Employee Feature: Grace

Oberlin at sunset with friends 🙂

Starting from my coastal college town 30 ft above sea level to hiking to the top of a mountain over 8,000 ft, I have come a long way from the person I was at the start of the summer. Before I arrived in Glacier the furthest west I had traveled was West Virginia, and even then I was just driving through. The east coast has been my home for the past 22 years, but after graduating college, I was looking for a change of scenery – and boy did the scenery change.

The first time I drove Going-to-the-Sun Road I was overwhelmed by the beauty and magnitude of the mountains. I felt like a baby staring at a 3D picture book; the landscapes felt so much larger than life and I was engulfed in them. Now when I drive the road, as I have tens of times before, the mountains and I have gotten to know each other, and I feel more and more comforted by them on each twist and turn.

I never thought I could make a home out of a place so different from anywhere I’d ever been, but the community of people here made that possible sooner than I could’ve imagined. From bonfires and paint nights at the house, to paddling (with a congo line of floaties behind me) on Lake McDonald and hiking beautiful trails, I have made so many lasting memories with people who made this place even more special than it already is.

It is apparent that Glacier is forever growing and changing, which I feel parallels my experience here. At the beginning of the season I watched the snowmelt rush down the Weeping Wall and wash my worries away, but now that its come to a trickle I watch the leaves of the quaking aspen carry them further. Arguably my favorite changes are those of the flowers, watching each flower season come through—from beargrass, to glacier lily, to fireweed. Every change that comes brings a new beginning and ending, and as sad as I am for things to end, they are always followed by beautiful new beginnings.

I feel so grateful to have been able to not only live and work in such a magical place, but to have worked for the very organization that allows me, and the thousands of visitors I greeted at the register everyday, to have those experiences. This place is so special, and it takes special people to help keep it the beautiful park it is today. So, you can imagine how sad I am to finish my season, but I know that this will lead me to something new and exciting, just like all the changes in the flowers in Glacier.