Birthday Celebration

It was kind of a low key celebration for Josie's Birthday yesterday. As a result of having to work in the afternoon, we will save the nice dinner for today. It was a nice surprise for her at work when we arrived at 3 PM and there was a cake waiting for her and a card signed by the whole staff. My picture of her and the cake didn't turn out so well so you will have to imagine how surprised she was. Another of the staff and good friend, Donna, gave her something she has wanted for awhile - a dog!

It's the best kind - doesn't shed, doesn't eat a lot, doesn't poop and doesn't need a babysitter when we go somewhere. What a nice thought. We have appropriately named the dog Jackson.

The only other activity was a trip to the grocery store in the AM and Josie also took a walk into town while I did some computer stuff. The weather has been a factor in our activity planning, but we hope to see that change today. At least the sun is shining this morning and the sky is clear.

We have talked about taking a short drive into Victor, ID to buy some lottery tickets, so that is part of our activity schedule for today. The restaurant where we plan to have dinner - Eleanor's -is the one across the street from the lodge that we recommend to many guests, but have never tried ourselves. It's always better when you can recommend a place where you have had experience in order to add some credibility to your description. With only one more day left in July, we have past the half-way point in our stay in Jackson this season...

Cool and Damp

Beginning yesterday, we are in for several cool and damp days. It only reached 68 yesterday for the high and we are at 49 this morning. The fireplace is on to warm the place while I write this entry and watch the clouds roll in once again. It makes it difficult to get outside and enjoy some physical activity although Josie did go far a long walk yesterday AM. I was entrenched in watching "The Man of Steel" movie that we taped earlier this week. It is a good remake of the Superman movie but with all the new technology of special effects.

It was another tough night at work as the Asian tour company - Joy Holiday - arrived with two busses when we only expected one, and the guests filled our lobby at 10 PM last night, making their concoctions of whatever they eat, out of hot water that we supply in the lobby for tea, hot chocolate, apple cider and decaf coffee. They fill their thermoses and use the water for their noodles that they sit in the lobby and eat while chatting in Chinese so that nobody knows what their saying. They are given a room map of the lodge that contains the Internet codes, among other information, and none of them read the information. There were probably ten or so people that came to the front desk asking for the user and password codes for Internet that are clearly typed on their room maps that each received at check-in. They are the new tour company this year, and it is a real challenge each time they show up at the lodge. Oh, well.

Happy Birthday to Josie today. We will celebrate her birthday tomorrow when we get our first day off this week. Probably at a restaurant of her choice. The same happened last year on her birthday when it also fell on a work day. With the cool, damp weather, choices of activities may be a little limited this morning...

Pick Up Day

It was time to pick up our Fair entries at the Exhibit Hall yesterday We went there at about 9 AM and picked up our entries along with $14 each in prize money and had our pictures taken as Division Winners at the Fair. We then went to the lodge and showed our "stuff" to the staff who were interested in seeing our entries. Since most of them work at the lodge during the day and go home outside of Jackson following work, they don't really get a chance to physically visit the Fair.

The other main activity for the day was to mow the grass. The weather forecast for the next 4 or 5 days includes rain, so it was a good idea to get the grass done before it became too wet. Along with the rain, cooler temperatures are forecast. We have enjoyed 80+ temperatures almost every day for the last couple weeks, and the next several days will only see highs in the 70's. One day, today, it is only suppose to go to the high 60's as the cloud cover is already here.

Our "Thursday" is today, and we are already looking forward to our days off this week. It has been an especially tough week with sell-outs each night and working with the person on the first two days of our work week that we wish would just go away. Fortunately, this summer is the only employment she will have with the lodge as they plan on not inviting her back after September 30 - the end of our season. Our manager is already trying to figure out a way to schedule her that will not impact the busiest times at the front desk.

We have also planned a three day trip to WA next week to celebrate Harmony's birthday (August 5) with her. There have been some issues surrounding her care and schooling that have us concerned and we also want her to know that we love her and care about her. We will drive straight through on Wednesday next week (taking that day off) and return on Friday to be ready to return to work again on Saturday. More on that later...

Fair Winding Down

There wasn't much scheduled yesterday morning before heading to work at 3 PM. I watched the final round of the Canadian Open on TV while Josie did laundry. When we left for work shortly before 3 PM, Jim Furyk was in the lead and I see where he blew the tournament - again. He is one of the players that just can't handle the pressure of leading in a big tournament. That's OK, as it wasn't a very exciting tournament anyway. Many of the big names were absent.

The Fair is winding down and we will go to the Exhibit Hall this morning and pick up our entries. There also is a photo session this morning where all the Division Winners will have their pictures taken for next year's program. Somehow, I missed that session last year. Both of us are already beginning our planning for next year's Fair assuming that we return again for a fourth year. The way things are going at the front desk, there is concern about a return visit for the first time. There are always times when you wished you weren't working at your job, but this year we have experienced more of those occasions. We are hoping that the second half at the front desk is more fun than the first half.

I'm closing in on a milestone with the blog. Soon, I will reach my 2000th entry which is 5.5 years without missing a day. I never thought the streak would extend this far, but I enjoy creating the trail of our adventures and to have it as a reference of our travels since we hit the road almost six years ago...

Mid Season Woes

As we were starting a new week at work, we wanted to get a few things done around the rig. There were a couple boxes that contained magazines, flyers, papers and other outdated material that needed to be sorted and discarded. If we don't keep up with this type of cleaning, it can get out of control and before you know it, clutter takes over. We need to travel as light as we can, so we are motivated to keep up.

Working at the front desk this year seems a lot more trying to us. There are more people complaining about things - their room location, housekeeping problems and parking problems - than we can remember having in any of the other years we have worked here. The staff is different and not as much fun to work with which also tends to make the days longer and harder. Also, we have more buses in this year and one tour company - Joy Holiday - doesn't arrive until near quitting time at 11 PM each time they come to the lodge. That creates other problems for us with our "safe" rooms, which are rooms we hold back in case there are any complaints with room assignments for those buses. If it weren't for the fantastic area where we work and the package we have with the living space, we would rethink our association with the lodge. Maybe three seasons is the extent of our working in one job at one location. At times, we miss the travel to other areas, but we have been very happy working this arrangement in Jackson, WY. Maybe it's just the mid season woes that we are experiencing as we are about half-way through the season.

Today will be another work at home morning as Josie will do some laundry and I will do some basement reorganizing. We also talked about mowing the grass again, so we'll see what develops...

Bike Ride to Dornan's

Our bikes were finished and ready to pick up at the bike shop. We wanted to take a ride after picking them up, so we drove to the Gros Ventre (gro vont) Junction on the main highway through the Teton National Park. It was exactly noon by the time we left the shop and arrived at our starting point:

It was another beautiful day for outside activity and we rode the 6.5 miles to Dornan's Restaurant at the entrance to the Park. Our bikes performed flawlessly, and we enjoyed the scenery all the way:

We both had a salad for lunch - a disappointing one - at Dornan's:

and walked around the nice area near the Snake River where we saw the old ferry crossing that we visited during our first year here. This is where folks crossed the Snake River and was the home of the old homesteader, Bill Menor:

Our total distance for the bike ride was over 13 miles and we arrived back at the Jeep at around 2 PM.

We took another walk to the Fair to see the activity as yesterday everything was open and the Fair was at full speed. We bought a bag of kettle corn and walked around the various booths and ended up at the entertainment tent where a gentleman was talking about birds of prey while holding a hawk:

The rest of the day was spent sitting outside and enjoying the sunshine.

Our days off are over for another week as we head into the final week of July. The time is flying by and it is only two more months before we call it another season in this fabulous area...

Fair Results

We both were very anxious to go to the Exhibit Hall at the Fair to see if our entries had won any ribbons. We arrived shortly after the doors opened at 9 AM and walked to the photo section where we saw that Josie's photo of the barn on Mormon Row had won a red second place ribbon. That was actually pretty good for a photo taken with her cell phone camera and not done professionally.

The next stop was the needlework area where I saw my entry with a blue, first place ribbon, and a Division Winner ribbon:

I was disappointed that it didn't win Best of Show this year, but the article that won the top prize was a very intricate knitted sweater. I can't say I understand that choice, but I'll take my ribbons. The real surprise was that Josie's afghan also won a blue first place ribbon and a Division Winner ribbon:

Congratulations to her for winning on her first try with an entry in this category. We both are already looking forward to next year's Fair and are starting to talk about what we might do to improve our chances for the top prize.

Following our walk to the Fairgrounds, we took a drive to Thayne, WY, where the Star Valley RV Resort is located. We had visited there before and wanted to take another look at the area and at the RV lots that are being sold. The prices are very reasonable and the area is nice enough, but we are concerned that it is too far from Jackson - 40 miles. We will wait on any decision to acquire a lot. The season for this resort is also short, as it is only open between April 15 and October 15 each year.

While driving around this area, we spotted an Alpaca farm where we stopped to take a shot of one of these unusual animals:

We also drove into the town of Afton, which is notable for our radiator replacement on the truck. It is a nice town and you may remember this archway, made from elk antlers, that has made the town famous:

Today, we will pick up our bikes at the shop in Jackson, and proceed to the Park to take a ride from the Gros Ventre Junction to Dornan's Restauarant...

Walk Into Town

Our walk for yesterday was into town. With the Fair picking up steam and the beautiful weather, it was an easy decision. The rides are all ready to go starting today and going through the weekend:

Most of the Fair activity to date has been the 4-H and other horse activities. Today, the Exhibit Hall opens and all the other Fair attractions and booths will open.

Our walk into town was through a couple areas that we haven't walked in a long time, plus our usual walk around the Town Square to check out any new offerings in the stores we like. We didn't buy anything, but took this shot of the antler arches which are always fascinating:

Our total distance was over 3 miles and we stopped at a Mexican restaurant - El Abuelito - that was on the way home. We haven't eaten Mexican in a while, and it was enjoyable with a margarita to boot!

It's nice to be away from the rate race at work for a couple days. Our plan is to catch the Fair activities this morning and possibly take a drive somewhere this afternoon. Our bikes were dropped off yesterday at the shop where we purchased them last year to have them tuned up. We expect to have those ready for pickup either today or tomorrow.

We are excited to find out what, if any, prizes our Fair entries have won. We'll let you know tomorrow...

Entered in Fair

We are entered once again in the Teton County Fair this year. This is my second year and Josie's first for submitting entries for the exhibit hall in the Fair. The rides were all assembled on the Fairgrounds, and the Fair is ready to go full steam for the weekend. We arrived a few minutes early at 10:45 for the 11 AM start time for entering the items, and we were at the front of the line where we watched this young man complete assembly of a huge battleship and an airplane that he made out of Lego's:

It's amazing what can be made out of these little plastic squares. He is sure to win something with these creative objects.

Following our stop at the Exhibit Hall, we took a drive into the park since it was such a beautiful day. The mountains were majestic against the clear, blue sky:

We stopped at the Signal Mountain Lodge that is on the south end of Jackson Lake, and where the harbor and mountains made for a great shot:

It is another of the many post-card shots that are available in this beautiful park.

We are definitely in the peak of the season at the lodge as we were super busy all night while selling out again. We worked most of the night alone and, except for a few brief periods of telephones ringing off the hook, handled the load without any problems. We sure sleep well these days following our shift.

This morning we will take our bikes into the shop for a tune-up. It's also our final work day of the week tonight and we are looking forward to some down time and relaxation...

Jam Packed Day

The long day started with my appointment at  the Audiologist to pick up my repaired hearing aid and to have my hearing test. It started off with her telling me the hearing aid was received on the 14th (a week ago) and she was sorry they didn't call me when it arrived back in the office. Anyway, we proceeded with the hearing test and my hearing hasn't gotten any worse since the last test about two years ago. She also indicated that I had purchased the right hearing aids based on my test results. She tweaked the programs a little bit and I was out the door after paying a $60 charge for the tune-up. There was no charge for the repair (warranty) or the hearing test (insurance).

I called our friend Scott Anderson on the way back to the fifth wheel to schedule our planned lunch with he and Valerie. Their daughter was also in town visiting them from Sun Valley ID and they came to Jackson from Yellowstone where Scott and Valerie are working this season. We met at the Lift in town, and had a great lunch and enjoyed catching up on each other's travels and our experiences over the last couple years since we last met:

We came back to our fifth wheel following lunch to show them the lodge and to visit outside on this beautiful day. They liked the area and the lodge so much they asked Judy, our front desk manager, for her card so they could call her for possibilities of working here next year. With all of the problems she has had with the young girls that were hired this summer, she may welcome another workamping couple.

We were again sold-out at work as we worked alone. The girl (Marissa) that we were scheduled to work with did not show up for work for the third time in three days and we assume she will not return. That means we will work alone for the foreseeable future on Monday and Tuesday nights. We prefer it that way anyhow. She was one of the nicer choices at the front desk but was wrought with personal problems. Too bad for a single mom at the age of 20. We hope she is OK and gets her life together soon.

Today we take our entries over to the Fair. I have a new cross stitch to enter, and Josie is entering an afghan and also a photo of one of the barns we took at Mormon Row. We are both anxious to see if we win anything for our entries...

Wilson Chicken Fry

This year we made it a point to arrive early at the annual Wilson Volunteer Fireman Chicken Fry. It was suppose to begin at noon, but we were there at 11:15, found a close in parking space and walked to the grounds where the Fry was being held. We brought our folding chairs and found a spot to set them up so we could eat our lunch with the crowd. Last year we ended up eating our lunch in the truck as we didn't take our chairs and all the seats were taken by the time we got through the food line.

We took several photos of the occasion, starting with our arrival at the main tent:

It was a clear, warm morning and the firemen were cooking away at the fire pits:

We set up our chairs, got a beer at the beer station and got in line for our lunch. They actually started serving at 11:30 AM and we were close to the front of the line. We got our salad, chicken, potatoes, roll and walked to our seats. We enjoyed the lunch as we watched the crowd that was eating on their laps as we were. This is the scene behind the food station where most of the crowd was seated:

They had entertainment again this year:

and we sat and really enjoyed the meal and the atmosphere:

After we finished and started walking back to the Jeep, we took this shot of the line which looked like the one we stood in last year:

We were back to our rig by 1 PM and in plenty of time to get ready for work at 3 PM.

Work was uneventful and we were again sold out at the lodge.

I have an appointment with the Audiologist this morning where I will pick up my repaired hearing aid and also have a hearing test for the first time in a couple years. I'm sure the test will show, at best, the same hearing loss as the last one...

Icemaker Installed

It wasn't quite as simple as it looked, but I managed to get our new ice maker installed and working yesterday:

It was making ice cubes before we left for work at 3 PM and this morning the ice bin is about half full. The only problem I had was in taking out the old unit, but once I figured out how to detach it, the job became fairly simple. I'm still not declaring myself a master technician though.

We also mowed the grass yesterday and have that chore done for another week or so. We received a call from the bike shop in Jackson where we purchased our bikes and want to take them in for a tuneup, and that appointment is now set for next Wednesday.

Our schedule calls for a revisit to the Wilson Chicken Fry today and we plan to leave early in order to get closer to the front of the food line. Last year, we arrived right at noon and were near the back of the line and it didn't leave a lot of time to get ready for work. We are learning more about these events as we begin to revisit them.

We are hoping for some easier times at work. The new girl that we don't believe is going to make it called in sick again yesterday for the third time in a month. She is the one that we don't like working with anyway, so maybe it will speed her departure. Josie and I can handle the load at the front desk working alone. There is only a period between 4 PM and about 6:30 PM when we can use an extra body to field phone calls while we check people into the lodge. We are having more problems this year with reservations being accurate, and we don't know what is causing that problem. We will be sold out every night from now until the end of July, so there will be no slack in the workload. The time does go faster when we are busy, so bring it on...

Business in Idaho Falls

Our final day off this week was taken with another visit to Idaho Falls. There were some items that Josie needed to return to Michael's, and there were other objectives. We both got haircuts at Walmart and then we went to the Jiffy Lube to get the Jeep serviced. It was only 500 miles overdue for the service, so we hit that scheduled service almost dead-on. It was a beautiful day and we also stopped at Sam's Club to pick up some fruit following the Michael's visit and then we headed home. A stop at the homemade ice cream store in Swan Valley on the way back was a real treat. We are set now for another few weeks before we need to go back again.

Our replacement ice maker for the freezer arrived yesterday, so that is on the agenda for today. It doesn't look like a complicated job which scares me. Anything that looks so simple has to have hidden factors to make it a tough job. We'll see this morning.

It also looks like our lawn is about ready for another mowing, so we may try to squeeze that in before we return to work this afternoon.

Mike Kraft, our General Manager at the lodge stopped by yesterday afternoon to drop off two "comp" tickets to the annual Wilson Chicken Fry held by the Volunteer Fire Department in Wilson. We went last year and were shocked at the size of the crowd. This year, it is scheduled for Sunday at noon, so we hope to get there early tomorrow morning so that we don't have to wait in the long lines like we did last year. The Fair is also on now and until July 27th, so we have lots of fun things to look forward to...

Biking

It was time for us to load up the bikes and go for a ride . So far, we haven't ridden the bikes as we have been busy hiking different areas. This time, we wanted to try a different area. We have always wanted to try the pathway from Wilson to Teton Village which is about a 7 mile ride each way.

We arrived at the drop-off location in an area south of Teton Village and about two miles east of Wilson where we unloaded the bikes from the rack and got ready to ride:

It wasn't too far into our ride when I noticed that Josie kept falling further and further behind:

 I kept stopping to wait for her to catch up, and finally I stopped to ask her if there was anything wrong. She said the rear tire was almost flat and she was struggling to peddle on the mostly level pathway. We turned around and went back to the Jeep to grab the pump and get all the tires back up to normal pressure. You would think that I would have known to check the tire pressure after not using the bikes for so long. My bad. By this time, we had already gone 5 miles, round trip, so we decided to change the target location to downtown Wilson. We have never seen any part of Wilson except from the main road on the way to the pass to drive to Idaho. This pathway took us through some pretty countryside and through a couple neighborhoods where we saw some nice homes. The bikes were cruising now with full tire pressure and Josie was much more comfortable:

Our ride ended up in Wilson where we stopped to have lunch at the Stagecoach Grill:

Josie had a burger and I had their Philly Cheese Steak sandwich. It was just a ho-hum lunch and we rode back to the Jeep.

The total ride, including the interrupted part to Teton Village, was about 9 miles. It wasn't what we intended, but the exercise was good. We saw more beautiful wildflowers:

and noticed that it was very hazy from the wildfires in WA that are now having their effect in WY.  It is much too early to see wildfire smoke, so we are hoping it goes away quickly.

Our plan today is to drive to Idaho Falls to return some items Josie bought for a craft project at Michael's, and to finally get a couple haircuts. They are much cheaper in Idaho Falls and the drive is a pleasant one. We will probably see more of the haze from the wildfires, but we have no control over that and are just happy to have the day off to enjoy...

Laid Back Day

Yesterday morning was one of those days that we felt like just hangin' out and not going anywhere. The week has been filled with a bit more stress at work than we have had in the past and with the credit card theft, it seemed like relaxing at home was in order. I did our online entry to the County Fair which begins Friday. Our drop-off day for our entries is this coming Tuesday. Josie did the laundry and that about sums up the morning.

I also ordered a replacement ice maker for our refrigerator. The original one is definitely dead as nothing I do with the unit seems to work. The solenoid valve is shot and by the time we spend the money replacing that part and having it installed, I can replace the entire unit and install it myself. According to all that I have read regarding these units, the lifespan is about 5 to 7 years and we are almost at the end of that period. The new unit will be delivered sometime early next week. We wrapped up most of the nagging repairs to the fifth wheel this week, so we crossed those off our list of to-do's.

Our days off this week aren't planned yet, so we will decide on what to do sometime this morning. At least the weather looks good and whatever we decide will include some outdoor activity...

Revisiting Schwabacher Landing

It was so nice yesterday morning that to waste the time at home made no sense. We decided to revisit the Schwabacher Landing trail that we discovered just a few days ago. It was such a beautiful area and we didn't get to the end of the trail before we ran out of time and had to return home for work. This time, we left earlier and planned to do the entire length of the trail to see where it ended.

Just as we parked the Jeep at the start of the trail, we saw the moose. We scrambled to get our things together and ran down to the landing trailhead to get some shots. There were a couple artists painting pictures for an upcoming art show in Jackson and I quickly snapped a shot of this one before getting to where the moose was visible:

The moose was just grazing along the swampy area along the trail and we followed him all the way along the water until he disappeared into the trees. These are some of the many photos we took while walking along the trail, parallel to where the moose was headed:

and some close up shots where the antlers could be seen and show that this bull was still in velvet:

Along the way on the trail, we also caught these shots of a couple of the many prairie dogs that were running in and out of their holes:

The trail ended about 100 yards from where we stopped on our first excursion, so we turned around and headed back to the car. There was another location off this road that had another trail that  we wanted to explore, so we parked at the beginning of the trail where we saw another artist:

As we were running short on time again, we turned around after a short distance and headed back to the Jeep to go home and get ready for work. This trail will be completely explored on our next visit to the Schwabacher Landing.

It was a pleasant surprise to see the moose and we are convinced that this particular, little known area of the Tetons, will become one of our favorites.

Our Friday is today, and we are happy to see this week end as we had some trying times with the new employees...

Exercising theTruck

Since the truck has been sitting in the lodge parking lot near our site since we arrived in May, we thought it would be a good idea to take it out for a spin to make sure everything was still OK. The first thing we did was to take it to the lodge wash station to hose it off to remove as much as we could of the dust and dirt that has accumulated. It helped, but it still needs a good wash.

We discovered that the right front tire had lost some air - nitrogen, actually - and we drove to the local car dealership to find out if there was a tire company or dealership close by that would be able to fill it with nitrogen. Of course, there aren't any local establishments that can provide nitrogen for tires. The nearest one, according to the service technician at the dealership, is in Idaho Falls. So, we just went to the local gas station and refilled the tire with old fashioned air. We will have to wait until we get to a larger town that carries nitrogen before refilling the tire properly. Anyway, we decided to drive to Driggs - the nice town in Idaho that we visited several times in the past.

There is an area just before the Teton Pass in Wilson where there are horses that hang out close to the highway. We caught them yesterday and took these shots:

You could see the clouds beginning to roll-in in the distance over the mountains.

We drove around a couple neighborhoods in Driggs and still like the town as far as having a small town feel and affordability while being close to the National Parks.

Our drive took about two hours and we returned in plenty of time to have our dinner and get ready for work. Just as we were leaving for work, the rain came. We had a very heavy downpour, some thunder and lightening and even some hail. The rest of the day was off and on clouds with the threat of more rain. We drove to work for the first time this year in case it would be raining when we got off at 11 PM. Our time at work was much more pleasant with another one of the new employees - Marissa - that we enjoy working with. We met with our manager and she indicated that there were other problems with the girl we work with on the weekends and is working to adjust schedules to remove her. We'll see how that turns out...

Maintenance Day

There were several, nagging problems that we had in the fifth wheel that I finally just fixed yesterday. Starting with our sink, which has been leaking on the one side for quite awhile. I ended up taking a trip to the local ACE Hardware store to buy a new drain assembly to replace the old one which had some stripped threads that were causing the leak. I then removed all of the old caulking around the edge of the sink and replaced that with new silicone to prevent any leaking through the edges of the sink. Finally, our ice maker had stopped making ice from what I believe to be too much frost around the unit. I defrosted the freezer and cleaned out everything around the ice maker. Something still isn't right with the ice maker as we still don't have any ice being made as of this morning. I hope we don't have to get a new unit to replace the existing one as they are not very cheap. Is anything very cheap anymore? I think the next step is to take out the unit and see if there is anything wrong that I can fix.

We had a much more controlled and calm night last night at work. We had many check-ins and were nearly sold out, but the problems persist with our new weekend coworker. She is not going to make it as far as we are concerned. She is taking much of the fun out of our jobs as we continually spend time fixing problems she has created because she just doesn't listen to how things should be done. This year, we are working with three new employees at the front desk, and she appears to be the only one - as of now - that will not make it long term at the lodge. We've already gone through one worker - Jill - who was fired a couple weeks ago after only a few weeks of work. I guess we'll have a meeting with Judy, our manager, sometime today when we go in for our shift at 3 PM.

There's not much else to report as we get ready for our "Wednesday" of our work week. See ya tomorrow...

Rafting Photo

I'll begin today's entry by showing a photo from our rafting trip on Friday:

 

We are the third row from the front - I'm wearing the hat on the left and Josie is the second from the rear on the right side. It's a pretty good shot of our raft as we entered the largest of the rapids. There were a few more shots that were taken while we rode through the rapids, but this one is the best as far as seeing us clearly on the raft. We'll do it again next year.

We spent a lot of time yesterday morning getting things squared away with our credit card. We will receive a replacement card in the next few days and it is becoming very clear that we need to rethink our association with Bank of America. The fact that there are no branches in Wyoming makes it very difficult in situations like this as we cannot go into the branch to take care of these kind of problems., including faster replacement and activation of a new card. We hope that the person who is responsible for this is found and prosecuted.

Our shift at work last night was one of the worst we have experienced here at the lodge. We are working with a new lady that is extremely difficult to work with and she caused several problems for us. There were 78 check-ins scheduled plus a bus last night. We were extremely busy at the front desk between about 3:30 and 6:30 PM and the new girl caused several embarrassing problems that required us to change folks' rooms and messed up a couple reservations that required revisions. The problem is that she thinks she can do everything without asking for help and she creates more problems. We will have to have a long talk with Judy, our manager, on Monday. We were happy to see the shift end at 11 PM last night.

It's a beautiful morning outside and we are talking about different options to take advantage of the nice weather. Hopefully, we can clear our heads to work one more shift with this new girl today...

Rafting Plus

We went to the Jackson Hole Whitewater store/departure location right on time at 7:50 AM yesterday. It is only about a block east of us, so we walked to get our pre-departure continental breakfast:

The line was forming at the buffet breakfast table:

and we sat down to enjoy our bagel and coffee:

We all piled onto the bus to take the half hour ride to the launch:

The trip was terrific, as usual, and the ride was pretty much as exciting as the rides we took the last two years with the other whitewater company. The biggest differences were the breakfast and the bus driver, who gave us much more colorful dialogue about the history of the area along the way to and from the trip. We went to the photo shop in town to order our pictures from the trip and will pick those up today. We saw two bald eagles on the trip, but, of course, we didn't have our camera, as they are not allowed on the trip for obvious reasons. We all got drenched going through the rapids.

Following our rafting trip and the visit in town to order our photos, we took a drive into the Tetons to try a side road that we have driven past dozens of times, but never drove. We made a pleasant and surprising discovery on this road. There was a parking area at the end of this approximately one mile road where we parked and got out to walk to the area that is called Scwabacher Landing.

Shortly after starting out on the walk along this beautiful area, we spotted this small group of photographers that were taking shots of a model for some purpose:

We were immediately taken by the unusual views of the mountains and the reflections that were in the water that ran all along this long trail through the bottomland. Here are some photos that could easily be made into postcards:

There were many areas along this path where the wildflowers were beautiful:

We kept reminding each other that this was a secret place that we wished we had discovered before. We walked about a mile on this path that continued on for an unknown length. It will definitely require a return visit when we can walk the entire length of the path.

We finished the wonderful day by grilling a steak and sitting outside to enjoy the rest of the beautiful day. The clouds eventually rolled in, and we had a brief storm in the early evening.

Our morning, today, was interrupted early with the discovery that our credit card account had been hacked and we have unauthorized transactions. We have been on the phone with our bank and the process has been started to take care of the problem. We are getting tired of being made victims of these hacking attacks and don't know, at this point, how to prevent them. New safeguards and security protections are suppose to prevent these, but they still happen...