Paradise By The Dashboard Light

            Last night was the absolute best! I didn’t expect to have as much fun as we all did. At lunch yesterday, Nate said that he wanted to go into Jackson pretty early since he wanted to stop by the bank and a few other places first, so I said I’d ride with him. We left the lodge at about four, and went around Jackson by ourselves for a couple of hours. We then met Cristina, Elliot, Brian, Tanner, and a few other people at a restaurant that Brian picked out. Yesterday was his birthday, so we figured we’d let him pick. It was a burger and steak place that was really good. After dinner we all headed out to The Virginian, where the karaoke would be. It was still kind of early, so we played a few games of pool and browsed the karaoke books for a while before actually starting up. Cristina and Louise, who was also there for a while, got up first and sang “Bohemian Rhapsody” together (a karaoke classic). The place wasn’t very full when we got there, but more people started coming in as it got later.

            After a few other people did some songs, Nate got up and put everyone else to shame with “On the Dark Side”. Cristina and I kept looking at each other in awe as he sang. We were practically speechless by the time he was done. After that I insisted on getting his next song on video. In not too much longer, he was up again, singing “Paradise By The Dashboard Light”. The song was over eight minutes long, and thankfully I got every bit of it on video. He’d told us that he’d done some karaoke before, but I really didn’t expect him to be as good as he was.

            Cristina got up several more times, once doing a duet with Elliot, and Tanner did a few songs too. I also got video of Tanner singing “Man I Feel Like A Woman”, which was hilarious. He’d told us that he was going to do that song, but I didn’t really believe it until he actually did it. Even when one of us wasn’t up, we all often sang along to the songs that were playing, since we knew the large majority of them. The place eventually got pretty full, and the whole crowd belted out lyrics to karaoke classics like “Sweet Caroline”, “Pour Some Sugar On Me”, “Wanted Dead Or Alive”, and “Don’t Stop Believing”.  It was close to two in the morning by the time we started heading out of Jackson, back to the lodge. Cristina and Elliot rode with Tanner, and I rode with Nate. It was a really great night for everyone. 

            I decided to nix the Yellowstone trip today since we stayed out so late. I’ll definitely have other chances to get up there and explore that park. Cristina and Nate don’t have to go into work until three today, so we all slept pretty late. I’ll probably go to and hang out at the pool for a while this afternoon. It’s hard for me to believe that I’ve only known the people here for like three weeks. They feel like family to me, and I’m so glad that I get to see Cristina, Nate, Tanner, Jesse, and Elliot for at least a little while every day. Just one thing that makes this place so awesome is the fact that we all live and work so close to each other and get to hang out together so much. I absolutely love this company, this park, and, more than anything, these people.