After farming the 3 generation family farm for 30 years, and working for the State of Kansas until 1987, my husband and I bought a used 28 ft. 5th wheel recreational vehicle upon retirement, hooked it behind the truck, and headed out. Yellowstone National Park was advertising on television that they were celebrating their 125th anniversary, and we were able to get jobs at Hamilton Stores in the park for the summer, although there were many other places to work as well. We worked with Texas and Arizona people that close up their homes when it starts getting HOT and head north where it never gets above 80 degrees with low humidity. Working morning or afternoon shifts 5 days a week left us with lots of time to spend with the animals. What a thrill. I had been there a day once on vacation, but never dreamed it could be like what we were able to see from June to Sept. 18th. We drove in with the last snow and left with the 1st, on the mountains in the distance. Yellowstone Lake is noted for its Cutthroat Trout and they were jumping up the falls (like salmon) in Yellowstone River heading for the lake. Mornings and evenings grizzly bears were easy to see as they cleaned up the winter kill of the vast herds of buffalo and elk. Moose, black bears, and wolves were some of the other animals we were able to see when we learned the areas in the park they inhabit. By July 1st, when the human crowds start coming, the bears head for the high country and are very seldom seen until the end of August when they come down again. The valley, with all the geysers and water that doesn't freeze, makes a perfect place for them to spend the winter. I worked at the jewelry counter by the door, however, not a lot of people come to Yellowstone to buy jewelry. So I could talk to people as they came in and found out where they were from. If it was another state up north, I'd ask where they would recommend spending the summer working part time. When we quit working up north in the summer and down south in the winter, we had traveled all over the United States. By working with a lot of the local people, they would tell us places to go and things to do we would never have known about as tourists. Whenever we had days off we would make day trips to see all of the area we could while we were there. I thought I'd share some of the places we worked at and things we did this dull old month of January, and get you thinking of where you want to go for a vacation in 2009. If you are retired and think maybe you would like to work part time in a new area, this is the time to send your resume to them for a summer job. Yellowstone and some other larger parks provide housing for their employees, or a spot in their campground. Hope you enjoy hearing about our travels.      Jeanette

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