Sunburns and sore legs :)

Oh, canyon life. I am loving it so far! I am updating a lot now because tomorrow I FINALLY start work and i feel like i'm not gonna have near as much time for a) doing cool stuff and b) writing about it when i do!
well, i have had an awesome time since orientation got done. spent a little while (the end of saturday) just hanging out by myself, reading, blah blah. it was nice actually, went to the hopi house to look for gifts, they have really awesome native american artwork and stuff there. some of the gift shops here are really touristy, but others have really neat stuff in them. yesterday i hiked all the way out to hermit's rest on the rim trail- it's mainly flat, but it was like 8 miles long. i met this guy named charles on the way, and we hiked the second half of it together. he was cool, from CA, his dad and friends were hiking over from the north rim, down and up the south side all in one day, CRAZYYY!!! ended up getting lunch with him at bright angel (my future place of work!) and playing frisbee for a bit, then taking a nap and meeting up with some people at maswik. low key day, pretty fun. today was awesome, had a great time. went hiking down bright angel, to the 3 mile rest stop and then the three miles back up, so 6 total. it was a really fun hike, it felt much easier than kaibab, and it was great weather and GORGEOUS looking up at the canyon. i cant wait to get in shape and get down to indian gardens and the plateaus and eventually the colorado river and the phantom ranch at the bottom! it will be sveeeet, im glad a lot of the people here are into hiking.
after- ate a HUUUUUGE meal at maswik, dragged myself home to shower.. went over to chris and kate's, this couple who go to grand canyon community church, they cooked out for us and jared made ice cream (cinnamon this time) and their little girl sophia was dressing up in princess dresses--- it was cute! played signs, always a fun game, ESPECIALLY when people really have no idea what's going on really. had some interesting conversations as well- very funny. i love the people here. especially lauren, because she used to have a tarantula named pretty pretty princess... KEY!!
well, tomorrow starts my job. i doubt i'll be all that in love with it--but so far i am pretty happy here, so i think itll be fine. definitely sore and sunburnt from the hike/hikes i've been taking recently. but im perfectly ok with it, im never (well, rarely) as happy as when im hiking. and the canyon is just so gorgeous and dynamic really, like i said the view changes and is beautiful and different wherever you go and whatever kind of weather it is. it is still a little weird to me that i'm gonna be here ALL SUMMER, wowwww, but like i said athens feels a million lifetimes away. i saw a picture on my idle screen today, like when the photos from my comp come up, of me and caitlin sitting in the kitchen by the fridge the night of the lotus concert--- and the good ol 117 just looked like a different life that i lived! i dunno how things could have changed so quickly... ive only been away from athens for two weeks, (CRAZZZYYY), and in AZ for 1 week. time is so skewed! but so far i'm having a really good time and experiencing new things, just basically living the dream in grand canyon national park.
no complaints for now.