Tags
2012, boost, doubts, exhaustion, Grand Tetons National Park, grandchildren, lunch tree hill, national park volunteer, nature, North Cascades National Park, outdoors, photography volunteer, special moments, summer, thank you, travel, travel photographer and writer, travel photography, VIP, volunteer, wildlife
Yesterday afternoon I arrived at North Cascades National Park to begin the new chapter of this travel journey and work as a photography volunteer for the park.
Along the road, in the two weeks since leaving Yosemite, I have slept next to the highways for three nights, camped in the Tetons for seven and in my son’s backyard for five. For seven awesome days I experienced the Tetons once again.
And, for the first time ever I spent five miraculous days with my grandchildren, running through the sprinkler, swimming at the beach, Costco with all three, changing diapers and tucking them in at night. My clothes are cleaner than they have ever been and I was able to get my car into another mechanic to have my brakes checked for the third time, and finally fixed. City stuff.
Without your help and support I would not have made it out of the Tetons to the Cascades. I would not have been able to get new rotors and brake pads on the front of the car, which were only needed because somehow, between the time I pulled into the Groveland mechanic and left, my right front rotor was ground down too far. And they weren’t supposed to do anything to the front! Hence the feeling of no brakes from Yosemite to North Idaho! They are much better now, which enabled me to easily navigate across the North Cascades from the East – but I will not be going back that way.
The mechanic in Jackson Hole had my car torn apart and the trailer brake ready to be installed when he discovered that there is no connection on my car and that a workaround would be 500 to 600 dollars. He told me to drive very slow. I did.
Thank you!
***I am tired from all of the travel and from a strange bout of flu that starts to go away and then comes back whenever I eat anything. Meanwhile, in my terribly lucid state of mind, I am questioning my abilities as a photographer and wondering if it is time to quit – or get my eyes checked. The challenge of the Tetons is one of the reasons I need to return so often as I imagine the photos but fall short every time. Mostly I need better equipment but also more patience and/or energy.
Here are just a few shots from the Tetons – summer of 2012