Sarah

Hey there.
So I usually have Sundays and Mondays off, but the past two days I worked because it's the start of the busy season up here and the park is short-staffed... Every day or so a new seasonal ranger or intern moves into the bungalow, so soon I won't need to work overtime.

A few days ago, I posted about how liberal and down-to-earth the other rangers here were--I spoke too soon.  Yesterday, this new ranger--sweet girl--offered to drive me to the grocery store; needing food, I accepted.  I noticed that she had Alaskan license plates, so in the car, I told her that I was genuinely curious about how Alaskans really view Sarah Palin.  After taking a media course last semester, I realize that the news does, in fact, have a tendency to play up politicians' eccentricities, so I figured that this Alaskan ranger would say something like, "Alaskans generally like Palin, but she is still kind of an idiot..."--something like that.  WRONG.

She gives me this whole spiel about how AMAZING Sarah is--yes, they're on a first name basis.  Also, this ranger often goes to Sarah's dinner parties.  (Oh yeah, because there are only like 6 people in all of Alaska, they all know each other and hunt moose from helicopters together).  Apparently, Sarah is "an extremely intelligent, caring woman with great character; she really has the best interest of the citizens in mind." Curious.

A few other anecdotes from today... I tried to speak German with this family from Austria but their accents were so... Austrian... that I had some problems understanding them.  (Also I can never understand the British tourists when they visit; their accents are too ridiculous, they may as well be speaking Swahili.)

Another woman lost her hat on the trail today and came into the information center hysterically crying; I actually thought she was going to have a heart attack, she was hyperventilating and clutching her chest and wheezing because she couldn't find her hat. (I ended up finding her hat about 15 min after she left).

Then another woman came in and decided, rather than getting information about Mt. Rushmore or the surrounding areas, she wanted to talk to the rangers about drugs.... She is not a fan of marijuana, but "four morphine pills and two percocets in six hours is perfect" for her.  Apparently, to some of these tourists I am not only a park ranger, but I am a therapist, a pharmacist...

Next two days off!  Hope everyone is having a great summer!
Jacob