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1/29/03

My name is Houston Reed. I am the second wildlink expedition member to return as an intern. My internship is split between the interagency Sierra Nevada Wilderness Education Project and the Yosemite Institute. I am from Atwater, California and was on Wildlink Expedition 7, 2 years ago.

I've been camping since I was born and backpacking since I was about 5 years old. I absolutely love the outdoors and I remember Yosemite as one of my families' most popular places to go. I remember taking a family trip and hiking up to Yosemite Falls, it was great and now I'm able to wake up to the Falls every morning. This is something I would have never guessed in a million years that I would be doing. I'm just ecstatic. Truly blessed.

I arrived in Yosemite Valley last Monday. I met up with Jocelyn at the Yosemite Valley Visitor Center for the first time and we went to my new place of residence. She was great, she showed me around and introduced me to everybody, we took some walks and got a little more acquainted. Everybody here is so nice and friendly. Then I spent the evening getting to know some of my housemates and settling in.

Tuesday morning I got up and arrived at work bright and early at 8am. I met up with Barbara who I haven't seen since the expedition and received a warm welcome from her. I spent the day filling out paper work and getting used to the office equipment. The three of us took a trip to a "secret place" not far from the office with a great view of the valley and got to talk about work and other stuff going on here. Then I was taken down to El Portal to meet more people, do some more paper work, and get fitted into uniforms. Other than that I ate at Curry Village and did some more unpacking. It was amazing, I received the most beautiful view of Half Dome along the trail to Curry Village, I had to stop and stare. It was incredible the way the sun hit the face of the rock and how the snow just laid in the crevices, it was like something you would only see in pictures.

So far so good. I'm having a good time. I get another tour with the Yosemite Institute Thursday and then it's into the Central Valley Friday to start planning our outreach activities with science discovery vans. But I'm having fun and can't wait to see what these next three months bring to me; I'll sure try to make the best of everything that comes my way. There's nothing like Yosemite. It's still hard to believe that I'm living here. But I get a constant reminder every morning. It's great. I love it here.