I get to live here?!

One week in. Yosemite has to be one of the most grand and beautiful places that exists. This has been one of the quickest and easiest transitions I have had. Besides Appalachia, no place has sucked me in and made me feel at home so fast. I have been running (trying to overcome my fear that a mountain lion is going to come eat me), swimming in the Merced, and laying out on the roof under the stars. This past week has been new staff training. We hiked up the Yosemite Falls trail, toured the valley on bicycles, collected macroinvertebrates in the Merced River, and saw not one, but two Sequoia groves. We stayed overnight at a cabin in one of the Sequoia groves and I slept under the gorgeous glistening stars beside those amazing giant trees. The people in my house are great too. And although I definitely miss Fruitty's Sex and the City dvds, I'm already borrowing Betsy's Gilmore Girls dvds.
Today I went on a hike on my own (and a lot of other people out for Labor Day weekend) up to Vernal and Nevada Falls. After I made it up to Nevada Falls, I was laying down on the rocks underneath the shade of a couple pine trees that seemed to be growing out of granite, entranced by the sound of the rushing water, just staring at the brilliant blue sky and thinking how great it was going. Then i went to stand up, wiped the dirt off my butt, and realized I had been laying on a root and had soaked up all its sap onto my shorts. Despite that (and forgetting a hair tie...i creatively tied my hair back with a string of hemp i found in my pack), the day was fantabulous. I loved the rainbow laying at the base of Vernal Falls and listening to all the foreign languages floating in the air. I am really in a wonderful and blissful state of mind. I have been since I arrived. I have no stitches in my face (nor does my brother now, hehe) and Yosemite National Park is my office. wow. if you want a cool postcard (and don't have one already), email me your address. snail mail is super fun.
And of course...Happy Birthday Jess!