Seasonal Training

Today was another terrific day...of course. I had Seasonal Training. This is a day of training for all new employees who are just working for the [summer] season. We were introduced to each other, introduced to the chiefs of the various departments in our park (I'm working for the Chief of Interpretation, Mr. Ron Parker) and we learned what each department does. We met the park Superintendent for Chickasaw NRA, Mr. Bruce Noble and heard a little history lesson about the park from him. It was a great presentation and I took copious notes. And then.......

WE GOT TO SEE THE A PROMO FOR THE NEW KEN BURNS' NPS DOCUMENTARY!

I was/am super excited. Our snippet was a little over an hour long, but definitely leaves me wanting to see more.

Our training went until just after 4 pm today and then we cleaned up.

I spent my lunch time talking to Eric, who is a ranger. Eric and I had the pleasure of meeting this spring when he came to DC for a meeting and I was very excited to see him again, this time west of the Mississippi. Eric is a huge history enthusiast and a walking historical fountain. He's worked at Fort Smith, so we've had some conversations about Belle Starr (and he even sent one of my students who did Belle for her National History Day project this year a packet of information about her!!!). We've also had conversations about Big Bend and Washita. You can't help but learn tons just by having a conversation with him. I'm looking forward to learning tons from him this summer.

I came home, changed, and ran to Sooners, my local grocery store for more yogurt (of course). Made dinner, made dessert, and found myself with a ton of time!!!! I went for a terrific bike ride this evening--the same loop I did yesterday around Veteran's Lake. It was beautiful and a great time in the evening to ride. It's amazing what you can hear. I heard the locust, birds, the trees rustling....you can just about hear yourself think. When I was little I used to love to ride my bike in what was called "The Woods" near my house. It was an asphalt paved path in a wooded area, probably about 1/3 of a mile around. I would just ride around and around and around. I think that's where I first fell in love with my bike and biking by myself. Riding tonight, I was reminded of that tranquility and the fun of just being out on a bike in a pretty and safe setting.