Who I Am

I grew up in the mid-sized city of Portland, Oregon and if you'd told me 10 years ago that I'd live anywhere else, let alone a small town of 600 people in Southwest Montana, "laugh out loud" wouldn't come close to describing what my reaction would have been. But, here I am. It all started with a 4 month summer job at the Old Faithful Lodge in Yellowstone National Park. Initially that 4 months turned into a year, then 2, then almost 3. As a lover of snowsports, the idea of a season in a ski town pulled me away to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. While I loved my time there, and particularly my friends and family there, I never lost my love for the Greater Yellowstone area. So, August 2008 saw me pack up the Pathfinder and head back to Old Faithful for the last 2 months of the season at the Old Faithful Inn. I think you can probably guess the rest...2 months turned into a year, then 2, now we're going on 3 :o)

I love the outdoors, which is why I love it here. I am also an avid reader(my other blog is Yummy Yummy Reads) like to knit and crochet, snowboard, rock climb, cross country ski, see live music, pretend I know anything about taking good pictures, stare at the stars, drink wine from the bottle, eat Ben and Jerry's straight from the pint, and my idea of a perfect Sunday is a rainy day in my pj's with a big mug of hot chocolate and a porch to sit and smell the rain.

I now live in the small gateway community of Gardiner, Montana, located at the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park, where I work in Group Sales for the park concessionaire. The year-round population is less than 1,000, our grocery store is about the size of a large city's 7-11, the winters are slow, cold and quiet; the summers are short, hot and loud. We regularly have to drive around bison, deer, elk and nameless other wild animals who choose the path of least resistance and walk right down main street. It's a world that most people find unbelievable until they have seen it for themselves. We don't have a movie theater, the bank closes at 3pm, a good portion of us still have dial up internet, 3G may as well be a foreign language, and most of the live music we see is local garage bands(not that they're not great!). It definitely takes some getting used to, and it isn't for everyone. But that's why you have me....some like to talk about small town America, but this is an entirely different animal. This is small town Montana. Enjoy!