Flowers of Paradise

Ah, the post you’ve all… well, perhaps you haven’t been waiting for it, but I’ve been planning it for a long time so it feels like you’ve been waiting for it. If that makes any sense.

I’ve been realizing my sad ignorance concerning trails around Paradise – I’ve become so accustomed to traveling to snow-free places to hike, that now that the snow up here has melted and the customers are asking “where does this trail go?” “how long will it take to hike this trail?” I have no answer but “uhhhh… ask the all-knowing rangers!”

By the way our nickname for the rangers is Power Rangers. I thought you should know.

Continuing on: So this Monday I set out to explore the nearby trails. I hiked up to Myrtle Falls (a mere half mile from my dorm!), continued on the Skyline Trail, then traveled down to the Loop Road, continued along the Loop Road until I reached the main road, where I waited until the employee shuttle came by.

Insert Map:

I didn’t even think about how I could have hiked back on that trail that goes straight from Paradise River to Paradise Inn, until I made this map… Oh well.

So yes, that was my marvelous Monday hike.

But what I really mean to post about, and what the title and first paragraphs refer to, is the wildflowers! They’re not as plentiful this year (from what I’ve heard), but if you keep your eyes open they’re everywhere. I’ve taken pictures of as many different kinds as I can find nearby, here they are:

Supalpine Daisy

 

 

I’ve labeled these best I can with my wildflower brochure… click on any photo to see it larger.

Sitka Valarian

Broadleaf Arnica

Rosy Spirea

Paintbrush

Alpine Aster

Subalpine Buttercup

 

 

You wouldn’t think of flowers as moving objects, but with the wind that day, they were!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cascade Huckleberry

These beautiful green plants are everywhere!

Break from flowers - it's a marmot!

Myrtle Falls

And back to wildflowers... these are "Pasqueflowers"

Spreading Phlox

Avalanche Lily

Jeffrey Shooting Stars

 

That’s all the flowers I’ve captured so far, hope you enjoyed my show of my photography skills & Paradise’s beauty.

Pinnacle

This Tuesday, there was the odd coincidence that both my roommate, Katie, and I, had the same day off – this hasn’t happened since we first arrived! So we seized the opportunity and planned a hike.

On the morning of the said day, I woke up and looked out the window to a thick blanket of fog. It had been hanging around since yesterday and we had been optimistically hoping it would disappear… but since it was still there, I thought of other things we could do. Go to town… pick up a meal at a restaurant… go home! My home is three hours away, but I calculated it in my mind and decided we would have enough time to enjoy a home-cooked meal, which of course would be well worth the 6 hours of driving and gas $$.

When my roommate woke up, though, she was undaunted. And we ended up having a marvelous adventure.
We set our sights on Pinnacle Peak – which is a part of the Tatoosh Range that I can see from my window every morning, every night – right now as I type.

The view out my window - The Castle is on the left, Pinnacle to the right. We hiked to the saddle in between them

While it’s possible to start on road to Ohanapecosh, across from the Reflection Lakes, we choose to start right at Paradise – hike to the Lakes, then to Pinnacle. The hike across the valley was short and easy, and we reached the road quickly. We then took our lunch break in an awesome location – under a bridge!

Hike to Pinnacle Peak

The river flowed on one side of the bridge, leaving the rocks on the other side dry and perfect for us to perch on and eat our sandwiches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bridge over the Paradise River

Under the bridge

 After lunch we continued on… and proceeded to lose the trail. Well not really lose it, we just couldn’t find it… We knew it started somewhere along the road, but there were no signs and nothing that looked like it could be the trailhead. My dad gave me a topographic map of the park, so we used that to slowly eliminate & figure out where the trail would start – and my roommate finally spotted it.

These signs would be much more helpful if there was also a "Right Way" sign...

 

Katie found the trail! =)

The whole trail was in snow (it’s almost August now, ridiculous!!), so we… well, not exactly lost the trail… but forged our own. It was actually rather neat to use the topographic map to figure out where we were and where we were going. We did find the trail several times, and always had the mountains to orient ourselves.

We reached the lakes!

 

 

The Reflection Lakes are supposed to have a beautiful reflection of Mount Rainier on sunny days, but they’re still too covered with snow…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the Reflection Lakes we set out on the climb to Pinnacle Peak. The hike to the lakes had already sapped our energy, though, so we climbed pretty slowly and took frequent breaks. What had started out as a foggy day ended up slightly clearing, and the sun made a few appearances.

Reflection Lakes

 

You probably don’t believe me that the sun came out, eh? :)

These photos might as well be balck and white!

 

 

 

 

It got pretty steep near the end, and we climbed with hands and feet several times. Finally we reached the top of a tall hill and perched on some rocks and called that good (since we didn’t really know where the “end of the hike” was). Castle was to one side, Pinnacle to the other.

Castle and Pinnacle, up close

 

Pinnacle!

The view from the top - but let's zoom in closer!

And closer...

oooh look, buildings!

the Visitor Center at Paradise, where I work!

On the way back down we glissaded since it was so steep – glissading saved a lot of time, too. It was different than at Muir, since there weren’t chutes that many people had taken, and we had to be careful not to run into trees or rocks. Katie had never glissaded before so she was nervous (but then again, she’s also paranoid that I’m going to kill her while sleep walking…). We went slow and she only lost control at one part but stopped herself in time. Really I think she had a lot of fun cause she wanted to slide down every little hill from then on.

We reached the lakes again quickly and our jeans were soaking wet (yes, we went hiking in jeans…). We didn’t want to hike back the same way we had come for fear of getting lost again – it was later in the day and we were tired by now. Sooo we waited til a car drove by and Katie stuck out her thumb! For the first time! This nice lady from Belgium was kind enough to give us a ride back to Paradise – we carefully sat on our coats so as not to get her carseats wet. All in all it was a successful first hitchhiking experience, and cut 2-3 miles of walking back.

And of course getting back… one of the best parts of hiking, especially hiking in the snow. We got our cups of hot coco, changed into dry clothes, and watched a movie. Excellent ending to an adventurous day.

Thanks for reading, more pictures on my Facebook!

Sarah

 

Lost

Our internet’s been going down, and whenever it does work I end up checking my email, Facebook, taking care of my Travian village…. you know, all those important things. And then by the time I get around to my blog the internet’s down again.

So this is a post I started a week ago now…

On Thursday, our cashier Steve had a day off and went for a hike. The next day, he hadn’t come home that night and no one had seen him… they started the search and by the next day, Saturday, we were pretty worried! While I worked I thought of him… I was cashiering, and all of his words of advice he had given ran through my head. When I saw little kids, I thought of him because he loves to make faces at the younger children.

Praise the Lord, on Saturday afternoon they found him. The tension that had been in our cafe was released and a new feeling of joy flooded in. We kept saying to each other – “I’m so glad Steve is okay!” and “I can’t wait to hear his story!”

As it turned out he had been hiking from Rampart Ridge to Comet Falls – some of my friends just did that hike a few days before he did, or at least tried to. They lost the trail in the snow several times, and I saw their videos – sometimes they were walking on a steep slope that dropped quite a ways down.

Steve spent two nights outside, having broken his ankle and fallen into a ravine. He either landed in or crawled to a tree well, where he was protected from the wind and elements somewhat, but where the heat sensors from the helicopters couldn’t detect him. He packed smart and came away with only his broken ankle, a broken rib, and hypothermia. WOW. Praise God!

Being made in God’s image, the feelings we experience are feelings that God experiences also. In Luke 15 Jesus talks about that wonderful feeling after you’ve found something that was lost. He gives three examples -

A man with 100 sheep, who loses one.

A woman who loses one silver coin of ten.

And a man who joyfully welcomes back his son who has grossly insulted him, and returns broke, to work as a servant.

In all of these stories, there is something that is safe and secure, and there is something that is lost. There are 99 sheep, safe in the pen. There are 9 coins, still sitting where the woman left them. There is a son who never left his father, never stopping working for his father’s business.

Luke 15…29 He answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. ³⁰ But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’
³¹ “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. ³² It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’”

I can see why the brother would get mad – I would be pretty mad too, if I were in his shoes. But I’m also glad  God is so concerned with the lost… because I’m pretty sure none of us can say we’re always secure at home, like the safe sheep, and coins, and dutiful son. Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love… We can make a fuss over how many people were out there searching for Steve – but if I were him, I would want everyone and their cousin looking for me, too.

And that’s what God does. He pursues.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow (Hebrew word radaph - to run after (usually with hostile intent; figuratively (of time) gone by) — chase, put to flight, follow (after, on), hunt, (be under) persecute(-ion, -or), pursue) me all the days of my life.”

I’m so glad God’s nature is different than ours. We give up on people, break promises, and are unconstant. God, however, is faithful and trustworthy, and will not give up on us.

For thus says the Lord GOD: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day… I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment.”

-Ezekiel 34

 

“My people have been lost sheep.
Their shepherds have led them astray;
They have turned them away on the mountains.
They have gone from mountain to hill;
They have forgotten their resting place.
“ The children of Israel were oppressed,
Along with the children of Judah;
All who took them captive have held them fast;
They have refused to let them go.
Their Redeemer is strong;
The LORD of hosts is His name.
He will thoroughly plead their case,
That He may give rest to the land,
And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
-Jeremiah 50

 

“For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.”
-Matthew 18:11

 

The next time you find something you thought you had lost (or knew you had lost!), savor that wonderful feeling, and know that that’s what God feels when you choose to call Him Father, and return into His arms. For your return He throws a feast and parties.

If you walk away from God, and if you stop and choose to turn around, you have but to take a step – God will run the rest of the way to take you back into His arms.

Eagle Peak Hike

Not much to say about this hike – on Monday I was going to go to Comet Falls but that’ll have to wait ’til later in the year as there’s still too much snow. This hike is simple to find – at Longmire you walk through the employee housing area, walk across the bridge, and the hike heads up and off to your left. The trail goes up to Eagle Peak “Saddle”, where there’s supposedly a good view, but the trail is only snow-free for about the first 2 miles.
It seems rather silly to stop when the snow starts, as Camp Muir was entirely snow, but this snow is hard-packed, difficult & dangerous to walk on.
So I walked about 2 miles uphill, the way down went rather fast, of course. I took my iPod with me for the first time on a hike and listened to Newsies, then a Duvall Church sermon. Worked marvelously.
And that was about it – a small, uneventful hike. Insert pictures, duh duh dun daaaahhh!

Camp Muir

Wow, time has been passing so oddly… quickly, yet so slow. In a few days I’ll have been here for a month.

Some friends came to visit me on Thursday… I was working that day but knew one of my friends, Lauren, would be coming by in the afternoon. I kept an eye out for her and around 3 was worried and just about to call her…. when there they were, not one friend, but two! Oh what a marvelous surprise…

They entertained themselves in the snow and were half-asleep by the fire in the Inn when I got off work. (they agreed that in the Paradise Inn at night, when the piano man was playing and the fire was going, was the best place to be EVAH! )

That night we played games with my roomie and neighbors (Crazy Rummy, just in case you were curious – and I whooped everyone, just in case you wanted to know…), and the three of us spent the night in the car, which was fantastic. We sung Disney songs and talked ’til after midnight. Proverbs is right – “Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred.” A night with two friends in a car is so much better than a night at the Ritz all alone.

The next morning we slept in and woke up to a beautiful, clear, gorgeous day. We officially decided to hike to Camp Muir, and after picking up some sack lunches from the employee dining room, set off. At 10:40 am just in case you wanted to know.

Insert postcard pictures:

 

As you can tell, it was a beautiful day. I’m convinced our timing was truly perfect, as some people I talked to just today said the snow is getting softer – only a few days can make a difference.

When we headed out, we stepped on the snow right outside the visitor center (I’ve never really known before where the people were hiking to up there before…) and walked up and up and up until… Muir! Yep, that’s pretty much what happened, over the next 6 hours. We took a break for lunch and small breaks every time we crested a hill.

Here’s the times, about:

Left – 10:40am

Reached Muir – 4:20pm

Left Muir – 5pm

Got back – 7:30pm

I’m still amazed I made it without fainting or dying or some other serious some-such occurring… The fact that I climbed 4000+ feet that well, I can only attribute to my friend’s talent at setting a good, steady pace that I could keep up with.

Ah, it was a good day. After we reached Muir, we enjoyed the view for a good time before preparing to head back down.

On the way down the “hill”, I was introduced to “glissading” – a hiker/climber’s term for basically sliding on your bum down the snow. What fun! I was pitiful on the flatter inclines, but on the steep hills, man what a ride! Why had I never heard of this before?? Definitely some exhilarating rides… if my camera had been waterproof I would have taken you down one of the chutes with me.

I felt like my friends had no sooner arrived than they left… wow did time fly. It was so wonderful to see familiar, beloved faces, though, and to spend time with them… to accomplish something together.

Isn’t life grand?

Church and a Hike

So this week I had Friday off, and I thought I had Saturday as well, since that’s what I had last time (They usually give employees regular days off). But as it turns out, when I came into the cafe around noon for lunch, I was working that day! I ended up being only an hour late and worked hard as it was busy… And now I have Sunday and Monday off – which will be my new regular days off. My boss, Mary, changed them because she knew I would be going to church. So sweet of her!

So day off, one day of work, day off, day off. What am I to do with myself with all that free time?? I already posted my pictures from the hike I did on Friday, here’s what happened today (Sunday):

Once I found out I had the day off, I knocked on my neighbor’s door, Kayla. She came with the Christian ministries in the parks (www.acmnp.com), along with a guy named Lee. They were actually the first people I met when I came. She was super excited when I told her I could come.

So the next morning I got up before seven (earliest I’ve woken up in a while… I’m sure my family’s smirking at that, but hey, I see no reason to wake up early if I don’t need to. ), headed over for breakfast, and picked up my sack lunch from the cafeteria. We can arrange for one sack lunch a week, and take it hiking or wherever. And it’s free! (Which it better be as we’re paying for meals…) Sweet deal.

I drove with Kayla, Lee, Courtney (Kayla’s roomie), and Gene (who works in the kitchens) to Ohanapecosh (try remembering that name five minutes later!). It took about 40 minutes to drive to… beautiful drive though, along one mountain ridge, slipping across the valley, then back along another mountain ridge. It was a clear, sunny day, so we had great views of Mount Rainier along the way. There were waterfalls everywhere along the road – almost got a car wash a couple times.

Once we reached Ohanapecosh and met up with Vince and Kristy – a couple that are in charge of the ministry at Mt. Rainier NP, I believe – we went to the amphitheater which was outside (gaspeth!) and a fairly good size. A good amount of people showed up too, I think about 17 others, not including us. They came from the campground nearby and the ranger station. It was a small church service, with a few songs and prayers, then Vince  talked for a while about Genesis 1.

It was great talking with the people afterwards.

Annnnd then we went for a hike! The seven of us – Vince, Kristy, Lee, Kayla, Gene, Courtney, and me! We walked up to Grove of the Patriarchs and then back. On the way we passed Silver Falls – BEAUTIFUL waterfall. Mesmerizing to watch.

Silver Falls

Pictures just don’t do it justice – cliche but true. I’ve never seen another waterfall where you could see so many individual water drops as they sprayed into the air and fell. This waterfall was fast, almost violent, sending some water shooting into the air after they hit the bottom. Beautiful.

Bridge we crossed on the way – awesome, yes? Only one person could cross at a time. It swayed and bounced in an odd but cool way as you walked.

All of us. =)

My Sack Lunch

And of course my lunch. Just to show you how amazing it was!

Most of the rest of the day I spent in Paradise Inn, reading Donald Miller, people-watching, and listening to piano music. They have a piano player who is there about 5-8 every day, so wonderful to sit and listen to… When I came in tonight he was playing “I Could Have Danced All Night” from My Fair Lady.

 

Here’s the link to my pictures:

https://picasaweb.google.com/113953510817426936065/Jun5GroveOfThePatriarchs?authkey=Gv1sRgCJmm9KHisey20wE&feat=directlink

Sunshine

Everyone here agrees that today was the best weather since the beginning of May. It was gorgeously clear and sunny… annnd it was my day off!

I ended up spending a lot of the day waiting, which is fine with me, as what I really wanted to do all day was spend time with God, and I can do that if I’m hiking or sitting waiting for the shuttle, I just wanted time alone  with God.

The past few days of work had kind of drained me… we took inventory on the last day of the month, and I made some (innocent) mistakes, and… yeah, we’ll just leave it at that they were draining. So I was entirely ready to enjoy my days off.

After breakfast and brushing my teeth and all that awesome stuff that’s good for you, I headed to the employee cafeteria to find I had missed the 10:15 shuttle and the next one left at noon. So I wandered around Paradise and actually took some pictures of it *gaspeth!*. Here they are:

The back of Paradise Inn – these would be the rooms where the guests stay.

Upstairs in PI. It’s a wonderfully beautiful building. The floors creak up here cause they’re old – how awesome is THAT! =D

The beautiful lanterns they use for lighting. Like in “Tangled”! =)

Where they burn the large pile of firewood. It wasn’t going today, though, I guess because it was warm…?

Paradise Inn! Note the large pile of firewood. =) And the steeply sloped roof, for shedding snow easily.

The parking lot – so interesting! :)

This is the path to Guidehouse, where I and most of the girls working here stay.

Enjoy this picture, because I hiked up a mound of snow to take it. This is the view from behind Paradise Inn.

I loved the shadows of the trees on the hill.

I don’t remember the name of this mountain… but it sure was pretty today! =)

After that wonderful time of taking pictures, lying on my back feeling the glorious sun, praying, reading my Bible, eating lunch, the shuttle finally left at noon.

I got dropped off (by request, not because I was such a troublemaker ) at Cougar Rock Campground. There’s a trail that runs from there down to Longmire. It also goes up to Paradise, passing by several waterfalls on the way, but I’ll wait to hike that ’til the snow has melted a bit more.

I hiked slow – oh it was such a beautiful day. I love how I had the trail to myself, too, except for the very few hikers/joggers that passed. The trail did follow the road, but I either wasn’t paying attention, or not that many cars passed by, because I didn’t hear them very often. The river was on my left, though, and I could hear that all the time. Also heard a woodpecker but couldn’t find it in the trees…

Here’s some more pictures:

Straight ahead, Mr. Lancey!

“The road goes ever on and on…”

I loved how this branch coming out of a fallen log twisted

I want to build a house around this tree. A big house – with the tree right in the middle!

This picture came out dark, but I like it…

Orange globular stuff by the side of the trail that I found interesting enough to take a picture of

This grass was bizarre and seemed very out of place in the forest

These little green plants were everywhere – and very beautifully delicate and new! =)

Also love the shadows in this picture

So tiny!! I took a bunch of “tiny” pictures, so be prepared. :)

When I reached Longmire I walked past the employee buildings to the river…

All in all, great hike, great time by myself.

 

P.S. How’s this gallery thing working?

Rampart Ridge Hike

I took this picture this morning, to show how the parking lot's filling up (even with the bad weather, it's still Memorial Day Weekend)

Today I took the shuttle down to Longmire at noon and set off on the Trail of Shadows again. Halfway around its loop, another trail heads off and up that mountain (Rampart Ridge Trail), so I took that today.

I hiked for about an hour uphill all the way (stopping frequently to catch my breath and lament how soft I’ve grown over the winter ). Then I started to hit the snow, and stopped for a while. I spread my coat over a log and sat munching on my GORP. (I also looked up the story of Jonathan and his armorbearer climbing up the cliff and defeating the Philistines as that story popped into my head as I was huffing and puffing up the mountain). I couldn’t decide whether to continue – in my tennis shoes, and risk losing the trail in the snow – or whether to head back down. But I decided to keep going, and am very glad I did.
I caught up with a hiker named Rick from Oregon, and we hiked the rest of the way together. I love meeting people from everywhere, and getting to know who they are. Rick and I hiked through the snow for a while until we reached the viewpoint – which was not much of a viewpoint as it was so foggy!

I’m trying out a gallery in this post, let me know what you think. You can click each picture to see it larger:

I took this picture this morning, to show how the parking lot’s filling up (even with the bad weather, it’s still Memorial Day Weekend)

Longmire from the Ridge

We saw a couple birds on the hike, they were amazingly bold and let us get rather close.

We kept hiking through the snow for about another mile and a half before the trail headed back down the hill. The snow was very high but packed hard from so many hikers – it was an odd feeling to be walking on the snow and come along a hole – to lean over and look down and find you were about 2-5 feet above the ground!

I ended up with shoes full of water and jeans wet halfway to the knees, but I’m glad I kept going. It was a good hike – more than 5 miles in all. I’ll go back in July or so and see how it looks when the snow’s gone!

More “firsts”… First hike on my First day off!

I had my first day off today, so after breakfast (french toast, in case you wanted to know) and computer work, I went to wait outside the employee dining room for the shuttle. We have two vans that drive up and down the mountain and take employees for free – they’ll even drop you off at hike trailheads along the way, and stop to pick you up when you emerge back onto the road.

So I stop outside to wait for the van. It was snowing, and with my head down I watched it fall. If you didn’t think I was weird before, you will now. Watching that snow fall was the coolest thing… The wind would catch it and swirl it in patterns. Like when the blossoms formed into a person in the second Narnia movie… you almost expected a face to form and laugh at you. This snow disappeared as soon as it landed on the ground, disappeared… And if it blew just right, fast and straight down, it felt like you were in space, flying through the stars.

Yeah. Like I told you, you think I’m crazy now. But it was cool.

Anyhow, a friend (Trish) decided to join me on the ride down to Longmire, and we did the short hike, Trail of Shadows. And then we rode the shuttle down to Ashford and back up, but that’s okay, it’s such a beautiful ride… Even though it’s foggy up at Paradise, it’s fairly clear down below, and the view along the whole way is beautiful.

I thought the pictures I took wouldn’t be that interesting, but looking back I realized… you can’t really take a boring picture near Mount Rainier. So here they are, pictures from my first (albeit short) hike here:

I was trying to get the reflection of the sky in this photo... the skunk cabbage was everywhere! I'm not really bothered by the smell though, and I think they're quite pretty.

This color is from the hot springs in the area. A Mr. Longmire "discovered" them over a hundred years ago, thought, "ha ha, cha-ching!" and started visitors heading up here to improve their health in the hot springs.

More colors from hot springs... Isn't God amazing?

I liked the colors of this stump.

My friend and co-worker Trish taking a picture of the stump

Do I know the name of this mountain? Mmm... nope!

My camera has a “miniature mode” that’s fun to play around with:

 

 

This is National Park Inn, I believe...

 

 

And here’s some more pictures I’ve taken from my window these last couple nights, just to show how amazingly different the mountains can look…

Right now the sun is coming out… so there’s hope this snow will melt. Tomorrow is another day off before I get back to work, so I’m going to work on school, than take a longer hike.

TTFN!

Sarah

It’s Official!! (no, I’m not engaged!)

I’ve been waiting to hear back from the authorities that be, and finally know for sure – I’m going to work at Mount Rainier during the summer!!

I applied to several parks on a whim, more than a month ago… not really expecting to hear back from any of them. But lo and behold, I was contacted first by Glacier National Park, in Montana, then Mount Rainier, right here in my home state. I decided to take the Mount Rainier job as it’ll be less driving – I have to drive home for a while in August for a friend’s wedding. I’ll be working in a cafe up there for about 40 hours a week.

I still have an online class until mid-June, so I’ll have to juggle that, but overall I’m soooo excited!!! I’m going to buy a camera and hopefully (depending on the wi-fi there) keep you all updated on this blog, with pictures and tales of my adventures. I’ll get a few days off each week, which I plan to fill with hiking and overall enjoying God’s beautiful creation.

Isn't this mountain just beautiful??!

I might discover I don’t like hiking that much, ha ha, I’ve never hiked that much before. Almost all of the other employees will be there to enjoy the outdoors, too, so I’m praying God will give me some great hiking buddies and some good friends to hang out with.

I can’t tell you how excited I am! It’s a big step and there’s a lot of unknowns… and I won’t see my friends for about 4 months… but I’m pumped. It’s going to be great.

Keep you updated!

Sarah