Yosemite!

I arrived at Yosemite yesterday and had my first official day of work today! The house I'm living in is pictured above and right below is the view across the street. I live just up the stairs you see outside the left side of the house--first door on the left on the inside (so y'all know when you come visit). I have 7 other housemates, wireless internet, and a sink in my room. what more in life could you ask for. There is a huge kitchen and community living space downstairs, one of the Yosemite Institute offices, and a market right next door--just a few steps away. I'm lovin' the place and having a whole room to put my stuff in. It was like Christmas opening bags that I packed in the spring (they'd been in storage all summer) and seeing what fun clothes were inside. I even have my cinco de mayo sombrero on the wall. After a couple of boys wore and carried it around on our CYP backpack, i didn't have the heart to leave it behind in the costume box. Now it is a prominent fixture in my room.
Last night when i got here, I got to break a sweat and unpack my stuff before getting together to really meet everyone. My new work family seems great. We had chips, beer, and a jump in the local swimming hole in the Merced River just down the road and across the street. It was the warmest mountain river I'd been in all summer. And in unpacking my stuff, I finally repaired Peyton Manning's leg, which had been broken clean off when i moved to Colorado (i'm hoping that isn't a bad sign for this Colt's season!). So all is fabulous here at home in El Portal, CA. My cell phone doesn't work here, but I'll pass along my new P.O. Box address very soon.