Wednesday, September 3, 2008

The U S of A...

Well, I'm back in the United States, the "land of the free and home of the brave." And very happy to be so too... even though it's still not exactly little-town WA.

Last week was really busy. We, the freshmen class at PBI, did a three-credit course in one week... 6 1/2 hours of class each day plus assignments. Unfortunately, I must admit that I enjoyed it. ~grin~ Intense though it was, I really liked having a complete overview of the Bible, learning (or re-learning) the major themes of each book, backgrounds, people, places, and observing throughout the grand scheme of Scripture-- Heilsgeschichte-- God's plan to redeem mankind. (okay, so I like that word... I'm going to practice it in my sleep.)

Monday, Explore and Discover did the exam for the previous week's class at 7:30 AM, then had meetings most of the rest of the day. That evening, after quickly packing, I went for a walk.

It was beautiful outside... the sun was setting, the crickets were chirping, and the town had quieted down a little. Walking out towards the railroad tracks I decided to snap a picture:


It wasn't actually that dark out, but I decided to see if I could catch the twilight effect. After looking out, I glanced down, and decided to take another snapshot:

It doesn't appear that amazing in the picture, but the intricacy of the tiny flowers was really neat.

Anyway, that was Monday night. Tuesday morning, bright and early, we headed out, got breakfast, and loaded the bus. We took a greyhound-type bus with most of the people and luggage, and a couple people drove a van down with the rest of the luggage. All ready to go at 7:15... and then discovered that three guys hadn't appeared! So, a couple people went to wake them up and bring them down while another person grabbed them lunch bags. Finally, around 7:45, we were off!

For the first hour it was quiet. Some people slept...


... while others read books or listened to music. Eventually, the bus came to life again and became noisy. After not too long, we could see the Rockies in the distance to the west.


Sorry about the glare, it was impossible to avoid. After awhile of driving next to the mountains, we started to go through some:


For some reason, around the time we got to prettier scenery, others decided it was time to watch a movie... so we did. I say "we" in a non-inclusive sense, because some of us didn't appreciate it as much as others. ~laugh~ And I was part of the some. Needless to say, I continued snapping pictures... however, due to the fact that the bus was moving, not all of them came out well. This is the Frank Slide:


Shortly after Frank Slide, we stopped for a brief "washroom" and caffeine break. Of course, a loaded bus doesn't take a very quick break, so some people started climbing around on the different walls and barriers. =)

Here are a few more pictures along the way while still in Canada:




We crossed the U.S. border, of which I didn't take any pictures. For once, we had some really friendly customs people, so that was fun. It took awhile, but that's no surprise, considering that they had to check every single person's passport. Just after we were cleared to go, we discovered that one of the tires was leaking... so, another stop. I took a panoramic picture of the view looking away from the tire shop and visited while others played ultimate and wandered around.


The flat fixed, we continued on our way, south through Montana, then east. Finally, we arrived at Camp Bighorn. This is the lodge building:





The view across the road and rive from the lodge:




Another view of the lodge:




And I'll tell you right away, it's lovely to be in a place where I wake up in the morning, go outside, and see this:



Yes, I love my country. Hopefully I'll be able to keep you all updated a little better for awhile. We have leadership class this week, then wilderness medicine next week. The week after (15-20th) is a raft trip. Take care, everyone.


P.S. Ruth, whom I believe I mentioned in a previous post, did get an apartment! She's doing better now, and enjoying her own space. =) ~A

1 comment:

Jen said...

Heilsgeschichte? Sprechst du Deutsch?

I like the word, too. :-)

I'm deeply envious of your wilderness medicine class, by the way.

Take care! I'm praying for you.
Jen P.
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PunmasterTheThird/