Trees and Travels

     In the last few weeks, I filled out applications for a summer job at around 20 establishments in or around national parks. I received emails from 10 of them requesting a phone or Skype interview. There were only three interviews that I actually did. All three offered me a job. It came down to figuring out how my boyfriend and I could both get jobs at the same place, and several other factors in deciding which job to take. Out of the three locations, two of them also offered my boyfriend a job (he had contact with some places that never called me as well), Two of the places are right at the entrance of Denali National Park in Alaska, and the third is in Yellowstone. If you read my  last post  about this topic, you can probably predict our decision... We're Going to Alaska!      I'm going to be working at Denali Gift Companies . I'm not going to go too much into detail about the job itself, but here is some  job information  that ...

     Anybody who knows me personally knows that I despise being trapped in the Midwest for the majority of the year. There is one particular spot that makes me forget that I reside in such a flat, boring area. Warren Dunes State Park in Michigan is the perfect nearby getaway spot for people in the northern Midwest who wish that they were somewhere else. About the Park      Warren Dunes is run by the  Michigan DNR . The park has a few miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, trails, camping, and a giant sand dune. There are towns nearby for any of your needs. A nominal fee is charged per car, which is pretty standard for most state and national parks.      Camping      Camping is $22 per night for a basic non-electric campsite, and of course, a bit more for electric hookups. I have only been camping here once and stayed three nights. The campground is not on the water and is a little bit farther away than ideal. It's within...

     A new endeavor has recently risen in my life. It's not an entirely new idea to me, but it seems far more attainable and realistic than before. This new adventure would involve my boyfriend and me working in one of the many national parks in the U.S. for the summer. A Goal Reborn Angel's Landing, Zion National Park, 2014      Before the beginning of my last year of college, I realized that a career that I could truly imagine myself having would be a job as a park ranger. After I graduated with an only slightly related degree in elementary education, I put in applications at national parks. I found these jobs on  USAjobs.gov . Some of the listings required training that I didn't have. There were some ranger jobs that I qualified for due to my related coursework from college (mostly my science credits). The issue is that I have no experience working in a setting even close to that of a national park. To no surprise, I never got any calls that...