Tour Groups, Town, And Time With Friends

            Last night at the desk was very simple and easy. We had more check-ins than the past few days, but since a few were groups and we have five people at the desk, it was still a really easy night. When I got off I came home to find Cristina, Jesse, and Tanner getting ready to play a game of Munchkin, so I joined them. We hung out in Jesse and Tanner’s room until pretty late at night playing, laughing, and hanging out.

Today has been a really nice, relaxing day off. This morning I got up early enough to go to breakfast with Nate before he went into work at seven. After eating, I walked through the lodge and up to the upper lobby to just admire the first rays of sun touch the mountains and stretch across the willow flats. I sat up there and enjoyed it for a while before returning to my dorm room.

I didn’t see much of Cristina, Tanner or Jesse this morning. I know Jesse had to work for a few hours setting something up, but Cristina and Tanner just decided to sleep in. I headed over to the EDR for lunch at about 11:30 and ate with Melissa, who works in HR, and Adam from the activities desk. We talked about crazy guests and the different tour groups that regularly come to the lodge. Pretty much everyone that works here knows that some of the groups that come in are really nice, while some definitely are not (Backroads groups are awesome to have here, Tauck Tours are awful).

Shortly after getting back to our room after lunch, Cristina and Tanner came in and said that they were going to the pool, so I said I’d join them. Jesse was off work by then, so we invited him to come too. He said that he had a few things he needed to do around here, though, and that he was planning on going into town later in the afternoon. I knew that I had a couple of medicines and other stuff I needed to pick up in town, so I said that I’d go with him. I then went and spent about an hour in and around the pool with Cristina and Tanner. The cool water felt amazing on this warm, sunny day.

I left the pool area before Cristina and Tanner did to get ready to go to Jackson. After changing and hanging out in my room for a while, Jesse knocked on the back door and said he was ready when I was. A moment later we jumped in Tanner’s car and pulled away from the dorms. We stopped by the pool before leaving to ask Cristina and Tanner if either of them wanted us to pick up something for them in town, then we hit the road.

It’s about a 45 minute drive from the lodge to Jackson, and with the windows rolled down, music playing, and the beautiful scenery around us, it can be a really nice 45 minutes. We spent a couple of hours driving and walking around town, picking up a few things for our rooms. It was a really nice afternoon; it seemed like I hadn’t gotten to spend as much time actually hanging out with Jesse lately, so going around town with him was great.

After picking up everything we needed we headed back, and returned to the lodge just in time for dinner. We went straight up to the EDR, where we sat with Nate, who was already in there.

I go back into work at three tomorrow. I didn’t really want to split my days off, but Rebecca seemed really desperate to have Thursday off. Apparently there’s a concert in Salt Lake City that day that she really wanted to go to, so I agreed to switch days off with her. My next day off is Friday.  

Another Saturday Night

I honestly found it almost scary how easy last night's shift was. When Rebecca and I arrived the morning shift had already taken care of some of the check-ins, so there were about 110 left. To make things even easier, we had three groups coming in, two of which we could do the super simple batch check-ins for. Housekeeping was definitely on their game yesterday as well, so the large majority of the rooms were ready to be checked in by four. The lobby seemed to get pretty crowded around 4:30 since the wedding was getting ready to start, but once everyone moved upstairs, it got almost eerily quiet. To our amazement, we'd taken care of more than half of the check-ins before I went to dinner at 5:45. By the time I returned from dinner, all of the groups were in house, so our number of remaining check-ins was down to about 35. I hadn't seen it that low that early since the beginning of the season. The remainder of the shift was basically just me, Rebecca, and Jen talking, browsing the Internet on our computers, and taking turns going to sit and relax in the back office. We were at full capacity, but managed to avoid overselling. It was a slow but very easy night. Finally, eleven o’clock rolled around and we were good to head home.

I didn’t get up to go to breakfast this morning like I’d done yesterday. I considered going to eat with Cristina and Nate before they went in to work, but decided against it. I go in at three again today, working with Sofi, Felix, Maggie, and Emily. I’m not sure how many check-ins we have today, but we’re at full capacity again, as we’ve been for a few weeks. We’ll probably have more check-ins today that we have the past two days, but with the five of us there it should be pretty easy again.

It feels kind of weird, but also nice to know that I have tomorrow off. I’m pretty sure it’s the first Monday I’ll have off for the entire season. Tanner and Cristina both have tomorrow off as well. Tanner and I were talking about all doing something together; maybe a hike, or going into town to hang out. It should be a nice day off from work regardless of what we do.

Well, since yesterday’s post was longer than usual, I guess it’s appropriate to make today’s shorter than usual. Wish I had more news to report, but not much has happened since my last update. 

Three Months I've Been Living Here

Three months. Thirteen weeks. Ninety-two days. That’s how long this adventure has lasted. On May ninth I left San Antonio for what I knew would be the longest time away from it so far in my life. It was a day of mixed emotions. I was excited to begin this crazy journey in Grand Teton National Park that has turned into an absolutely unforgettable summer. I guess it didn’t really hit me until we crossed out of Texas the next day. The day before felt more like a normal drive to Lubbock to visit Sam, which we’d done multiple times before. But as I got farther away from home, it became more real that we were going much farther than Lubbock, and I’d be gone for much more than a few days. I honestly don’t remember feeling scared or nervous at all; those that know me know that the times I get really nervous are few and far between. I did, however, feel a little sad to be leaving the city that I love so much and has been my lifelong home. I kept reminding myself that it’s temporary and I’d be back to see everyone again in a few months. My last day at the zoo, May seventh, I went in the morning telling myself I wasn’t going to cry, and I was successful at that. I remember before I left though, hugging all of the Wednesday docents and the education staff. Normally, if I knew I wouldn’t see one of them for a while, it was because they were leaving, for whatever reason. This time, for the first time, I was the one that would be gone.

Now, three fifths of the way through this adventure, I’ve had even more crazy, fun times than I thought I would. From kayaking on Jackson Lake to grilling outside and celebrating Cristina’s birthday to cliff jumping into the Gros Ventre River to hiking up to Inspiration Point to camping up on a beautiful hill with some great friends the night before the fourth of July, this summer has been absolutely insane. I also really love the great friends I’ve made here in this park. One thing I love the most is the fact that we’re all so diverse, especially in terms of where we come from. Cristina’s from Florida, Nate’s from Arizona, Tanner’s from Virginia, Jesse’s from Michigan, Brian’s from Pennsylvania, and so on. The two new desk agents added even more places to that list: Sofi’s from California and Felix, amazingly enough, is from Australia. It’s really awesome to think about how I now know people from all of these different places.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, it kind of already feels like the season is coming to a close, even though we still have almost two months left. I’m hearing more conversations among staff about what they think they’re doing for the winter season. Some people have plans to go work in Colorado or Lake Tahoe or one of the other properties that this company runs. I’ve heard that there’s a job fair near the end of the season to show us all the opportunities we have for the winter. I’m sure that I’ll go to that, if I’m not working, even though I’m pretty much positive that I’m just going to go home after this. Anyway, time to move on to recent news.

Yesterday I went in at three to work the desk with Nate, Sofi, Felix, and Jen. We were already at full capacity when we got there, as I know we are again tonight. We had a lot of stayovers, though, so when we got there at three there were almost exactly one hundred check-ins expected, which is much less than usual. There is also a wedding going on today that a lot of people were checking in for yesterday afternoon, as well as a couple of conferences. One issue that Jen let us know about when we all arrived was that, although we weren’t oversold on rooms overall, we were oversold on rooms inside the lodge building itself. All of the wedding party wanted to be inside the lodge, so we were oversold by one of those rooms. Thankfully we did have a mountain view cottage still available to move a guest into. The one guest that wasn’t with the wedding that wanted to be in the lodge was a woman with a young child. Jen called her ahead of time to offer the upgrade to her, but she said, since she had the young child, it’d be easier to be inside the lodge. We didn’t tell her on the phone that she really didn’t have a choice. I was surprised that she didn’t immediately accept the upgrade; after all, the mountain view cottage had (obviously) a view of the mountains, while the room she originally booked didn’t.

At about nine o’clock we were down to fifteen check-ins. Jen asked Nate first if he wanted to go home, since he was scheduled to come back and work the morning shift today. He said he’d actually prefer to stay though. Since the last time we were in this situation, Nate was the one that ended up leaving early, I told Jen that I’d leave this time, which she said she was fine with. At the time I left the woman who’d been switched to the cottage still hadn’t arrived, so I don’t know how that turned out.

I just got back from having lunch in the EDR. I go in at three again today, working with Rebecca, Maggie and Jen. Like I said earlier, we’re already at full capacity tonight, but when I checked yesterday, we only have 125 check-ins expected. That’s more than yesterday, but still not hard. I think we have a lot of stayovers again due to the wedding and conferences. As long as housekeeping gets the rooms ready on time, we should be fine. I work the later shift again tomorrow, and then have Monday off. I think that’ll be the first day of the entire season that Cristina and I have the same day off. Maybe we’ll do something together. And, by the way, yes, the title of this post is a song lyric.

Having A Party

Dinner last night at the party. Much better than the EDR! 

It's really weird that it's 57 degrees, and I'm perfectly comfortable walking around dressed like this

            Well, here’s to another week at the desk beginning! It’ll probably be another week of mostly, if not all, nights at full capacity. But hey, last week wasn’t bad, so hopefully this one won’t be either. I think, with kids getting ready to go back to school, our really busy season is coming to a close. Several staff members I know, like Haley and Colin, will be leaving soon to go back to school themselves. We still have almost two more months before the lodge closes for the season, but it already feels kind of like the end isn’t far off. Conversations seem to have changed from “what are you doing this weekend” to “what are you doing for the winter season”. I’m not really sure how to feel about that. On one hand, every day away from my friends and family in San Antonio gets a little harder. Seeing my zoo team friends post pictures of them having fun at the zoo, getting emails about upcoming events there, or hearing updates on what’s going on in my family makes me feel kind of sad. But at the same time, the thought of saying goodbye to Cristina, Nate, Tanner, Jesse, and the other wonderful friends I’ve made here really sucks. I was just thinking the other day that in the time I’ve been here I’ve gotten to celebrate Cristina’s, Maggie’s, Nate’s, and Jesse’s birthdays with them, which has been great. But, as a tradeoff, this summer I’ve had to or am going to have to miss my zoo uncle’s (if you know me you know who that is), aunt’s, cousin’s, best friend’s, and brother’s birthdays. It’s kind of bittersweet. Anyway, moving on to recent news.

            The rendezvous party last night was a lot of fun. I got up to the room where it was being held at about 5:45. It was in the lodge’s biggest conference room; the same room where we had the orientation at the beginning of the season. There were circular tables set up all around the room, with some tables around the edge holding either raffle prizes or desserts. A buffet was set up on the far left side of the room, and I laughed to see Alex Klein (the head of the company) in an apron serving steaks behind a grill. He’s awesome to have as a boss.

            The dinner of corn, coleslaw, ribs, steak, and buttery rolls was certainly a lot better than any meal I’ve had in the EDR. Not long after sitting down with some people I know from the reservations department, I saw Jesse come in and look around the room. I waved at him and after getting his food, he came over and sat down next to me. We ate and watched as other staff members participated in different types of ridiculous, hilarious games at the front of the room. It was a fun night.

            I just got back to my dorm from having lunch with Jesse and Nate. It’s been cooler the past few days here. When I stepped out this morning to walk over to the EDR, it was about sixty degrees, maybe even lower. I found it kind of funny that if it were that temperature I’d be wearing jeans and long sleeves. But here I’ve been walking around in running shorts and a t-shirt quite comfortably.

            I go in at three today, working with Nate, Sofi, Felix, and Jen. My schedule this week is kind of weird. I was originally going to have Thursday and Friday off, but Rebecca told me that she really needed Thursday off since she needed to be somewhere out of town that day, so I agreed to switch one day off with her. So now my week will be: working at three today, tomorrow and Sunday, then I have Monday off (normally one of Rebecca’s days off). My next day off after that will be Friday. Like I said, kind of a weird week, but it’ll be okay. 

These Are The Days That Bind Us

            So yesterday afternoon when Cristina got off work she came home and took a nap. I texted Tanner not long after to see if he knew what the plan was for the night. I wasn’t sure if we were planning to just eat dinner in the EDR or leave earlier and eat in town. I was kind of hoping we’d just eat in the EDR before leaving. I knew that a restaurant in Jackson would be better, but, being a tourist town, pretty much everywhere in Jackson is overpriced. He texted me back to say that he was actually in the EDR on his dinner break, and there’d been a slight change of plans. Since we hadn’t gotten too many people to come to this trip into town, the plan was now to go to the movies instead, which was fine with me.

            After having dinner in the EDR, Cristina, Tanner and I left the lodge at a little after seven and headed into town for the movies. We were seeing Guardians of the Galaxy, which didn’t start until 9:30, so first we went to Albertson’s to pick up a few things for the dorms. After that, we drove back over to the theater to get our tickets and see the movie. It felt like a long time since I’d been in a movie theater; I actually can’t remember the last movie I went to see in a theater before last night. It turned out to be a fun night watching the movie with Cristina and Tanner.

            It was a little after 12:30 by the time we got back to the lodge. I decided to send Elena an email letting her know that I wouldn’t be at the volunteer project in the morning. They probably wouldn’t be able to get much done anyway due to the weather. I didn’t set an alarm and let myself sleep late and have a pretty lazy morning. This weather actually makes it perfect for doing just that. I just got back from having lunch in the EDR. I heard quite a bit of talk about the rendezvous party this evening while I was there. It’s supposed to include a nice dinner and some fun activities. I know a lot of people that are going; it should be another nice night. The flyers I’ve seen around for it says it runs from five until midnight. I don’t have to be at work until three tomorrow afternoon, so I’ll be able to stay out late. I’ve heard from returning employees that this company also has a semi-formal, end of season party. They do it right after the lodge closes in October, so all of the employees can come. I’m sure that’ll also be nice; I love that this company does things like that. 

Summer In The City

I took these last night after work. Storm clouds over the mountains make for awesome pictures! 

            Last night was another easy night at the desk. We had a few more groups come in, most of which we were able to do batch check-ins for. Working with David, Rebecca, and Emily, we were down to only about ten more check-ins by nine o’clock, which is much less than we normally have. The main drama actually happened while I was on my dinner break. I came back to hear David tell me that he’d recently gotten yelled at by a guest that was upset that there wasn’t air conditioning in his room. For the record, there’s no air conditioning or televisions, not only in the rooms here in our lodge, but in the entire park. It’s kind of annoying when we hear people complain about that; if you want a vacation that consists of sitting in an air conditioned room watching TV, just stay home.

We were at full capacity again, but all of the rooms were taken care of by housekeeping fairly early, so at nine Emily said I could go home. After going to my room to change, I decided to go to the Whistle Pig to hang out for a while, which was really nice.

            I woke up this morning to the sound of rain right outside. It’s been raining on and off pretty much all day, which is fine with me. The rainclouds over the mountains can make for some really beautiful pictures. I was kind of planning on hanging out mainly inside today anyway, so the rain isn’t disrupting any plans.

            Cristina and Tanner were both working the morning shifts today; Cristina’s probably getting off right about now. Tanner will get off in about an hour. Nate also has today off; I haven’t seen him yet today. The plan is to go into Jackson for karaoke again tonight. I’m not sure exactly when we’ll head over. We might have dinner here at the EDR first, or we might eat in town before heading over to the Virginian. Either way, it should be a nice night.

            Tomorrow the plan is still to do some trail cleaning up with other employees that have signed up to volunteer for it. I saw Elena in the EDR at lunch today, and she said that it should go rain or shine, we just might cut it short if it rains. I know that David is signed up to volunteer for it as well. Then tomorrow evening is the employee rendezvous party in the lodge, which should also be nice. Nate has to work tomorrow evening, but I’m sure that Cristina and Tanner will both come, and hopefully Jesse will too.  

Having Fun All Summer Long

            Last night was another easy, actually kind of fun shift at the desk. It was me, Nate, David and Jen. As I said in the last post, we had quite a few groups coming in today, and most of them we could batch check-in, so it was really easy even though we were at full capacity again by about dinner time. When I checked last night I also noticed that we’re also already at full capacity for the next two or three nights as well.

            The first two hours or so of the shift were really busy. It seemed like I was constantly either checking in a guest or talking on the phone with one. Overall it wasn’t bad, though, since it made those first couple of hours go faster. It slowed down by a little after five, and one by one, we started going on our dinner breaks.

            By the time I got back from dinner most of the groups had already come through, so we had less than fifty check-ins remaining for the rest of the night. I think we could all tell that it would be a pretty slow rest of the night. I kind of expected Jen to say that one of us could go home early, but she didn’t. I didn’t really mind that though; we were getting paid to basically just stand around, browse the Internet, and joke around with each other. Yes, occasionally someone would come into the lobby looking to check-in, but overall it was really slow.

            By the time nine o’clock rolled around, we had about eighteen more check-ins left, and I started quizzing David and Nate about animal facts to make the time go faster. It turned out to be pretty fun actually. I quizzed them on everything from “how many species of bears are there in the world?” to “what animals can recognize themselves in a mirror?” to “what’s the difference between pythons and boas?” Their answers were pretty hilarious. Occasionally I’d also throw in a really easy one for them. Jen and Brian, the bellman on duty last night, joined in for a while as well. David asked me at one point what website I was looking at, and I replied, “the website of my brain!” It definitely seemed to make the rest of the shift go faster, and also made it more fun.

            When we got off at eleven, David and I decided to go to the Whistle Pig for a while to hang out, while Nate just went home. There weren’t too many people in there last night, but it was still fun to hang out there.

            I go back in at three today, working with Rebecca and David again. It’s my Friday, thankfully, and it sounds like I’ve got a nice weekend ahead of me. Tomorrow during the day I think I’ll probably mostly just hang out around here and rest to help get over the last of this cold that I’ve had the past few days. In the evening I’m heading into town with Tanner, Cristina, Nate, and a few other people for another karaoke night. Thursday Elena (the rooms division manager), set up a volunteer trail clean up project that she wants people to help with, so I agreed to go to that. It’ll be from eight to about one, and then we’ll arrive back at the lodge. Then Thursday from five to about midnight the company is throwing an employee “Rendezvous Party” in one of the large conference rooms in the lodge. It’ll include dinner and some other events and activities. I’m sure I’ll end up going to that since I’m off and don’t go into work until three on Friday.