Adios, montañas!

Camping in the Tetons!
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And . . .

tomorrow is my last day of work. I've been surrounded by puffy manila envelopes for the last week (drowning in an orangey-yellow bubble!) finishing up the Public Service Announcement mailings. I'm pretty pumped the PSA project I've been working on all summer will, basically, be finished by the time I leave the office tomorrow at 5pm. We are sending out between 450-500 tapes and dvds all over the country, which hopefully you'll see and/or hear.

I can't believe I am heading out for good! This whole experience reminds me a lot of Barcelona - I've gotten to know and travel with a lot of cool people, who I live, work, and do everything with; leaving the situation is bittersweet, but - as much as I love this place - I know it will never be the same if I come back because the people I spent time with here will be gone as well. It really is a special snippet in time.

perfect.
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Okay, so there are some advantages to the number of people slowly dwindling:

1) everybody can fit into the TV room to watch Olympic swimming and gymnastics!

2)quiet-lazy-after-work swimming and laying out on the dock by the lake

3) my chore this week is making lemonade and stocking food, which is way easier when there are less people around!!

at the Tetons!
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When I arrive somewhere I never think I'm going to get comfortable, and then all of sudden I'm leaving and I start to realize all the little things I started to do or feel without even thinking about it - for example, here, how sleepy and cold I always feel while waiting for coffee in the office in the morning (it is RIDICULOUSLY cold here in the morning); sinking into one of the old couches in the lodge; bouncing along Moose Lake Road in the 15 passenger van on the way to Acon or P-burg (25 minutes of twisty gravel road); swimming in the lake after work (I found out I was used to the water temp when my friends from Indiana came to visit earlier this week, and they jumped in and got right out because it was so cold, but I thought it was a good temperature); the granola bars we always eat on camping trips; the vastness of the pasture; watering baby trees; more. Hmmm.

Georgetown Lake, when the sun is starting to get low
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So tomorrow is it - a group of us is spending the night in Missoula tomorrow before various flights on Saturday, so I'll be leaving the ranch after dinner Friday night.

In other news, I found out yesterday I for sure have my position with the Department of State this fall - I've passed the beginning period of the security clearance!

So if anything, the next portion of this blog might be in D.C.  . . . . .

:)

Thanks for reading!

Photos can be found at: www.flickr.com/photos/sarahsphotostrip