Work

Sorry I haven't written in so long! Once work started for real, I've been so busy! The tours are going pretty well, although I still feel like I have a lot to learn, overall. I mostly have the nature stuff down, and what I need to work on is dealing with people... Things have been pretty slow during the day, but I hear that after the 4th of July (I can't believe its already July!), things really pick up. It has started thunderstorming in the afternoon almost every day now, and I really like it! It cools off, rains and thunders for about 30 minutes, and then clears up and gets sunny again.

The site where I have been scheduled for a lot is on Snowmass Mountain. I begin the day with a 2-hour wildflower walk at 10am, and then ride the gondola up to Elk Camp Meadows, and lead a tour in a pin forest, called Rabbit Run Trail, at 1pm. Then I sit at the desk outside for a while to answer any questions (and there never are any), and then I ride back down, and catch the bus back to Aspen. I have been giving more of these tours recently -- I gave a one-on-one tour to a woman who is originally from New Zealand the other day. She was really cool, and since she's been living here for several years, she gave me some tips of trails to hike. I was thinking of doing some hiking later today, but I am exhausted from the 4th of July weekend, so I think I need to take a break today.

Let's see, what else have I been up to? The last few days that I had off, I went camping, and then hikied up to American lake and went swimming at around 10,000 feet! It was very cold and refreshing. The lake was so clear that you could see the bottom everywhere, and all the trout swimming around.

The 4th of July Parade was so amazing! It was VERY long, very hot, and it also had many commercial floats and political signs, which I didn't really appreciate. I got my face painted, and collected candy, and enjoyed being squirted with water from passing floats. Then we went to a free picnic from the Aspen Art Museum. We were planning on going swimming later, but got tierd so watched a movie and napped until dinner time.

I tried to put some pictures in this post, but it didn't work. I'll try to put them up separately.

Overall, I am loving Aspen. It seems to me that everything in Colorado is beautiful, from biking to work in the morning in a sun-shower, to getting stuck on top of Ajax (Aspen Mountain) and watching lightning hit the top of the Elk Mountains. Today I am planning on working some on my tours, then I need to bike to the store and buy some groceries. I would like to run and take a nap at some time, also. I hope everyone reading is having a great summer, too! :)