Yellowstone national park
My niece, Susan Griffith is a health insurance agent for Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and as such she does travel in the state of Wyoming. Recently, she got a chance to travel for pleasure with work, which is a new deal for Susan. Her company paid for the employees to attend a Wyoming Cowboys football game. Susan is not really a fan of football, but she went, because i she was going to support a team, it would be the Wyoming Cowboys, and while he had to leave early to make the long drive home, she said it was ok. Who knows, maybe she will become a football fan, and those free games will be fun for her.
This year has been bittersweet for Susan and her husband, Josh Griffith. Their oldest daughter, Jala Satterwhite graduated from high school this past year, and during the summer, took a job as a guide near Yellowstone National Park. Nevertheless, while she was away from home, it felt like she would be coming home after the season ended. That isn’t what happened, however. When Jala came back to Powell, she moved into an apartment with some friends. Of course, a parent like to see the adult their child has become, but most wish it hadn’t gone by so fast. Every parent who has adult children can certainly understand how Susan and Josh feel.
Susan has also re-taken up cross stitch, and has been turning our lots of cool stuff, so of which has been gifted to her friends. They all feel very blessed by the beautiful gifts she has made. Susan has also started making 
cakes and decorating them, so every party is amazing. The cake for Jala’s graduation was one of Susan’s cakes, and everyone said it was amazing.
With everything going on, somehow, Susan and Josh found more time to go camping…a bit surprising, but nevertheless, it did happen. They even found a new campsite with a fire ring that allowed him to have a fire, when some camp sites couldn’t have a fire due to bans and dry weather. Susan is very much an outdoor girl. Every year on free fishing day, which is the first Saturday in June, and also falls on Susan and Josh’s anniversary weekend, a group of family members and friend have gone out to the causeway between Lovell and the mountain to fish. This has been for probably the last 3 or 4 years and has become a fun way to celebrate their anniversary with friends.
As an unusual type of travel destination…for them anyway, in March Susan and Josh took their girls Jala Satterwhite and Kaytlyn Griffith to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for a vacation. It’s possible that it might be the last family vacation they get to take as a whole family. They had such a great time relaxing on the beach and enjoying the nice weather. They also visiting the local shops and of course, collected sea shells. Like any 
vacation, they were excited to go, but happy to come home, because there is no place like home, and spring break in Fort Lauderdale was probably a zoo. The trip was a total shock really. They had won a free trip when they went to California, and had planned a trip last year, but then Covid happened and this was their last chance to catch this vacation. So now they can say that they have been to both oceans with the kids, and in addition, when they got married they went to Cabo San Lucas, so they have had some pretty great vacations soaking up the sun. Today is Susan’s birthday. Happy birthday Susan!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
My grand-niece, Jala Satterwhite graduated this past year, and immediately embarked on an adventurous lifestyle. Jala got a job at the Bill Cody Ranch…a guest ranch not too far from the Yellowstone National Park entrance. Jala loves horses, and wants nothing more than to have a job involving horses. During high school, and really even before that, Jala would spend hours riding horses, caring for horses, and thinking about horses. She and her step-dad, Josh Griffith loved to head into the hill on a trail ride as often as possible, and the family loved camping and trail riding on the Big Horn Mountains.
Jala has always struck me as a glamorous kind of girl growing up, and that part is true. When Jala wants to be glamorous, she certainly can do so, and she can “wow” anyone who sees her, but Jala is not snobby or stuffy. Then, Jala got into horses when her family bought a place and moved outside of Powell. It is a really pretty place, and has plenty of room for horses. That really changed Jala’s life forever, and for the great…not just better or good…great!! Jala was living on cloud nine. She was in her element, and life was good. Who would have thought that all that would have set the course for Jala’s new adventure as a trail guide on a guest ranch.
Jala applied, and was immediately chosen for one of the positions available. She’s been there a couple months now and absolutely loves it. From what I hear, Jala is the only Wyoming hire there, and so she’s met all kinds of new people. She ben able to work with people from all over the county. Jala’s job is perfect for her. She takes people on trail rides every day. They take groups of 10 to 20 people on rides every day. Did they say this was work? I suppose there is a lot of work to it, because she takes care of about 65 horses, and of course, she saddles all those horses up for the people who are going on the trail rides. Imagine the toned arms that girl will have. Wow!! Maybe I should saddle horses for a living…probably not.
This is a summer job, of course, because the guest ranch is a tourist attraction, meaning that at the end of the 
summer, Jala will have to decide what her next move will be. She has a plan in mind, and her current job is a good source of leads into the nest one, which she hopes will involve working with an outfitter on pack trips. Sounds exciting to me!! The cool part of this job is that she makes really good money, and they provide room and board, so she has no expenses!! As Jala’s mom, Susan Griffith says, “What a life!!”
I read in the paper on Monday about the 57th anniversary of the August 17, 1959 Hebgen Earthquake that created Earthquake Lake in Montana, just west of Yellowstone National Park. The 7.5 magnitude earthquake was the second strongest quake in the lower 48 states in the 20th century, according to the United States Forest Service, killing 28 people, including five people in one Idaho Falls family who were entombed in the ensuing landslide, and are still there to this day. I was only three years old when that quake occurred, so I wouldn’t remember it, nor am I aware that it was felt in Casper, Wyoming, where we live, although it might have been felt there too. Still, I doubt I would have remembered it.
What I do remember, is the trip our family took when I was a child, that included Earthquake Lake. I don’t recall whether I was told about the 28 people who died there, or the ones they never found, but I rather doubt 
it, because things like that tend to be something that sticks with me…even really bothering me when I was younger, because I almost felt like I was a trespasser on their graves. These days, I realize that being near someone’s grave, whether in a cemetery or a natural grave such as Earthquake Lake became, is still nothing more than a final resting place. What impresses me more now is the sadness of the loss. That family was on vacation, and suddenly their lives were gone…over in an instant. Along with the loss of life, there was the damage to roads, making it even harder to bring help in to the people who were trapped, although I’m not sure it would have made much difference.
I remember feeling the enormity of the catastrophic event that took place that day a number of years earlier. I was impressed by the ability of an earthquake to change the face of the landscape around it. What had been the Madison River, was blocked by a massive landslide creating Earthquake Lake. The deaths were random. A couple, Edgar and Ethel Stryker were killed by a boulder that crushed them, while their three young sons, 
sleeping in a nearby tent, were unhurt. Irene Bennett and her son Phil were saved, but her husband Purley and their three other children were killed. Myrtle Painter died of her injuries, while her 16 year old daughter Carole survived. That was the story of the event, this one died, and that one lived. I think that while I probably didn’t know about all those deaths, that I still felt the sadness of that place, because it is a place I have never forgotten. An earthquake that happens in a rural area seems to make us think that it was simple a change of the landscape, but that is rarely the case. It seems that there are almost always a few people in the area, and that means a loss of life. A very sad event indeed.
There is a fire burning in Yellowstone National Park. There are fires burning all over the western United States, as a matter of fact, but this particular fire bring back memories of the last big fire in Yellowstone National Park, and just how upset everyone was over the Let It Burn policy. Now, here we are again with a lightning caused fire burning in Yellowstone National Park, and no effort being made to fight it…unless structures end up being in danger of destruction.
As with the 1988 fire, they tell us that the Natural Burn policy, another name for the Let It Burn policy, is in effect for this fire. The biggest problem with that policy is, of course, is that a fire burning unchecked can get so far out of control that it burns beyond human ability to put it out. It becomes an impossible task. That is what happened in 1988, and the whole nation was angry about it. In the end, that fire burned 1.2 million acres. Many people had the impression that the Park Service had failed badly. Nearly a third of Yellowstone National Park was badly burned. The Park Service said that the situation was inevitable because of the drought. Still, most people, me included, felt that if they had tried to fight it sooner, they could have saved a lot of the park from the hideous scarring damage it ended up with.
I understand that Yellowstone National Park has several fires each year, and that they usually burn themselves out in a short period of time, but in drought years, the Park Service simply can’t allow the fires to go. My concern with the current fire is that we are already at 2594 plus acres burned. How quickly is this fire going to get out of hand and how long before they will decide to do something about it?
The Yellowstone National Park fire of 1988 started in June and burned into November. It is a summer I will never forget. Our skies were constantly filled with smoke. The air stunk from the acrid smoke. It was hard for people to breathe. You couldn’t get away from it. I know this is how every person who lives in a fire area feels. I know I don’t have to explain this to anyone who has been around fires much. They already know more about wildfires than they ever wanted to.
The important thing for the government and the park service to remember is that the people of this nation love 
Yellowstone National Park, our oldest national park. It existed before the states where it is located were even states. I truly understand that fires are a natural part of the forest ecosystem, and that they get rid of dry brush that could bring about a worse fire, but I can’t see that it serves any good purpose to let 1.2 million acres of beautiful forest land burn and not even try to stop it. It destroys the homes of wildlife. It hurts the economy of the area it is in. All I ask is that the Park Service and the government remember just how important Yellowstone National Park is to the people of this nation.
