Around the "Springs"

Last Tuesday (6/10) we walked out of our dorm door to a dusting of snow on the ground [see first pic]. Next we see our old dorms from 45 years ago - with a snow angel. They look pretty much the same, but there are fire-escapes now. The one on the left was the "boy's dorm", where my brother Mac and I lived, and the one to the right was the "girl's dorm", where Lorraine lived. They are now co-ed, of course and have the high-fallutin names: Lodgepole and Juniper.

The next picture is the eating area of the Employee Dining Room (EDR), formerly called the "Zoo". It is spruced up a bit and the food service area is much updated, but the eating area is not a lot different. This is my domain, since I start this week as a "Lead" in the EDR. It gives me .50 more per hour than my previous salary (and Lorraine's), but it remains to be seen whether or not this is on the whole a good thing.

I'll introduce some of the EDR staff who were on duty Tues. The Lady with the wry smile is Jody, the other EDR Lead, and my mentor. Nid, from Thailand, is a co-worker who, with our other Thai friend, Indy, tells me exactly what to do and how to do it. To and Cassie, from Hong Kong, are even newer than I in the EDR. Josh was a cohort at the dish washing station.

Barbara and Loretta are sisters who come back to work in the park year after year, and know everything that goes on. Lyle and Judy (waving from the table) are our next door neighbors in the dorm. Alex and Vitaly are young friends from the Ukraine.

The General Store - formerly the Hamilton Store - is updated, but not a lot different. Fortunately, now they sell wine, beer, and a little booze.

The last two pictures are from the Map room of the hotel. The first shows the windows looking toward the Terraces, and finally, the Map itself. This map shows each state in a wood veneer that is different from any adjacent to it. [It is hard to photograph!] There is actually a famous math problem that answers the question: How many different veneers are needed for such a map? I'm way too tired tonight to think about the math problem.

Lorraine is getting used to working 8 hours in the gift shop without much sitting, and can now handle a rush of people and a full store by herself. I've watched her do that very effectively. She says that she will write part of the blog soon, but right now she is sleeping!

My next entries will be about our trip to Old Faithful and the hike we took on our second set of days off.

The weather looks like it is changing from the cold and wet stuff we have had since we arrived to beautiful spring conditions. Today was absolutly fantastic.

Best,
Doug & Lorraine