotes surrounding it. They were on the other side of the canyon so this picture is zoomed in over a mile.

Our first glimse of the Lower Falls.

Bison!!! We had just come from an orientation that told us to stay 300 feet away, but on our walk to the Lower Falls we had no choice but to pass 2 of them at close range: they were right next to the road!

Some of the cabins in Cascade Circle (or "C" area).

After dinner on our first day at Canyon we took a walk around the area with some new friends. Apparently some of the cabins were deemed unlivable and condemed to a firey death. They were still burning as we walked around (we're not sure why the burning wasn't being supervised).

Our closet space: Samantha on the left, Molly on the right (Molly's bottom drawer doesn't close unles you kick it really hard...we think the room tilts).

Our dorm room! We live in Grizzly dorm, which is the over 21 dorm. The under 21 dorm (or the junior dorm as Grizzlies call it) is called Bison. Then there is the managers' dorm called Bighorn and the maintenence staff dorm called Wapiti.

A quick look at Mammoth Hot Springs. We only got to see it briefly from the bus window :( We'll go back eventually.

Gardiner, a truely old-west looking town. It has saloons and everything. (And about 5 motels next to each other on the same strip!)

Roosevelt Arch in Gardiner: it frames the North entrance to the park.

One of the awesome old yellow buses that Yellowstone uses for tours. They were built in the 1930s, retired in the 1960s, and in 2007 eight of them were restored and are running now.

The human resources sign up close. This is where tour buses are parked.

The uniform room where we got our Room Attendent (RA) shirts. They offered us grey work pants but they were about as attractive as prison garb and they didn't fit either of us correctly. We are allowed to wear our own jeans so we quickly declined the offer!

Us with our employee I.D. cards!

Human Resources in Gardiner, Montana (right at the border into Yellowstone and Wyoming). It was in the middle of nowhere, all you could see around it was mountains. The town of Gardiner looks like Russia...as in desolate.

Enjoing granola bars! We were starving--thank you Sr. Cindy!!! Later they gave us cheese sticks and ritz crackers because we were running late for lunch and hadn't eaten all day!

Our bus driver named Len; he was really funny. The bus was 30 years old, and we had to sit in the back with our luggage because there wasn't enough room underneath. Let's just say it was challenging to hold on to luggage with wheels while the bus whipped along sharp mountain roads.

Waiting for the Yellowstone bus at the Bozeman Greyhound station over an hour before we had to be there! It was 28 degrees and the bus station wasn't open!!! But we weren't the only ones wanting to get there outrageously early, because we were joined by fellow employees in a few minutes.

Last day in Bozeman - visit to Montana State University (MSU) and the Museum of the Rockies

Hi Everyone!

These blog posts are fun to do and a great reminder of what we've seen and when we've seen it. But since today is our last day of "freedom" before work at Canyon Lodge in Yellowstone, we don't know how much time we'll have to continue uploading photos each night. Also, we don't know what the Lodge's policy is about taking pictures, as it is a hotel. Anyway, this is just a message to let you know that we will keep posting as much as we can . . . we aren't going to forget about it! Don't stop checking; we will be on as much as possible, updating when we can.

Peace & Love,

Molly & Samantha

p.s. Today is our first attempt at uploading videos onto blogspot! We hope they work for you :) They're at the bottom of today's post.







A photo of a horse drawn carriage taking tourists through Yellowstone National Park. (Photo from the Museum of the Rockies)




Samantha sitting against a backrest Native Americans made/used in thier Tepees. The Native American section was her favorite! (Museum)




Molly sitting against the backrest. (Museum)

This horse was outside of the Museum of the Rockies; it's made out of chains.

Samantha in front of the Streamline bus. We finally found one and rode it from MSU back to Main Street.

Samantha terrified at the prospect of seeing a real Bison so close to her when we get to Yellowstone. (Museum)

Indian War Dance at the Bozeman Round-Up....um, many years ago. (Museum)

Bones of a Tenontosaurus found in 1991 near Bridger, MT. All of the artifacts and fossils here were excavated from Montana. (Museum)

Cool thing hanging from the ceiling in the physics building at MSU.

The first time we encountered a Streamline bus stop even though we were told that they are everywhere. Molly looks confused because she was starting to doubt their existence.

Molly behind (inside of?) a big funky sculpture on the MSU campus.

...and Samantha :)

This is one of the dorms at Montana State University...it looked really cool, expecially with the clouds in behind it.

We found Cleveland Street!!! Awesome!

Samantha looking super excited about her yummy sandwich.

Molly about to enjoy a veggie sandwich from the Pickle Barrel :)

This is the inside of the Pickle Barrel.

Well, I know we said that the Pickle Barrel was destroyed in a gas explosion, but today we discovered that there is a second one! So we had to stop and check it out.

We both got really excited when we saw this street name...guess that proves we're english majors!

Part I: Samantha ponders at MSU; Molly gets it on video (obviously)

Part II: Samantha has more time to ponder. Molly inside of the physics building at MSU.

Sorry, i had one more video that i wanted my dad to see especially, but i guess it didn't load. I'll try again at a later date. --Molly