Travel With Me: Yellowstone National Park (Day Three)
Travel With Me: Yellowstone National Park (Day Three)

We passed this turnout every day, as the route from Wapiti and the East Gate into the park took us through Sylvan Pass, which is in the Absaroka Range. This part of the park has one of the higher elevations that you drive through, at 8,524 feet above sea level, so it's naturally chillier, hence why these photos of the Sylvan Lake look like a winter wonderland even though it was in the sixties and seventies in the rest of the park. We saw a lot of cars from California stopped around here to get out and have snowball fights, but after six months of harsh Minnesota winter, I only stopped for the photo op. 

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Hiking, Nature, TravelHannah Schultzsylvan pass, sylvan lake, yellowstone national park, day three, turnout, tower fall, yellowstone river, lost lake loop, hike, hiking, petrified tree, Roosevelt lodge, employee, manager, ranger, trout lake, otter, bison, baby bison, calves, lamar valley, slough creek, wolf den, pups, bear, black bear, cub, mayComment
Travel With Me: Yellowstone National Park (Day Two)
Travel With Me: Yellowstone National Park (Day Two)

Our first stop of the day was to see (besides Old Faithful) one of the most iconic features of Yellowstone: its Grand Canyon and staggering waterfall. Yellowstone River, the longest undammed river in the continental United States, carved this canyon through erosion about 10,000 to 14,000 years ago (making it relatively new in geological terms). The canyon walls are painted in yellows, oranges, and reds from the iron compounds in the rock--as the iron is oxidized, the rocks rust. 

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Hiking, Travel, NatureHannah Schultztravel, with me, yellowstone national park, day two, grand canyon, south rim, artist point, lower falls, point sublime, yellowstone river, north rim, brink of upper falls, lookout point, grand view, west thumb, geyser basin, fishing cone, abyss poolComment
Travel With Me: Yellowstone National Park (Day One)
Travel With Me: Yellowstone National Park (Day One)

Last week, I was given the amazing opportunity to travel to Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park as research for a novella. This trip was funded by a grant I was awarded by the English department at Minnesota State University, Mankato, where I'm currently obtaining my MFA in Creative Writing. It was nine days in total, including four 12-13 hour driving days, and I brought along my forever traveling partner, Mary, and my brother. Using research from other bloggers' itineraries and improvisations due to time constraints and weather, we conquered almost all of Yellowstone's coolest spots in four jam-packed days. Let's get started with day one!

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Nature, TravelHannah Schultzyellowstone national park, itinerary, day one, wyoming, wapiti, cody, lake, mud volcano, hayden valley, norris geyser basin, porcelain basin, back basin, steamboat geyser, mammoth hot springs, wildlife, prairie dogs, ground squirrel, elk, black bear, grizzly bear, cubComment
The Highs and Lows of My First Year Teaching College Composition
The Highs and Lows of My First Year Teaching College Composition

For those of you who don't know, I entered Minnesota State University's MFA in Creative Writing program this past fall and to pay my way, I've served as an instructor of one section of ENG 101 - Composition. Next week, I'll wrap up my first entire academic year teaching this course and this Thursday, I'll say goodbye to my spring semester kiddos—and let me tell you, I have all the feelings! This year of teaching Composition has been one of the most rewarding and challenging of my life, so I thought I'd highlight some highs and lows of this journey for you.

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EducationHannah Schultzteaching, composition, freshman comp, Minnesota State University, msu, mnsu, instructor, graduate teaching assistant, grading, writing, mfa, student, cellphone, activity, grade, critical thinking, disrespectComment
What Not to Do at a Movie Theater—Sincerely, a Former Theater Employee
What Not to Do at a Movie Theater—Sincerely, a Former Theater Employee

I applied to Amstar Cinemas the summer after my freshman year of college. I stayed there, working with an amazing group of people at this mind numbingly boring job, until the spring of my junior year. I was recently going through my old files on my computer, and I stumbled upon some stories I wrote as an undergrad about my time as a movie theater employee based on a pet peeve prompt. And let me tell you—that job generated a lot of material. So here is a list of what not do next time you're at a movie theater from your friendly neighborhood former-theater employee.

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Thoughts on: [Things]Hannah Schultzamstar cinemas, movie theater, employee, former, ticket, sales, concessions, price, up-sell, seats, sold out, tips, what not to do, sneak, food, candy, drink, PDAComment
The Care and Keeping of Introverts
The Care and Keeping of Introverts

My junior year of college, I studied abroad with one of my best friends. It was one of the best experiences of my life, but also very difficult. Not because of Kayla or homesickness or missing my then-boyfriend—but because I didn't truly understand one of the core aspects of my identity: my introversion. 

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Life, Thoughts on: [Things]Hannah Schultzintroversion, introvert, oxford, INFJ, personality, personal space, alone time, myers briggs, physical, signals, drain, energy, recharge, self careComment
Wind Cave National Park: Touring the world's densest cave and seeing 95 percent of the earth's boxwork
Wind Cave National Park: Touring the world's densest cave and seeing 95 percent of the earth's boxwork

According to Lakota tradition, Wind Cave is where their people's souls emerged from the earth before their creation event. They held the site as sacred, aware of its existence long before brothers Tom and Jesse Bingham stumbled upon the natural entrance, an inexplicably windy hole in the ground, in 1881. By 1903, it had become America's first cave designated as a national park.

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Travel, NatureHannah Schultzsouth dakota, lakota, wind cave, national park, boxwork, 95, percent, cave, badlands, black hills, custer state park, garden of eden, popcorn, formation, bison, prairie dogs, flowstone, calcite, limestone, explorerComment
Mount Rushmore & Winter Hiking in Custer State Park
Mount Rushmore & Winter Hiking in Custer State Park

"On this towering wall of Rushmore, in the heart of the Black Hills, is to be inscribed a memorial which will represent some of the outstanding features of four of our Presidents, laid on by the hand of a great artist in sculpture," said President Calvin Coolidge in his Mount Rushmore Dedication Speech in 1927. At the age of 57, sculptor Gutzon Borglum began the project of carving into the Black Hills. The monumental project would be finished after his death in 1941, the finishing touches overseen by his son, Lincoln. In the end, the delicate sculpture became an icon of American history, four presidents—Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt—forever wrought in stone.

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Hiking, TravelHannah Schultzsouth dakota, mount rushmore, national park, national memorial, national monument, custer state park, black hills national forest, calvin coolidge, george washington, abraham lincoln, thomas jefferson, theodore roosevelt, gutzon borglum, sculpture, black elk peak, harney peak, little devil's tower, hiking, hike, snow, ice, rock climbing, nature loop drive, scenic drive, turkeys, pronghorn antelope, bisonComment
Succulents: A Year of Co-Habitating with Nature (A Collection Update)
Succulents: A Year of Co-Habitating with Nature (A Collection Update)

About a year ago, I bought my first succulents on a whim. I wanted a little piece of one of my favorite places on earth (the Oxford Botanical Garden) in my undergrad dorm room and purchased six succulents in two terra-cotta window planters. Since then, I've learned a lot about succulents, had some ups and downs, and expanded my collection. I'm living my 10-year-old self's dream and slowly accumulating a jungle inside my apartment. 

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NatureHannah SchultzSucculents, collection, panda plant, baby toes, ghost plant, blue giant, drunkard's dream, moon cactus, burro's tail, golden goddess, aloe vera, sedeveria, hybrid, prickly pear cactus, bunny ears, propagationComment
Thoughts on: [Getting Married Young]
Thoughts on: [Getting Married Young]

In honor of Valentine's Day, I decided to pick a topic for today's post based on love. In particular, I wanted to address a question about love that comes up in my own life a lot: How do you know you're ready to be married when you're so young? (Usually preceded by, "You have a fiancé??? How old are you??? And followed by, "But you've got so much of your life ahead of you." [I always like how this comment equates marriage with a premature death. It's particularly encouraging when it is then followed by a congratulations on my engagement.]) So today, I'm going to talk about the ways I knew I had found my future husband at 21 years old and why I feel only joy and excitement at the prospect of marrying him at 24 years old.

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Thoughts on: [Things], LifeHannah Schultzmarry, married, engaged, engagement, young, christian, dating, ring by spring, long distance, history, inside jokes, laugh, divorce, reflectionComment
Paris: Une Affaire du Coeur
Paris: Une Affaire du Coeur

Thomas Jefferson wrote in his autobiography, "So ask the travelled inhabitant of any nation, In what country on earth would you rather live?—Certainly in my own, where are all my friends, my relations, and the earliest & sweetest affections and recollections of my life. Which would be your second choice? France."

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TravelHannah Schultzparis, france, travel, International travel, thomas jefferson, heart, history, louvre, musee d'orsay, sacré coeur, l'arc de triopmhe, notre dame, cathedralComment