Final Spring Break

Spring Break was a nice time to get away from Purdue and escape the everyday business of what happens on campus. Caroline and I took off to Tampa, Florida, to meet up with some friends we made while working at Yellowstone this past summer, Tom and Ann. Ann is a fourth grade teacher in the local community so Caroline and I went into her class on Friday to tell them a little about the “college experience”. We told them about our class schedule and just how valuable our college education is to us. We then enjoyed the next few days canoeing, building sandcastles and doing a little hiking in the Florida area. I must say it was quite different from Yellowstone!

The countdown begins for graduation!

Josh

Summer Coming to a Close

This summer sure has gone by fast! It has been very busy this summer with record-breaking numbers of people coming into Yellowstone. Over 644,000 people visited in June alone, which broke the previous record by 40,000. All 9 hotels and 5 campgrounds have been filling up non-stop and phone calls are still coming in! It has been truly incredible.

Although this summer has been busy with work it has also been busy outside of work. We have been hiking nonstop as well. Caroline and I managed to hike 312 miles. It was well worth every hike. I have attached three of my favorite photos from the summer hikes. The first is me on top of Electric Peak which is on the NW Side of the park, a 20 mile roundtrip mountain climb. The second is me fording our first river in the NE section of the park; the ford was .2 miles into the hike so you ended up being wet at the beginning and the end. The third is a picture of Caroline in front of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone; this is a great picture simply because the background of the picture looks fake as though you are in front of a green screen. But I can tell you it is definitely real and very beautiful!

Yes, this summer is coming to a close very rapidly. On August third I will be back in West Lafayette for R.A. Training which I am very much looking forward to!

See you all soon back on campus!
Josh

For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People

Today went very well, it was our first day on the phones and we had some excellent questions between Caroline and me.

I hope you enjoy these and, yes, to answer any previous questions, these are real! These questions are all questions we have received on the phone.

1. Are there fireworks on the 4th of July in Yellowstone?
2. What time do they turn the geysers off at night?
3. When do elk turn into moose?

Hope you all enjoyed those anyway on to today.

Today after work we went on a hike down to Osprey Falls. We left at 6:00 p.m. and got back at late dusk there was just a little bit of sun light left, about 2 minutes worth. It was 8 miles it was a glorious hike. It starts off with 2.5 miles across some rolling plains and then it just drops! When I say drops I mean drops! Once you are at the bottom you hike along the canyon until you get
soaked about 500 feet away from the falls. We couldn’t even see the falls yet and we were soaked! That’s how much mist was coming off the water. Once we arrived it was soooo impressive. There is so much water. If anyone is coming to Yellowstone this summer please contact me and I would be more than happy to give you a list of good hikes.

Josh
Bears seen to date: 3
Wolves seen to date: 0
Bison and Elk seen to date: 195,982,875,987 (really this is a made up number but it is probably close)

Fun at Yellowstone!

It has been a very fast few days here in Wyoming.

Caroline and I are working for Xanterra Parks and Resorts. They are a concessionaire that run the lodges at some awesome places such as The Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, and Yellowstone. Here Caroline and I are taking phone calls and making reservations for all the lodges within Yellowstone. The first few days have been great!

The second day for work we went on a tour of Lamar valley which is where they first released the wolves back in 1995. We did not see any but we did see a grizzly bear, it was really far away and you needed binoculars. But anyway, we got paid 7.25 an hour from 8:30-4:30 to take a tour it was great!

Today we woke up early and went on a guided tour again to Lamar Valley, this time we saw the pens where they kept the wolves and heard all the history. We then came back and did a quick trip to the visitor center mammoth and watched a video. We then took a nap and went on a hike around mammoth hot springs. It has been very packed as Caroline keeps me on the move with hikes. We have already logged over 20 miles and it is growing fast! Tomorrow we are waking up early at 6:30 and going on an 8 mile hike called Rescue Trail. It should be awesome. Obviously we had today and tomorrow off, but we start work again on Monday and again will work till Friday.

Here are some pictures of some of the hikes.

Josh

Happy Summer!

It has been a fast start to summer! After finals last Thursday I went back to Ohio for a mere three days before heading west. My mom and I left early Sunday afternoon and by the end of the day we were just west of Chicago. Early Monday morning we woke up and took off. We drove through the rest of Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and we ended the day on the west side of South Dakota. We are only 350 miles away from Yellowstone and we are looking forward to only having a six hour drive on Tuesday rather than twelve.


Along the way we stopped at a few different stops, each stop was very unique. The first place we stopped at was the Corn Palace in Mitchell South Dakota. There we checked out the Palace made of Corn. Each year the palace is changed to have different scenes and a different year. We talked to a local and he mentioned that they will start to “rebuild” the palace at the end of August and get it ready for 2010.


After Mitchell, we headed to Wall. Wall is home to the famous Wall Drug Store. It is so famous you see the first signs for it 355 miles away. About every 5 miles you will see signs advertising for free ice water, as well as 5 cent coffee. When we arrived it was like a ghost town as hardly anyone was there, of course it is not peak season and I am sure traffic will pick up after Memorial Day weekend. As you will see there is a famous animal unique to this area as well. It is known as a Jackelope. It is a white rabbit with antlers, if you have never seen one before I provided you with a picture.
As for Caroline she is in Bozeman Montana tonight. She flew all day on Monday and arrived there about 7:00pm eastern time. She waved to us as she flew over head.

Happy Summer,
Josh

Spring Fest and More!!

This weekend was one of the most exciting and busiest spring weekends Purdue has, I did not miss out. Friday, there was the start of Gala weekend and this encourages the graduating class from 50 years ago (1959) to come back and enjoy Purdue. They had Perry Yeatman (Senior V.P for Internal Corporate Affairs for Kraft Foods) come and speak about study abroad opportunities and her story getting her foot in the door, especially as a woman- she was very inspiring.

Later that evening was the awards dinner; here seniors who are truly outstanding receive awards and outstanding alumni receive awards as well. Pictured here are two of our ambassadors who received Outstanding Senior Awards, Amy for Foods and Nutrition and Derek for Hospitality and Tourism Management.

This year it was in the press box- here is a picture of the webmaster and myself in front of the awesome view!

The yellow and white striped tents around campus show cased Spring Fest. This is where many organizations around campus set up tables and provide activities and food for families; one of the favorite things to do is spit crickets! On Saturday, I was blowing up balloons and handing them out to people- it was packed; I work at the stand with pulled pork and there was not a time when there wasn’t a line of people at the booth. It is a festivity that gets the whole campus out. Here is the Ambassadors Wheel of Fortune!!

Also on Saturday Purdue played there Spring Game, to get everyone pumped for football! It is an event that brings students and old football players in to see what to expect for the future!

Finally Sunday, it was the day where lots of awards went on. In the morning there was the awards breakfast (at 8:30- pretty early) for Mortar Board; at least there was great food to wake me up! Then at 1:00pm there was Purdue’s recognition program for students and faculty, this includes students who have made Dean’s List or the Outstanding Seniors or another award. After that there was a Reception/Colloquium, where seniors who did an honors project show cased all their hard work! It was great to be able to look at the projects they have been working on for over a year plus enjoy sprinkle cookies and golden punch.

This was a crazy but fun weekend at Purdue! Boiler Up!!

~Caroline~

Easter Weekend!!

Being from Ohio and the six hour drive I have to go home, I stay here for Easter every year. In West Lafayette I have found First United Methodist Church. Her e I teach the 7th and 8th grade confirmation class with Pastor Glen. Each year I have been here it has become a tradition to have a lock in on Good Friday. This year was no different as we in fact had the lock in as well as, the Junior High were heavily involved with the Good Friday service as they preformed a skit this year. After the service the youth gather for a fun filled night of games, food and other discussions. We stayed up until 3 am and then woke up to make French Toast in the morning at around 7:30! It was great fun!
I was very impressed with the youth who not only stayed up until 3 am on Saturday morning but then they proceeded to turn around and helped to put on an Easter Sunrise Service. Many of the youth showed up at the church at 6:45am to perform another skit, from there at around 8:15 they went down to the activity center to put on an Easter Pancake breakfast. Overall, it was a very big weekend for them, the church and me!
Sunday afternoon was great. Caroline and I invited over a bunch of our friends who also live out of state, or have a long drive home and were unable to make it home for Easter Weekend. We prepared an Easter Dinner and the menu consisted of:
Roast
Mashed Potatoes
Fruit Salad
Green Beans
Rolls
Banana Nut Bread
Brownies
Chocolate Covered Strawberries

It was a great time and the food was awesome!

Josh

Easter Weekend!!

Being from Ohio and the six hour drive I have to go home, I stay here for Easter every year. In West Lafayette I have found First United Methodist Church. Her e I teach the 7th and 8th grade confirmation class with Pastor Glen. Each year I have been here it has become a tradition to have a lock in on Good Friday. This year was no different as we in fact had the lock in as well as, the Junior High were heavily involved with the Good Friday service as they preformed a skit this year. After the service the youth gather for a fun filled night of games, food and other discussions. We stayed up until 3 am and then woke up to make French Toast in the morning at around 7:30! It was great fun!
I was very impressed with the youth who not only stayed up until 3 am on Saturday morning but then they proceeded to turn around and helped to put on an Easter Sunrise Service. Many of the youth showed up at the church at 6:45am to perform another skit, from there at around 8:15 they went down to the activity center to put on an Easter Pancake breakfast. Overall, it was a very big weekend for them, the church and me!
Sunday afternoon was great. Caroline and I invited over a bunch of our friends who also live out of state, or have a long drive home and were unable to make it home for Easter Weekend. We prepared an Easter Dinner and the menu consisted of:
Roast
Mashed Potatoes
Fruit Salad
Green Beans
Rolls
Banana Nut Bread
Brownies
Chocolate Covered Strawberries

It was a great time and the food was awesome!

Josh

A Black Tie Affair

To follow up on Derek’s post this weekend it was very busy for a few others as well. This past Saturday was Purdue’s 11th Annual Black Tie Dinner. The day started with set up at 11:00a.m. 4:00 was pictures and the dinner officially started at 7:07 p.m. It was a long day as the dinner ended near 9:30 and we were done cleaning up around 11:00. At the dinner was the President of Purdue, as well as recruiters from Marriot, Sodexho and other companies, plus a number of professors, family, and alumni. I went ahead and posted some pictures of the day’s festivities for you all to enjoy, some of which include the servers, back of the house and front of the house. It was a great event as I cannot wait for next year! ~Josh

When Mortar Board Goes Tapping...

So yesterday was quite an exciting day! Three gentlemen came into my resort management class singing “When Mortar Board Goes Tapping, Goes Tapping…” they announced me as a new member. Mortar Board is a senior honors society in which members raise money to provide scholarships and conferences on campus. (Here is a link to their site: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~mortarbd/) Immediately after class I went to Teresa’s office to hear her shriek with excitement! The reception was in the evening, where I was able to meet the current members and the 40 new members for next year. It was an overall experience that will not be forgotten.

~Caroline~

A Day in the Life of Josh

Today was one of those crazy days in your college life! It started off early around 8:30 when I awoke to the pleasant sound of my cell phone going off. I hurried to get ready as I rushed to church to do my weekly office hours. At 11:00 I left the church and rushed to Stone Hall for a luncheon at the John Purdue Room with the new department head candidate as well as five other students. The lunch lasted roughly an hour as we asked the candidate questions related to their experience in the industry, where the industry is headed, and what ideas he could bring from his current university to ours. After lunch I hurried back to my house to check my email and work on a few papers for classes that are due in a few weeks. Around 3:00, Caroline and I went on to campus to see Miss Teresa Eloff. Yes, in case you were wondering who she is she is the director of undergraduate recruitment, well the secret was out! It was her birthday! After spending some time with her Caroline and I walked from Stone Hall over to Beering Hall of Liberal Arts. Here we had our follow up meeting from our study abroad trip to Dubai and Oman over winter break. The meeting lasted for about two hours, as we went over what we enjoyed the most, what we liked the least, and what improvements could be made for the future trips. I went ahead and posted some pictures just so you could see some of the highlights! That’s all for now!

Me in front of the tallest building in the world, Burj Dubai

A view of Burj Al Arab from one of the hotel tours.

Caroline with a view of the Oman Mountains in the background