Summer Jobs

This is the first time I've ever gone out looking specifically for a summer job. Usually I am concerned mostly with the perks of job longevity: how soon do benefits kick in, pay raise increments, health insurance. The summer job is all about just making some money until school starts in the fall, and trying to save some of it.

I think I found the perfect summer job. For 12 years I've backpacked into Redwood Creek, in the Redwood National Park (this photo is from one summer trip.) This year I have a job at the National Park visitors' center, showing people where to hike, where to find the biggest and most beautiful old-growth redwood trees, and selling them books that fit their outdoor interests. In the past few days I've gotten to talk with visitors from Germany, France, Japan, Korea, China, South America, England, Ireland, Scotland, and from all over the United States.

If you're travelling into beautiful coastal northern California this summer, come see me at the Kuchel Visitor Center just south of Orick, and I'll show you how to get to the Lady Bird Johnson Grove and the Newton B. Drury Scenic Bypass.

Next step to Stanford: send off financial and scholarship paperwork, and find out if any of my community college credits work for my major course work. Find out what kind of Stanford math class I have to take. Try not to quail in fear at the previous statement.