To the Middle Aged Man...

I am having a very lazy time in Jackson, WY. For the record (and I might have already blogged this before so bare with me), the area is "Jackson Hole," the town itself is Jackson, so if you're confused, now you know! Also, if you want a laugh, go to Jackson Hole's official website because the first frequently asked question is "Where's the hole?"

I went to the website for you. You're welcome

 Now, part of the reason I'm having a lazy time is because there isn't a lot to do here if you're by yourself. Things are sort of expensive and I don't feel like spending the money to go out alone. Also, hiking by oneself, while pretty, isn't as much fun as going with someone else.

I started off yesterday with some yoga. It was expensive because you can get away with that type of stuff in a resort town but I enjoyed it and that's what matters.

This is where the elk would be if they were here.

After that, I walked over to the National Elk Refuge. I said in my last blog post that reports of actual elk had been varied but I'm sad to report that there weren't any elk. I think the thing people forget (I am not one of these people, I'd just been hopeful) is that these are wild animals and not zoo creatures. They migrate to the elk refuge for the winter, they don't just chill there because you're here for the weekend. Every week, there are new reports of people getting mauled by wild animals while they're trying to take selfies because everyone in the world has forgotten that these are real animals and not toys. I did get to see where the elk would be if they were here though and that was nice!

After that, I mostly hung out for the rest of the day. I did some walking around, but like I said before, there isn't too much to do by yourself here!

I did have to deal with my new middle aged roommate however. This hostel has the strangest assortment of guests I've ever seen. I've mainly seen families entering and exiting -- like 16 relatives got together and just rented a load of dorms, it's weird. As is staying in a dorm with a man who has white hair and no social graces... When I got home from town at noon yesterday, I expected to have a few hours to myself since the semi-cute guy who took fourth months off from work to do a solo roadtrip was checking out and check in wasn't until 3pm, but nope, this man is here. He had the door wide open too, which made me uncomfortable, because all of my stuff is in here. I sat back down on my bunk and watched him unpack some things while internally hoping that he would leave soon because I wanted to shower. Leave he did, but he left something behind. To my middle aged dorm mate, when you exit the shower, please take your underwear with you! He's left them on a clothes hanger in the shower! What?! So much no. All the no.

My saga with him continued later on (after I'd gingerly removed his undergarments from the shower and put them on a hanger in the room so I could clean myself). At 9:30pm, I had planned to Skype one of my favorite people, Mr. Ryan Lind. We haven't talked in a while, so I was really looking forward to it. Mr. Roommate had been out all day but comes back in around 9pm and after being rude and surly towards our third roommate, climbs into his bunk above mine. 9:30 rolls around and Ryan calls. I'm being quiet during my call and there aren't any rules that say I can't talk in the dorm, but two minutes into my call, he sticks his nose over the edge of the bunk and says "Are you going to be doing that much longer? This is a bedroom and beds are for sleeping." Yeah, well, showers are for showering and you didn't have a problem leaving your tighty whities in there, now did ya?! The third roommate then chimes in that he hopes he doesn't wake us with his 6am alarm and this guy says "No, that won't be a problem because that's when people are supposed to be awake." *Flash forward to this morning when he was the last person to get up.* He then tells me "You can go to the common room and talk all you want." Oh, I'm sorry, you mean the common room that requires me to walk OUTSIDE in the DARK? No, thank you. He then climbs down from his tower and shuts off the lights without another word to anyone (roommate #3 was still doing things!). I've stayed at quite a few hostels and while most of them have quiet hours, those hours don't typically start until 10 or 11pm. If you'd like the luxury of a private room, then go get one. Also, yes, I appreciate that I should be respectful of my roommates as well but I was trying at the very least, unlike this man who is way to old to be staying in a dorm.

Ryan and I then embarked in an elaborate Skype conversation that involved a lot of typing and mime work on my part (did I type as loudly as possible? Absolutely).

Today, I've been chilling some more. I watched last night's episode of Empire. Can I say that I really hate having to wait a whole week in between episodes? Because I do. Ryan and I are planning on Skyping again later today when we can actually talk to each other and Mr. Roommate is in the process of checking out now!

Also I am staying in Helena for a few nights next week and decided to try my luck with Couchsurfing BUT I wanted a backup plan, so I booked myself a hotel room before the rates went up as I got closer, and fifteen minutes after I made my reservation, I got a reply from Couchsurfing! Don't worry about the hotel room, I can cancel any time between now and next Sunday without an issue and I'm going to keep it until I'm 200% positive that things are squared away but it's funny how these things work out some times.