Bears!

I am back! And so is the 365 Project! I browsed through my photos the other day and noticed how perfectly it documented my entire year so far. Really didn't want to miss out on one more day, so I started it up again. June has been crazy with moving across the state and starting a new job, so taking a break from the photos was needed until I got all settled in here. But I'm am ready now! Are you?

Since we work in the Black Hills, we get these cool VIP cards which get us discounts or free admission to most of the sight-seeing, tourist-attraction, cool-stuff around here. So we drove through Bear Country yesterday. It was free and we get to come back as often as we'd like. Quite excited about that. Here are some photos of some of the "wild" animals:

Cute little sleeping wolf. Brian actually shot this photo. I don't think he meant for the subject to be out of focus, but it happened. And I actually like it. A lot.

Sleepy bear. Yesterday was pretty much the hottest day of the year, so I felt all sad for the bears and their thick fur. They looked miserable.

This guy reminds me of Chance. Hehe...It's hard for me to believe that bears kill people. They look way too cuddly to be capable of that.

Cutie-pie.

Not sure which one of these will be yesterday's photo. Got some decisions to make.

The job is going well. I'm learning a lot and improving every day. A few of the coach drivers and tour directors have complimented me on how I'm coming out of my shell and not being so shy anymore. I see the same 10 (or so) tour directors and drivers on different days, so by the end of the summer they'll be able to look back at my progress. It is exciting feeling like I'm getting better. I think this internship is really giving me some confidence in myself, which is much needed.

Heading home on Sunday for a few days. I'll get to spend my 4th of July with my family, and I could not be more excited. =D Expect tons and tons of photos next week.

Five Minutes

If you had five minutes to live, who would you call and why are you waiting?

Brave

Can you really be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you?

Letters

Has anyone seen the movie "I'm Still Here" with Joaquin Phoenix? It's pretty insane. I need to watch it again to wrap my head around it. He is one crazy actor. And by crazy, I mean crazy GOOD.

Last weeks' Too Close Tuesday shot was the little box on my bracelet. Here it is again:

And here's one of the bracelet in full. An older photo, and I like that the box is out of focus...But you get the idea.

This morning Brian had to be at work at 7:00 and I didn't have to clock in until 10:00. So I had three whole hours to waste in Keystone. I went down to the park and read in the sunlight for an hour and a half. Then I noticed how glorious the dew was on the grass. So I took some photos and then kind of went from there...Most of these are blind shot-from-the-hip photos, where I let the camera do its own thing. I just pressed the button.

Definitely gonna be returning to these shots throughout the summer. It's tough to really get down there and focus when you're wearing nice office-work clothes and can't really get them wet or dirty. Someday I will have THE perfect dewy grass photo.

Swings!

Bumblebee...There are tons of these little guys here. They're so fuzzy and adorable and I wish I could hold them. Again, will be returning to this shot. He was too quick for me today to really get a good one.

Flowers outside the 1880 Train Station

And, of course, my favorite place to sit in Keystone. Right outside Teddy's Deli (great place for lunch!) looking down the "boardwalk." Keystone is such an adorable little town. This is my daily view. Love love love it!

We went for a walk the other day and found that there's a cute little stream/river/some-form-of-running-water practically right in our backyard. Check it out:

It is pretty wonderful. Will probably be spending some afternoons there, just shooting. =)

By the end of next week I will have worked 25 days with only 4 days off. It's exhausting! Luckily, my job consists of running a cash register, giving directions, driving up and down the mountain, taking a few photos, cleaning, and talking to my awesome Canadian co-workers (and also not talking to my awesome Canadian co-workers because they sometimes have conversations in French.)

It's been good so far. Still tough being so far from home, but texting is helpful. Gotta love technology! Makes me wonder how people kept in touch back in the day. Letters? Could you imagine sending an "LOL" message to someone and having it take DAYS to reach them? Sheesh....

Fog

How about some photos for once?

Nothing too exciting. Just a couple from the first two weeks here in RC. And also a Too Close Tuesday shot, because I miss them.

First off, here's an example of what I do at work. Multiple times a day, I drive to and from Mt. Rushmore, line up a bunch of people in front of the monument, and take their picture. Wooo! Then I drive it back down the mountain, edit and print them, and drive back up the mountain to deliver them. It's a lot of driving. It's a lot of waiting. It's a lot of hoping for good weather....

Last week we had to take this group's photo and photoshop Mt. Rushmore in, since it's clearly way too foggy! So sad, because it was Steph's first time to Mt. Rushmore, and it was cold and foggy and she didn't even get to see it! (But the next day she did!)

On our way out of town. I like the sort of foggyness here. And the train tracks that lead the train to waking me up every night.

This is from yesterday, taken in the parking lot area. Ginormous dark cloud looming over Mt. Rushmore. Sort of eerie. Mostly cool.

I get pretty bored sometimes, waiting for the buses  motor coaches to show up.

Windy day. My tripod + camera almost blew away in the wind this day. I caught it and the people cheered. Hooray!

And here's today's TCT shot. Take some guesses in the comments.
(Also, I think you should know that the last TCT shot was a flower petal. Sorry it took me so long to say it. Ha!)

And, on a sad note, my 365 Project has gotten away from me. I still take a photo every day (of a tour group, if nothing else) but I've lost track of the days so bad that it will now be impossible to organize the 2 weeks' worth of photos. Maybe I'll get it back on track someday...But for now it's kind of died. My days have all been running together. I'm sorry. =(

Quick update from Starbucks in Rapid City (Love this place.)

Things are going well. Still without the internet at the apartment. Hopefully it'll be up by Thursday.

The job is going great. I get to see Mt. Rushmore SO MANY TIMES a day. It's pretty cool. And I'm becoming a pro at driving on long winding roads. Ha...Pretty great.

Missing my "normal" summer routine, but still enjoying the new one. I like not having to work evenings. It's definitely nice to just work all day and be home by 6:00. Still sad that I'm missing out on so many baseball games. Hopefully next year I'll be back home and back into normal life.

But until then - Definitely loving the scenery and somewhat nicer weather here. =)

I'll try to keep ya posted!!