Big Rally Ended

The annual classic car rally is officially ended this morning. The activities yesterday included a parade of the autos downtown and several raffles and meetings ending with a banquet last night and dancing well into the early hours this morning. Our shift at the front desk was dominated by the rally guests wanting all kinds of housekeeping items - pillows, blankets, soap, etc - and idle conversation about the rally and the vehicles that are here this year. We also had a very surprising visit at the front desk by the one and only Virginia - the very spry and alert 89 year old owner of the Virginian Lodge. She was paying a visit from her home in San Diego and she was staying in one of her several homes in the area near the Tetons. She came in with her daughter and son-in-law and spent several minutes talking with us and the management that were on duty yesterday for the rally. A remarkable woman.

This rally is the 36th annual. There are people that have been coming here for over 30 of those years and we spoke to one woman who made her reservations for next year's rally that said she was a relative "newbie" since she began attending in 1991. This rally also kicks off our busy season as we only had 3 rooms available when we left our shift at 11 PM last night. From now on, we expect to be very busy with the tourist season in high gear.

We are happy that our weekend shifts are in the afternoon this year. It should be a circus at the front desk this morning with all the attendees checking out and trying to make reservations for next year. The crowd should be gone by the time we start at 3 PM. In the meantime, we will enjoy our morning and early afternoon in the sunshine and warm weather we have had the last few days...