The Best Day

          So today began my second “weekend” since I started my job here in GTNP. As I posted yesterday, I wasn’t totally sure when this weekend would be since the schedule had been switched around. Yesterday was my sixth day in a row to work, but in a way I wanted to work another day so I could have Saturday off. Jesse’s planning to grill some food by our back patio and have some people over to hang out on Saturday evening, and I really wanted to be there. Turns out I do work Saturday, but it’ll be my first morning shift, so I’ll be done by three. Cristina works that shift too, and Nate’s off Saturday, so everyone will be free to hang out that evening by our dorm. A few other people we know may join us. It should be fun. The EDR food is usually pretty good, but it’s nice to switch it up every once in a while.

            Yesterday evening I worked with Nate and Cristina at the desk. They’re probably my two best friends that I’ve made here so far, and it was the first shift that all three of us had together. It was a really nice, stress-free, fun shift. Cristina hadn’t worked the later shift at all before, but thankfully it was a day that we weren’t busy and didn’t have any problems come up, so it wasn’t hard at all. In fact, a lot of the shift was just the three of us standing behind the desk talking to each other. A couple of hours before the shift ended, Christopher said one of us could go early since we didn’t have very many more reservations that we were expecting. Cristina was a little sick, so Nate and I let her go first.

            At one point in the evening when there weren’t any guests around, I went over to the activities desk across the lobby to book a rafting trip this morning. All the employees were advised to do those events earlier or later in the season, when it wouldn’t be as busy. It’s awesome that people spend a lot of money to stay here and do all of these activities, and this company lets employees do them for free.

            I reserved a spot for myself on the scenic guided raft trip that started at nine this morning (didn’t have to get up too early, but got back in time for lunch). I met up with five other people who were on the ride in the lobby this morning, and the guide drove us over to the area where the rafts entered the Snake River. One couple on the ride with me I’d actually checked in to the lodge a few days ago. They didn’t recognize me until I mentioned it to them, though, since I didn’t have my uniform on. We got into the raft at about 9:15 and were on the water until almost noon. One animal that I’d never seen in the wild before was a bald eagle, which I’d heard were often seen on the raft trips. Several people that had seen them in the wild had told me how amazing it was, so I was really hoping that we’d see one. Our guide, Jess, said that we would actually pass a nest along the river.

            After being on the water for about half an hour, I got to see my very first wild bald eagle, and the experience didn’t disappoint. It was perched in one of the trees very close to the river’s edge. It’s hard to understand how big and beautiful they are until you see one like that. Along the raft tour we got to see a total of four bald eagles- three adults and one juvenile, which looks quite different from the adults. Also near the end of the tour we saw a moose near the edge of the water. Its antlers were still in velvet, but we could already see how big and beautiful they were.

            I was able to get back to the lodge in time to meet Nate and Cristina for lunch. They both go into work at three today. After lunch Cristina and I both sat out on our back patio, just enjoying the beautiful day. It’s about 65 degrees here, bright and sunny, with a cool breeze blowing. I honestly don’t think we’ve had a bad day in the time I’ve been here. I’m really glad that we got lucky enough to have one of the few dorm rooms that have the back door to this patio; we’ve been using it a lot. The area right outside our back door is the best: mostly shaded by tall pine trees, while still having some sunny spots, and we see and hear wildlife back here quite regularly. It’s really cool to see “Todd”, our neighborhood fox, run right past us. Elliot came out to join us for a while, and the three of us planned to go on a horseback ride tomorrow afternoon, since he’s off and Cristina is done at three. We then texted Jesse, who said he’d join us. I might also go to the lodge’s pool tomorrow morning, or maybe even later today, since it’s now open. Cristina and Nate just headed over to work; I’m currently sitting on the picnic table by our back door writing this.

            Looking over this, I just realized that this is the longest blog post that I’ve written so far. It’s already been a really fun weekend, and I still have tomorrow to do more fun things around this amazing place that I live in.