The Beginning

I've been meaning to start a blog for some time now. There's just too much going on in the world, and not to mention my life, to stay silent anymore. So, here it goes - my first post.

Right now, I'm a 24-year-old Software Engineer. I spend a lot of time driving these days as I live in Rochester, MN, but work 2-3 weeks every month from the small town of Medora, ND. Those of you who are familiar with the area will surely ask "Why?" - with good reason. There's nothing to do up here in the winter time besides take a hike outside on the rare occasion when the temperature is above freezing, hang out in one of three bars that sporadically open whenever they feel like it (except for The Knotty Pine, which is open daily and the only place in town with a TV on Superbowl Sunday), or visit the Post Office in hopes that your next Netflix movie has arrived. In fact, I get the feeling that for the local crowd, there's never much to do, as the town is so small that when I signed up to get a phone number for my apartment, I was asked, "What number do you want?". Well, I do have a one good reason to be here and have since found many more.

My husband, Nathan, is a Park Ranger and got his first winter job working in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, which is right next door to Medora. I'm lucky enough that I can work remotely and when I found out about the job AND the fact that we had access to high-speed internet, I said "sign us up"! I've been a big fan of the National Park System ever since Nathan convinced me to turn our honeymoon into a three-week trip through South Dakota to Yellowstone and Glacier National Park (where he works in the summers). I love how clean the air is in these parks, I love seeing the rare geologic and scenic features of each park, I love the feeling of the ground under my filthy hiking boots, I love seeing more than five stars in the night sky, and best of all I love seeing animals like bison, bears, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, pikas, and marmots in their natural habitats. That honeymoon trip made me realize how important the earth is to me and I love how much attention the environment is getting right now. It's about time! I'm sure you'll be hearing more about that later.

Anyway, when I found out I had the chance to live in a National Park, I couldn't pass up the opportunity and you know what, I'm loving it. It's not just living a few blocks away from a herd of bison that's amazing, it's the whole lifestyle that goes along with living out on the prairie. We have to drive 30 miles to the nearest town to get groceries or see a movie (the Cinema has 3 screens, by the way, a far cry from Rochester's 36 total). This sounds like a drag, and it can be, but food is never wasted and going into town turns into a half or entire day affair complete with the rare chance to eat at a restaurant and go bowling. We only go about every two weeks, so I'm eating better since I'm not at a restaurant every-other night! At night, there are no club meetings, no obligations, and our only chores most nights is washing the dishes by hand. These open nights (with no TV, I should mention) leave us with plenty of time to watch the complete three seasons of Arrested Development, learn about birds and mammals from Sir David Attenborough, or play a good old game of cribbage. I call this my simple life and it's about time I had one. The pressures of work, keeping our house running, and extracurriculars were driving me nuts and, although at the core of my existence I like to be busy, there can be too much of a good thing. That's why I drive back and forth between my "simple" life and my "real" life. It gives me the amazing chance to have both and I'm glad I do.