I left home on May 4 on my way to Yellowstone National Park. I allowed extra days for travel to various other places never seen before. This included Mt. Rushmore and Crazyhorse Memorial. These were awesome sites to see up close, rather than only from a magazine.
I reported to work on May 11at OF and was assigned to the dormitory Larkspur. This housing arrangement is a 24-hour quiet dorm assigned to couples and managers who work here. It is .5 miles from Old Faithful Lodge, and also my two choices of EDR's (Employee Dining Rooms). That is fine with me as it gives me a chance to ride my bike every single day. There is also a 3-mile asphalt trail open to bike traffic that runs next to many ground surface thermal features including Old Faithful and turns around at Morning Glory Geyser. I ride this often just to get in a quick and easy 6-9 miles.
My first day riding my bike to work was VERY eventful. As I was riding the walkway to work a fellow employee began waving his arms at me about 100 ft. away and was motioning for me to stay on the left side of the walk. As I got closer I realized why he was getting my attention. Sitting about 3-5 ft. off the walkway was a full-grown buffalo just sitting there chewing the cud, or whatever they do. Well I'm tellin' you, when you see one of these Bubba's up close they are huge, I mean like 3/4 the size of a Volkswagen. The guy waving at me told me to slow down because if I rode by to fast it could startle the bison or take me as a threat and give chase. So, I talked real nice to this massive creature (my rendition of whistling through the graveyard). By the way, they told us on our first day of training to allow 100 yds. distance if encountering a bear and 25 yds. for a bison. So 3-5 ft. was, shall I say, to close for comfort.
Old Faithful Lodge where I work, consists of a main front desk where visitors check-in to rent cabins (96 available). These cabins are extremely small (approx. 20'x30') and actually look like an over sized backyard shed. Inside though they are quite nice with drywall, wood flooring, full electric, and twin or double beds. Some have running water with sink, toilet and shower. Those that don't have restroom/shower facilities within a short walking distance. The lodge also houses a gift shop, lobby for viewing Old Faithful through picture windows, and a large cafeteria that offers four different food menu lines. The dining room also has tons of windows so one might watch Old Faithful while
eating. This cafeteria only offers lunch and dinner.
The first 10 days working was spent doing several different tasks (busing tables, serving food on 1 of 4 food lines, and cashier) to see where management felt I fit in the best. I must have done pretty well being cashier, as my last two weeks have consisted of that with some busing of tables when we get "slammed" with customers. The cafeteria is literally 75 yds. from Old Faithful. So I get to see it erupt every 90 minutes. This usually means every 90 minutes we have a rush of visitors coming in to eat. My work hours consist of either 10:30am - 5:00pm, or 5:00pm - 1030pm. Once in awhile I've had to work a double-shift 10:30am - 10:30pm as we are currently understaffed. What I have come to realize is my work days are just that, work and not much time for recreation. After work I eat dinner, then rest up in my room, or take a leisurely walk or bike ride around some of the area until dark. You don't want to be out after dark, as you could literally walk right into a bison. Note: I've also been found sitting in the huge Old Faithful Inn lobby after work eating ice cream and watching visitors walk around. How many times this has occurred will not be disclosed (writer's privilege).
I do have two days off every week, my weekend is Fri. - Sat. These days I usually try to plan something big. My first weekend I went on an organized 6.5 mile hike with the Rec. Dept. This was a fun trip and wasn't difficult, as my body has adjusted to the altitude change (5,500 elevation) here in YNP. The Rec. Dept. plans recreational activities for employees on their days off. It can be hiking trips in the area, shopping trips to Bozeman, MT or hiking in the Grand Tetons National Park.
Other highlights to date are:
- Riding road bike 35 miles loop out to Madison Junction
- Riding mountain bike 16 miles on Fairy Falls Trail
- Hiking to Observation Point to view entire Old Faithful area
- Spending this past weekend in Jackson, WY riding road bike 70 miles. This town has the Teton Mountains as its neighbor and the view while riding was breath-taking
- Received 1 Xtraordinary Card from Food & Beverage Manager for extraordinary customer service to patrons
Bro Tim,
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking time to share your scenery. I feel like I just took a trip to Yellowstone!
May you have a summer full of bison-free bike trails!
GB!
Sis Suz