Benjamin's Post Card to his family in South Carolina -
Wow! You will never believe where I have been
visiting!! I found my way into a mail box in Jackson Hole, Wyoming!
This is a little town at the south end of Grand Teton National Park and just a
bit further north, Yellowstone National Park. What a place to
visit!
To top it off, I skinnied my way into the Fire Marshal's
post office box! I have learned so much! This is a vacation and
school all at the same time! Yowzie! I am so excited, I don't even
know where to start!
Now, I know, my family back home in South Carolina hopes I will
travel world-wide, but I tell you - who needs to roam any further?
Certainly, this HAS to be one of the most beautiful places in the world!
The Teton mountain range, which runs through Grand Teton National Park, juts
off the valley floor into these incredible granite monuments, piercing the sky,
holding great white capes of snow, and becoming stunning backdrops for
sunsets. I have learned that these mountains were formed when two plates
of the earth cracked and shifted. From the bottom of the east plate to
the top of the west plate is a mile of difference. That had to be quite
an earthly movement! Like Beethoven's 9th symphony!!
Yellowstone National Park is a giant volcano. They say
around here, it's not a matter of if, but when the volcano blows again.
Yikes. Meanwhile, there are deep sky blue hot springs, mud pools that
bubble and belch, geysers that shoot up into a clear blue sky making rainbows
in the air. And if that wasn't enough to be considered amazing, there are
great herds of bison (buffalo) and elk that roam the wilderness of this great
park.
Back at town, I spent some time with Fire Marshal Clay. She
wants me to be sure that you all know to have a smoke alarm in every bedroom
and hallway outside your bedroom. She says lots of people forget to check
and change the batteries in their alarms. Make sure you do. Once
you have a smoke alarm in your bedroom, be sure to close your bedroom door at
night. That door will keep a fire and smoke out of your room and give
firefighters time to save you. Don't hide from the firefighters.
Yell really loud, "I am here, I am here!!" so they can find you
quickly.
Fire Marshal Clay says you should get together as a family and
make an outside meeting place in case you need to leave the house
quickly. As you make this plan, find more than one way out of the
house. She says these are really important things to know.
We talked about car seats and seat belts too. You know what
she is really worried about? Distracted driving. More and more
drivers are crashing because they are looking at their phones instead of the
road. Driving is serious business. Help your folks drive better and
take their phones away from them when they are behind the steering wheel!
Just tell them you would really like to grow up to be an awesome adult like
they are - this might help you get the phone!!
Winter is coming to this beautiful place. Tonight it started
snowing. I am considering learning how to go sledding. Why I figure
with my slim body and laminated outerwear, sledding down a hill will be
super-fun!! I am so excited about tomorrow morning!!
This visit has lasted a bit longer than perhaps it should. I
just want you to know how hard it will be to leave. Why, there is so much
more to do! Fire Marshal Clay wants to take me for a ride on her mule,
she will be hunting for an elk in December ("a freezer full of lean,
organic meat" she explains), giving a presentation on the dangers of
carbon monoxide poisoning, and she said if I hung around long enough, we would
surely get a chance to run lights and sirens in her fire SUV!!
I have included some pictures of me and the fire trucks – it is so
awesome be drive these big, red fire trucks! Fire Marshal Clay wanted you
to see her favorite picture of the year – she caught the winning fish in a
spring fishing derby on Jackson Lake. It weighed 25.2 pounds! She
told me lake trout grow about one pound per year, so that makes this fish an
old fish! The really neat thing is that she threw it back in the
lake! It swam away so now someone else can experience the thrill of
catching a fish that big! Cool!
But, I must move on with this traveling adventure! I hope to
come visit again. She says that my family and I are welcome to stop by
the fire house any time we are traveling through Jackson Hole. She would
love to give you all a tour of the fire trucks and show you around. I
hope we can visit before Yellowstone blows!!
P.S. I got to go sledding this morning AND got to slide down
the brass fireman’s pole! What a great day!
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