Falling way behind on updating: Weeks 3 and 4

Bulletproof vests and Christina's Cafe: only in Butte
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Happybelated Fourth of July!

Of course I'm behind in my updates. But also, of course, I have an excuse! My charger/adapter for my computer is frayed and I'm awaiting a new one in the mail. Thankfully there are several other people here at the ranch with the same computer so it's not too hard to find a charger to use for an hour or so . . .

I can't believe I'm in my fifth week of being here - at the end of the week, I'll be on the downhill-slope of my time at the ranch. It truly has gone by unexpectedly fast. The first interns ending their 10-week stints start leaving this coming weekend; after that, there will be people leaving every weekend until the end of the summer.

more lookouts
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The weather is getting warmer out here, but I still haven't made it into the lake - although there were quite a few people out in the water last Friday perfecting 4th of July activities (lake swimming, BBQ, lots of frolicking in the outdoors, American flags, patriotic music wafting from the house of the PVS president . . . .).

I've moved from the KeyVotes department into media, where I work full-time on the new PVS Public Service Announcements; calling, e-mailing, writing letters, drinking coffee. It's actually been pretty fun; it's especially fun when you are talking to someone in South Carolina one moment and the next someone in Nevada, and you can't remember if it's morning or afternoon in the state you're contacting. Last week, when it was discovered that Obama was going to be in Montana for the 4th of July, I was placed on full-fledged "find out Obama's schedule while he's in Montana" duty, as we wanted to try to reach the national media that might be in the state while traveling with the Senator. Well, I knew the moment I was told my new mission it was going to be Mission:Impossible. And, as expected, after talking to people in the national campaign office, offices in Montana, the Associated Press, other contacts -  nothing. I was continually shuffled to a different number and a different office. Everyone I talked to said there was nothing on the calendar for Obama for Friday the 4th, even though I had read it was confirmed through an Obama spokesperson in several papers. So I called the AP office in Montana to speak to the person who had gotten the quote from the Obama camp - meanwhile, as I'm calling the AP, the Obama spokesperson quoted in the articles I'd read calls to speak to me (I'd left a message) and tells my boss the reports were premature (even though he was the one who had confirmed it). Aha! So while no satisfaction actually finding out anything about Obama's whereabouts, I was pretty intrigued by the little inconsistency I'd found in different reports. And, in the end, the initial rumors were in fact premature and Obama ended up with a slightly different schedule (parade watching and picnicking) than what was originally anticipated.

after shaking Barack Obama's hand (and asking him to fill out Project Vote Smart's Political Courage Test)
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Probably the most interesting part of the Obama situation, is that my supervisor wanted me, along with some others, to go to Butte (where Obama was going to be) to try to talk to some media about our organization. Obama was going to be watching Butte's Fourth of July parade before heading off to a picnic. So, a group of us went. We got to talk to some media, etc., but the crazy thing was - we got to see/shake hands with Obama (in a very nonpartisan way, of course)!!!!!!! It was completely unexpected; Obama was watching the parade, and we went through the security gates to get into the area thinking, "oh, let's see if we can get a glimpse of him". Sure enough, there he was watching the parade with his family in a small grandstand area. There were plenty of Secret Service men around, plus snipers/lookouts on the buildings (which was funny, the buildings were 1 or 2 story; one building had a sign for a cute little local cafe and above the sign you see this man on the roof dressed in black with a bullet-proof vest and binoculars). I have to say I'm somewhat fascinated with all the stuff that goes on around a presidential candidate; the secret service, the snipers, the media that travels with them; the intensity of the situation is just - OUTRAGEOUS! And it's fun to get wrapped up in the excitement of it all. So, before Obama left for the picnic he walked around and shook hands with people who were watching the parade from inside the security gates; of course there were two security guys walking in front of him, two behind, plus a slow-moving SUV that inched along next to him, with the passenger side doors open (for a quick escape!).

Where I spend 8 hours a day Monday through Friday (at least I have a window!)
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The unfortunate part of our adventure - we arrived a little late to the parade and when we got there the national media had already been shuffled away . . . .. Ah-ohhh. However, we did make contact with some radio media, and I have made a few e-mail/phone call contacts, so it seems like the mission will amount to something in the end after all!

Speaking of going to Butte, I've been able to get off the ranch several times to go into nearby towns; Philipsburg and Anaconda are the two closest towns; it takes about 45 minutes to get into Pburg (as we affectionately call it here) and an hour or so to make it to Acon (more affections). Pburg is more like a street with a few neighboring streets than an actual town - there isn't even a drugstore. If you want to go to the CVS, plan on an outing to Acon! Butte is a little larger and 1.5 hours away, a little ways past Acon, and really doesn't seem that far away when it takes an hour to get to Acon anyway. Missoula is 2 hours away, in the direction of Philipsburg; probably my favorite town that I've visited here so far. It's got that collegey-town feel that reminds me a lot of Bloomington, with lots of little shops and restaurants, a movie theatre (which is a rarity here; there's a movie theatre in Acon, but it only shows one movie a week), and a TARGET! Yay! I've also been to Bozeman, but only to camp on the way to Yellowstone and eat dinner on the way back from Yellowstone - not too much of a visit. It's also got the college town feel, like Missoula, as it's the home for Montana State University (University of Montana is in Missoula).

Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone
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Speaking of traveling, two weekends ago a group of us took a trip to Yellowstone -  which was incredible! I hadn't been there since I was young with the fam and it was good to go back and revisit things that I (vaguely) remembered. We also camped out by Mallard Lake, in the park, about a 3.5 mile hike into the backcountry from Old Faithful. I've done a little bit of hiking and camping over the years, but I was a little worried to camp in the backcountry, A.K.A Bear Country (or, perhaps without affections, CONSTANT PANIC ATTACK Country). Out of our group of nine we had some experienced campers - one guy, Travis, actually spent a summer living and working in Yellowstone; another, Zach, worked at a camp near Glacier National Park where he led backpacking trips. So, needless to say, I felt pretty comfortable that some of my companions had some knowledge of camping near bears (plus I read and re-read Yellowstone's "Bear Country" guide several times, just in case I did encounter one and I had to prep for a bear attack . . . yikes)  Hiking out to our campsite was alot of fun, traveling with all our gear, and then the sigh of relief to make it to the lake - the mosquitoes, however, were absolutely insane! I rarely have problems with mosquitoes (knock on wood for the future) but I had to pull out all stops - in total, I had a complete outfit of long sleeves; sweatshirt hood pulled up; a baseball cap; a bandana that I had around my neck, pulled up over my nose; and sunglasses. You couldn't see my face at all . . . . only my hands were easy targets for blood-sucking creatures! In general, we headed out to our campsite pretty early, around 5 pm after watching Old Faithful, and were pretty exhausted when we got there since we'd been traipsing around the park for most of the day already. It was nice to make a fire and relax, cook polish sausages and s'mores, and talk around the campfire for a few hours (it's hard to beat the fun of sitting around a campfire, talking). Before we went to sleep we had to hang up all of our food, toothpaste, deodorant, and anything fragrant in a "bear bag" (a fancy name for our black garbage bag) and dangle it over this huge log suspension in the air in order to keep the bears away from our tents. We also made sure to change out of the clothes we had been cooking meat in and left them away from our tent. Especially after seeing a bear once near the ranch, I have no desire to run into one again, so I was thankful when we woke up the next morning and all of our stuff was intact (plus we were all still alive - always a good sign . . . ). The hike back towards the main part of the park went a little easier than getting to our campsites. It's interesting to get off the main drive of the park and hike because you get to see a lot more of the damage from the fire that occurred in 1988. Even from the main road you can still see a lot of the destruction, but when hiking through the woods its amazing to see all the dead trees up close and just how many there are. The east side of the park looks completely different; looking out east driving from Yellowstone Lake to the top of the park, it's green and luscious with little damage that you can tell. We covered a lot of ground in 2 days, starting at the North entrance in Montana. We stopped at Mammoth Hot Springs, the Norris Geyser Basin (where the largest geyser in the world is located, Steamboat Geyser, which last blew in 2005 . . . I asked a ranger, who ironically had her first day of work at Yellowstone the same day the geyser went off, what it was like - basically the earth shook and mist from the geyser sprayed for a few miles. wow), Old Faithful, Kepler Cascades, Mud Volcanoes (there a flesh-eating lake in this area, no joke), Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Tower Falls, and the Petrified Tree (I really wanted to see the tree, and I think everyone was delirious and ready to leave the park, but decided to humor me by going to the tree, and then we were so tired and giddy we devised a raucous plan to remove the tree from the park . . .). We got to take a beautiful drive by Yellowstone Lake - and I mean beautiful. Gorgeous. On the opposite side of the lake from where we drove stood a HUGE range of snow-capped mountains, reflections glistening off the water.

Mallard Lake, where we camped in Yellowstone
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Since it's been so long since I've written, there's plenty more to tell, but I'll save it for another time since I've completely exhausted this post.

If anyone would like to receive a postcard in the meantime - shoot me an e-mail (sarah@votesmart.org) with your address and I'd be happy to send one!

Have a great weekend . . . see you on the downside :)