Not All Who Wander Are Lost

            I just got back from having lunch in the EDR with Tanner, Jesse, and Nate. They’re all working right now; I go in at three. Cristina’s off all day today, but I haven’t seen her. She was gone when I got up this morning. My guess is she went hiking or something like that to enjoy her day off. I work the three to eleven shift today and again tomorrow, then have my weekend. There’s another softball game this evening that Tanner’s playing in, so Cristina and Nate are going to go see it. I’ll be at work, but when I get off I think I’ll go to the Whistle Pig, where they’ll probably be after the game.

            So yesterday evening Jesse grilled out on our back porch again since we had some food leftover from Cristina’s birthday party that we knew wouldn’t stay good too much longer. He grilled the rest of the chicken, the last red peppers, and made a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches for me, Cristina and Tanner. We made some s’mores as well. We told Emily about it when we were at work yesterday, and she stopped by for a while. Again, after we cleaned up the food, we stayed out on the porch just talking and enjoying the evening as well. We didn’t stay out too late though; by the time it was really dark most of us had gone inside for the night.

            Most of my coworkers have said that they prefer the earlier shift over the later one because it’s easier, but I think overall I prefer the later one. Yeah, check-ins are a little more complicated in our system, but once you’ve done a few they get pretty easy too. The later shift is also usually busier than the earlier one since not everyone actually comes up to the front desk to check out. But at the same time, most of the fun interactions I’ve had with guests have happened during the later shift, I’ve only had to take cash once on the later shift (while I’ve taken it on every morning shift), and when it gets slower at night, I can mainly just hang out more casually with my coworkers and supervisors. Yeah, sometimes I wish I didn’t have to be there until eleven, but there have been times when I could go early.

            It’s weird, but looking at my time here so far, actually working at the desk has felt like a pretty small portion of what I’ve done. I know I’ve really spent quite a bit of time working, but when I think about the past five weeks or so I think more about the hikes I’ve been on, seeing my first wild bald eagles on a scenic raft trip, watching the sun set behind the mountains on the back deck of the lodge’s upper lobby, karaoke in Jackson with my friends, going with Nate to see the mother grizzly bear and her two babies near the road, and the other great experiences I’ve had in my time outside of work itself. Not surprising; all of the amazing opportunities we have in our time off is the reason that most people come to work here, after all.