Now that the scariest decision is over with, it’s time to decide what I’m going to do with myself once my time here at Canyonlands is up. Technically, my last day here is September 11th, but I’ve recently convinced my supervisors to keep me longer. Ideally, I’ll stay here until November or so, and from there on out things get much fuzzier. Continue reading “Life Decisions: Part 2”
Author: Mariana
I like to keep moving.
Vote for Canyonlands!
Some of you may have heard about a campaign Coca Cola is running where you can vote for your favorite non-profit idea to receive a grant. They are now doing something similar with the national and state parks! The park with the most votes will receive a $100,000 grant, and Canyonlands is WAY behind. So please go vote! You have until August 31st and can vote as many times as you like. Who knows the kind of things we could do with $100,000! Maybe even hire an extra ranger…. 😉
Thanks for your help!
Vote here: http://www.livepositively.com/#/americasparks/vote
Starlight, Star Bright
One of my favorite memories of my summer here took place on a warm, clear night in early June. We have a giant white telescope sitting in the living room of the trailer, which we were told was broken upon its discovery. Coming back from a potluck dinner, I thought of it sitting there as I found my eyes glued to the sky my entire walk home. The stars were particularly spectacular that night, even for a sky as dark as ours. I just couldn’t make myself go inside, so I climbed onto the top of my car to watch the sky a little bit longer. A few minutes later I heard the crunch of my neighbor’s footsteps making his way down the road. He saw me sitting there and asked if I had ever used the telescope being stored in my living room. I told him no, that it was broken, and he announced that a few weeks before my arrival he had been bored and fixed it. He hadn’t told anyone for fear that they would move it to an inaccessible place. Continue reading “Starlight, Star Bright”
Baby Bro in Canyonlands
I’ve been telling people to come visit me since the moment I stepped foot in this place, more for their sake than mine, and last week in one day I got the news that I would soon have not one but two visitors – a good friend at the end of this month, and my baby brother this past weekend. Continue reading “Baby Bro in Canyonlands”
Unusually Acceptable Behavior
“So there isn’t a lot to see in this area of the park then?” The lady says, her eyes blank. She is completely serious.
I take a deep breath. Patience Mariana, patience.
Her husband slaps her across the arm.
Finally, someone who understands me.
Mesa Verde
My days off have been all over the place lately. Usually they are Sunday/Monday, but due to some seasonal staff rotation they’ve recently been changed to Monday/Tuesday. The past few weeks have been especially strange in addition to this change, as I gave up a day off for a 3-day weekend two weeks ago, and covered for a co-worker this last weekend, causing my days off to be Monday/Thursday.
So as I sat at breakfast Wednesday morning, I pondered out loud to my tablemate what I should do with my odd day off.
“Want to go to Colorado?” he said.
“Sure, let’s go to Mesa Verde.” Continue reading “Mesa Verde”
Observations from the Entrance Station: Part 2
After considering my last, mostly negative post from the entrance station, I thought I should write a second to cover my butt just a bit. Yes, there are a lot of frustrating things about working in the entrance station, but there are a lot of great things too. And I thought they deserved their own blog post. So here are some of the things I like about working in the entrance station: Continue reading “Observations from the Entrance Station: Part 2”
Observations from the Entrance Station: A Rant
I work the entrance station shift several times a week (in fact, I’m sitting in it right now), and I’ll admit it’s not my favorite part of the job. Being isolated in a little booth by yourself for 5 hours at a time, repeating the same thing to visitors over and over again, isn’t exactly what I’d call ‘fun.’ But most of the time it’s not too painful, and I’ve got a great view. The entrance station is a great place to watch the storms roll by, the rice grass glow in the sun, and the wildlife going about their merry day. But the best views of all are of the tourists. Continue reading “Observations from the Entrance Station: A Rant”
Life Decisions
Well, it’s official. I won’t be returning to Boston in the fall after all.
It went against my gut feeling from the start, and the more I learn and explore the more I realize I’m nowhere near done learning and exploring and nowhere near ready to settle into a single place and career. This is probably the scariest choice I’ve ever made, but I’m content that it’s the right one. My future is now one big, open span of time. Continue reading “Life Decisions”
YouTube Fun
A few months ago YouTube ran a joint campaign with google called ‘Search Stories,’ where you could create your own ‘search’ themed commercial like the ones Google was airing. Mine seems especially appropriate now even more than it did when I created it in May. Watch it below:
marianaonthemove.com 