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Arrived in Yellowstone

Finally, I'm here at Yellowstone National Park. The Greyhound ride was next to unbearable. If possible, I will try to find an alternative mode of transportation for the ride back. However, I did get to meet James at the Sioux Falls bus station. As it happens, he is working the same position and I. We talked a bit on the bus and decided to room together. There is only one other building between my dorm ("Columbine") and Old Faithful.

The park is as beautiful as I imagined. Yesterday we entered the park, registered, and went through orientation at Gardiner, on the northern border of YNP. The park is basically organized into a figure 8. Old Faithful is located on the South-Western section of the 8, nearer to the bottom than to the middle. It was about a 2-hour drive from the top of the 8 to Old Faithful, and on the way, the bus driver spotted a black wolf. We pulled over and got out to enjoy it, because apparently a sighting of a black wolf is very rare. The driver said that some people come to the park year after year, specifically to spot one of these wolves, and for years they never do.

By the time we got situated in our dorm (there are three of us in here - it's rather small), I was too tired to do anything but sleep. Today I woke up revitalized and ready for safety training. A fire alarm put us off by a good hour, but it must not have turned out to be anything serious. Today it has been raining/sleeting periodically. Quite cold. I was going to take a picture of Old Faithful, but it started raining, so I didn't want to haul my camera and tripod outside. I'll snap some excellent shots later on this week and post them.

I managed to finish American Green before I had to leave. It reminded me a bit of Fast Food Nation in that it covers all bases of the industry it is focusing on, a sort of muck-raking expedition. I managed to read only partway through The World Is Flat. I'll finish it once I get back from YNP.

Peace out.

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