We survived week 2!

So Thursday was our defensive driving and vehicle training day! Since I am scared to drive anything bigger than my little Rav 4, I was extremely nervous about this!

But it went better than expected. The 15 passenger vans were alright, except that we had to watch a video about how unsafe they are and how often they roll! Not very reassuring. The mini buses were not my favorite. Too wide for me!

But we got to see the Jackson campus of Teton Science Schools, which was nice since some of us will be spending a great deal of time there. The challenge course was calling out to me, so I really hope we get a chance to do it at some point!

Yesterday saw us getting ready for our backcountry trip next week! This included splitting up gear and food, and learning how to pack a pack! At least I learned how to pack a pack... everyone else has done it before! But my pack is huge and I can barely carry it! Problematic...

Today Julie, Paige, Ashley and I went on an adventure to Oxbow Bend and Signal Mountain. At Oxbow Bend we saw a pelican, some deer, lots of ducks and an otter from afar! Then we went to the top of Signal Mountain for a pretty good view!

We saw some bison along the way

And some horses 

Pelican at Oxbow Bend

View of Mount Moran

On top of Signal Mountain!

Lots more happening this weekend!

~Meghan

Geology and mice

So the last two days have been spent learning all about the geology of the Tetons and Jackson Hole. We got to be outside for a significant portion of this time, and lucky for us the weather has been beautiful!

As someone who knew next to nothing about geology, these were two pretty intense days full of unfamiliar terms as well as landmarks. We've also been working with maps, another thing I just do not understand! But I'm working on it...

Something I found incredibly interesting was the amount of displacement that took place when then Tetons arose due to the Teton fault. About 30,000 feet of displacement! The Grand Teton is only 7,000 feet above the floor of Jackson Hole today, so imagine how high it might have been wayyyyy back in the day.

Today was spent mostly talking about glaciers, and how they formed this place that we are living in today. We hiked to Taggert Lake and did some fun activities along the way.

Not s good as last year's Teton handstand picture, but I will get another later!

Hiking to Taggert Lake

Cool rock formations

Such amazing views here. You can't take a bad picture!

Taggert Lake

We have also officially found mice in our cabin! Two have so far been found and ushered outside again, but I am now on the lookout!

Tomorrow we learn about defensive driving and how to drive the big vans! Not looking forward to that =/

~Meghan

Safari day!

I was a bit sad today because it is the first day of school for my Linfield friends! I miss you all and hope you have an amazing year!

This morning we had to wake up extra early to go on a wildlife tour! We saw a couple moose, lots of pronghorn, some sandhill cranes, bison, a Ferruginous hawk, and a Uinta ground squirrel. No bears or wolves yet, but I've still got 11 months!

Moose!

Two moose!

Pronghorn on a hill

Really leery of us...

A Ferruginous hawk

One of the last Uinta ground squirrels of the season

Our guides from TSS Wildlife Tours brought with them some specimens for us to look at in the vans. I had fun with the moose antlers! Again, these were NOT sheds collected within the park (not allowed), but specimens brought by our guides for educational purposes. As you can see…

We then got an official introduction to the Murie Museum, a museum on campus that houses some of the collection of Olaus and Mardy Murie. There are tons of specimens of all kinds of animals. It is absolutely amazing, and I get to do some work study in there this year!

~Meghan

Ouch!

Yesterday was a lazy day. I did some laundry, some reading for class this week, and ultimately got distracted by Netflix. Oops…

But a few of us went to Dornan's for a drink, and I had a lot of fun continuing to get to know people!

Today, a bunch of people were going on a hike up to Lake Solitude. I was a bit hesitant because I've never done any real hiking before, and thought 15 miles might be a little much for me. But I'm so nervous that the back country trip is going to kill me, so I decided I would get some hiking practice in by going with them today…

It was…painful. My knees and feet definitely were NOT happy by the end. I didn't take my trekking poles because I was dumb and didn't think it would be that bad. And I didn't wear my knee brace for the same reason. WRONG. It was a struggle. And the hike ended up being about 20 miles because we had to walk 2 miles to the trail head, and then same on the way back.

While my body is not happy with me for this endeavor, I feel very accomplished! I lagged behind a bit, but my classmates were awesome, and kept checking on me and taking turns lagging behind a bit with me. So thank you guys!

We did see some notable wildlife though! A young moose, 2 bull moose, a couple deer, lots of pikas, and a couple marmots! No pictures of the wildlife, sorry.

I now know what to do in the future, and for the back country trip to try and make my knees feel better!  Yay!

Here are some pictures of the scenery we saw along the way:

Sun is a problem, but at Inspiration Point

Inspiration Point

Look at those clouds!

Gorgeous!

I don't remember what this was

Wyatt in the distance

Lake Solitude…finally

It should be known that most of the group jumped in the (freezing!) lake. I did not.

Tomorrow we get to go on a wildlife tour to hopefully see some elk, moose, and maybe some wolves or bears!

~Meghan

Time to learn about bears!

Yesterday was our introduction to wildlife and life in the Tetons! This pretty much just entailed learning how to avoid and deter bears. Which means, we got our pepper spray, and got to practice using inert pepper spray cans. That was interesting…

We learned a bit about how to distinguish between black and grizzly bears, as well as some of the behavior they exhibit when stressed. A lot of people in class already have had experience with bears or bear country, but then there's me. With absolutely noooo idea what to do when I saw a bear! Well, now I do.

After dinner a few of us went on a short hike up one of the hills by ditch creek. I have to admit I was a little winded, but it was fun! Had to cross a few fallen trees over the water, which was not my cup of tea, but I managed. Saw some great views, and saw lot of limber pines and cones along the way! The trip back down the hill was a slippery mess, but sliding down on our feet seemed to work pretty well!

More bonding time in the commons last night, as well as a short hula lesson...

Some views from the top of the hill

Ditch creek

Today and tomorrow are free days, and I have no idea yet what I am going to do!

~Meghan

Scavenger hunts and IT day!

Today was an on campus kind of day. So not many pictures were taken =(

We started with a scavenger hunt to get us familiar with some of the departments and history of the campus. We learned some interesting things! Groups got to talk to different faculty and staff, and talk about how things work and everything gets done around here.

We then spent the rest of the day doing technical stuff like going over the operations and graduate policy manual, getting our emails set up, and learning about the alarm system on campus.

The highlight of the day was when the faculty members raided April's (our Associate Executive Director) closet and surprised her (and us) by wearing some of her clothes!

Happy Birthday April!

~Meghan

First day!

Today was our first day of instruction and "class". First we got to experience what a TSS community meeting is like. Then we went on a hike put to coyote rock, and played a bunch of icebreaker type games to continue to get to know each other. It rained a bit during our hike, but the weather held out pretty well for us. We even learned about pines, spruces, and firs! Something I understand! Yay for Woody Plants!

A welcome sign for the 21st graduate class!

Upper Meadow (I think)

The Tetons, shrouded in clouds

Dinner was a blast tonight, as Jared (our chef) let us make our own pizzas and hang out in the kitchen so he could get to know us and our eating habits a little better. The pizzas were great, and we got to finish up the leftover beer and wine
from last night's reception!

The grad students then convened to the common lounge for game night, where we played some catchphrase (although not as intense of a game as we played on the Woody Plants Redwoods trip!), and talked for a while to bond.

I am slowly getting over my fear of moths, as there are at least 10 of them in my room at all times. I can see 7 from my vantage point right now! I had a traumatizing moth experience when I was little, so this is a big deal!

~Meghan

Settling in

The rest of the graduate students arrived today! Except for one who does not get here until this weekend. There was a nice little cocktails/appetizers/getting to know each other session, as well as dinner afterwards. The food has already been amazing here, and I just hope my picky appetite doesn't cause me too many problems!

Tomorrow we set off on a day hike to get to know each other and some faculty better. My hiking boots are still not properly broken in, so I'm just hoping I avoid too many blisters!

We stumbled across Morman Row on our adventures today

Visited the Visitor Center in Moose

Got some Caramel Caribou ice cream at Dornan's

Finally took a picture with the school sign

More of this amazing view

All of us grad students 

Random picture of the main lodge

~Meghan

Move in day!

Yesterday I began the first leg of the drive to Wyoming. This included driving across Nevada and Idaho. Then finally crossed into Wyoming today!

Today I made it to campus around 1, and moved into my home for the next year!

My new cabin is named Staelin, which I will be sharing with another grad student. She gets here tomorrow I think. My room is small, but it will do! We also share a bathroom so we do not have to use the common bathrooms, woohoo!

The view of the Tetons from campus

The outside of my cabin!

Some inside pics

I met 6 other grad students very briefly today, and tomorrow we're having a dinner in order to be officially introduced to everyone. I can't wait to meet them all and explore the area some more!

~Meghan