Pura Vida and Taggart Lake

Today I lead a group of seven middle school students around Taggart Lake in Grand Teton National Park along with Eric and three Teton Science School officials. At first, I was unsure of what advice I would be able to give to twelve and thirteen year old kids. I started off by introducing myself ofcourse and told them about my upbringing and asked how many of them had previously visited the park. I was surprised that many had indeed been to Grand Teton and all but one had done the Taggart Lake Trail. I then asked how long their parents have lived in Jackson and one said twenty years! It's unbelievable to me, coming from Texas that I would find a Latino population out here in Jackson, Wyoming. It is the coolest thing to walk around town being so far away from home and hearing people talking Spanish in the streets. I thought I left that part of the states back in South Texas but its right here in town. I was glad to be able to share some of my stories with these kids and hopefully I encouraged them to stay in school and study hard. We can be whatever we want to be as long as we try hard and keep the faith. I'm also proud to say that we completed a four mile hike and I managed not to lose anyone! Exciting stuff people!!

My Letter To Oprah...

I e-mailed tv mogul and billionaire Oprah Winfrey yesterday about my internship here at Glacier National Park. I was inspired to attend the NPS Springbreak Academy after seeing Yosemite park ranger Shelton Johnson on her show. I also became excited to learn more about careers in the park service and also to get minorities to visit national parks. Her is a copy of my e-mail:

Hello Ms. Oprah! My name is Ashlee Lee and I am interning at Glacier National Park in Northwest, Montana this summer. As an avid fan of your show, my mother and I thought it would be a great idea for me to e-mail you about my experience this summer. After watching your show with Yosemite Park Ranger Shelton Johnson, I was immediately inspired to learn more about a career in the National Park Service.
I am a 25 year old African American female from Atlanta, GA and my very first visit to a national park was in March during my spring break week from college. I was part of a program through the Student Conservation Association and the National Park service called the NPS Academy. This program was designed for minorities like meself who do not live in places with national parks to come out to Grand Teton National Park and learn more about the park service. There were 29 students total for the NPS Academy and we were from all around the United States. After we left the academy we were set up with internships for the summer.
I am currently in East Glacier in the St. Mary district interning as a park interpreter here this summer at Glacier National Park. I do believe that this internship has changed my life! Glacier National Park is one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been too! From the wildlife to the wildflowers this place is just stunning. The mountains are so beautiful and the water here is so clear! I feel absolutely honored to be here!
My internship as an interpreter includes a variety of challenging but fulfilling duties. I work in the St. Mary Visitor Center front desk, I also lead a guided hike and boat tour to St. Mary Falls ( a very popular hiking trail here in Glacier National Park) as well as conduct an illustrated program every Friday in the visitor center auditorium and the topic is one of the most interesting creatures here at the park-bears.
I am writing this e-mail to let you know that Ranger Shelton Johnson’s presence on your show changed my life. Your visit to Yosemite National Park changed my life! So if you’re ever in Northwest Montana please come and visit Glacier National Park and you will see why this place has changed my life.

Thank you,
Ashlee Lee

She responded back with this reply today:

Got your email.Thank you for watching the finale. I could feel your beating hearts, along with mine, through the TV screen.I'm off to take a little rest, and then I'll get busy working on OWN.Take care of yourself. I'll write soon.

Oprah

So maybe there is a chance that Oprah Winfrey could possible come to Glacier National Park this summer...who knows but we will see!

The Beginning of Pura Vida

Today was the first meeting of Vanessa's program, Pura Vida.  The children have just been released into the wilderness with Eric and Alfredo, and under a half-cloudy sky they are taking on their first adventure. 

This program is meant to create diversity within the park and an informed populace living outside the park.  I have looked at the schedule, and I think the lesson is there; but still it will take a certain exposure to both sides if kids who have lived in Jackson their whole lives are to understand what national parks do for the people of most American cities.  

I can't imagine growing up here.  I came from a flat suburban town and so I have developed a philosophy that one should grow up inside a blank slate with nothing but learning and social relationships to practice until reaching the days of adulthood when it is time to go see amazing things and meet lovely people.  Growing up in the midst of it all changes the whole game. 

As I ride my bicycle in the evenings, I look at the High School butte towering over the neighborhood schools and wonder about my best buddy from middle and high school days: how we would have leapt out of class and fled into that wilderness every single day if we had such a thing where we grew up.  Or maybe how we would have learned to stop seeing and thinking about these unique parts of a place so familiar to us.

It seems to me that these children must see past the splendor they are growing up in if they are going to appreciate it in true context.  They must be sent to Midlothian, Texas; they must be sent to Kansas, New York, and parts of Utah.  Then they will know who is coming to the Grand Teton National Park: and one look around these places will show them the air quality and the animals and the jagged horizons most people must do without every single day.

I know Alfredo will tell them about Texas, and the beautiful ocean stretching away from Corpus Christi.  His upbringing near some incomprehensibly vast monument of nature will be similar to their experience-- but who knows if any one of them has seen the ocean.  It may set their minds adrift a sea of possibilities.  I hope it does. 

Liz Putnam Encounter!

Soooo...I was working in the visitor center today, busy helping one of the customers find some trails to hike on off Going-to-the-Sun Road when the other SCA intern here hit me on my back. At first I was very irritated, but then he said "Hey Ashlee this is Liz Putnam" and I was literally star-struck!!!! She is so amazing and so lively and spirited! I thanked her and gave her a hug for just creating this awesome oppurtunity for me and all of SCA. I also met her daughter and son-in-law and she took a picture with me and the other SCA intern here named Austin. It was my BEST moment here so far. Just thought I'd share that with you guys! It's not everyday that you meet the founder of such an awesome organization!

It's one of those moments...

So I woke up this morning and I remembered one of those quotes that we heard so many times during our Spring Break week! It had eluded me for so long and it was like a light bulb went of in my head:

"You have to take the good with the bad, smile when you're sad,
love what you got and always remember what you had.
Always forgive, never forget."

This might not be the exact way Rob had said it, but for some reason I woke up to it. Saying that, I remember the first days when I was here in Grand Teton. They were a challenge! I missed my friends and my family. I missed my old job and just missed being in a warmer area. If I had known this quote back then I would have realized for the time being I'm just going to have to take the good with the bad. I was finally out here where I had been begging to come back to and receiving such a great experience. Being away from a girl I really loved and then finding out that love wasn't there anymore I just had to smile when I was sad. Being around such happy and determined people helped me not catch that post break-up blues. "Love what you got and always remember what you had," inspires me not forget the great and lovely friends I have back at home. Not a day goes by when I get those phone calls and text messages asking when I'll be home or how much they miss me. What they don't know is, now I don't ever want to come back home. I've fallen in love with this place. I still haven't had to experience the always forgive part of this quote, but it's strange because it's apart of my next tattoo I've been dying to get. But for never forget, I will never forget all 30 of us being out here in March learning and sharing our interest with each other. As I look at the wonderful Teton Range while typing this, I know everyone has fallen in love with whatever place they're at. And part of them, even though they might not want to admit it, does not want to leave that place. I challenge everyone with their time left to make the absolute best of it, explore more, conquer harder challenges and expand your legacy!

Close Camping

Teshina (A fellow SCA intern), Jazzy (a park employee in the Wilderness crew) and I decided to go camping in Yellowstone a few weekends ago. Yellowstone is THE first National Park, so it seemed mandatory to make our first camping trip to this historical landmark. Upon our arrival we got lost, and we had no phone signal. After finally finding our way we arrive to the site. The "campground", if you can even call it such a name looked like a gargantuan parking lot covered with a few trees. From our tent we could virtually see everyone else camping around us. We had to keep our voices down to not disturb our neighbors, who were less than 20 ft from us. I also injured by toe, the one second to the big toe on my right foot. I know, just horrible.
We had a good time regardless and were joined by Cecily (another SCA intern) and Amber (a Park employee on the weeds crew) the next day. Feeling like our impression of Yellowstone needs improvement we took the trek to Old Faithful. Probably a couple hundred spectators awaited with us the spewing of hot water from the geyser...then it was done. We were not very impressed. Our pitiful caravan of two departed from Yellowstone with a greater appreciation for Grand Teton National Park. I think our next voyage will be back packing where we can be at one with nature.

6AM- LIVING THE DREAM INSTEAD OF DREAMING MY LIFE AWAY

This morning I was given the extreme privilege to ride in the sky with Ranger Mike Nicklaus in his two-person plane from the 1940s.  It was beautiful enough to see our park from above, including a lot of areas not visible from ground-level.  Near the Teton Science School we saw a herd of buffalo spread about the valley like poppyseeds on some enchanted bagel. 

The sky was clear and cold, and for twenty minutes I got to steer us through the open space above Jackson Lake and the surrounding lands.  I guess he let me fly over water so if I crashed it wouldn't hurt the plane as much... 

"Up up and awaaaay, in my beautiful--my beautiful old plaaaane!"

The feel of drifting through the sky with total control and looking down on a much vaster world than the one you knew on the ground, a fragile-looking place full of tiny things all held up with complete silence--

 Long morning shadows

That was the most fun ever.  Don't let the age of the plane deter you: she is right as rain.

Many thanks to my benevolent pilot for a consummate first experiment in aviation:

Mike Nicklaus: The Jack Nicklaus of the Sky

CF 7/6