The Snow is Starting to Melt

The weather has been really nice the last few weeks. Most days it is in the high 50's or higher and we have had a few days in the 70's. It gets cold at night. Usually the low will be in the high 20's or the low 30's. It has been interesting to see most of the snow melt away. We are scheduled to get rain starting Friday and may even see some snow. Last year the last big snow storm was June 13. Enough of the snow has melted and almost all of the hiking trails are open. Most of the hiking trails had been closed until Memorial Day Weekend for Bear Management. I guess the bears know to vacate after Memorial Day. Sunday, we did a 8 mile hike from the Old Faithful Inn to Biscuit Basin and then Mystic Falls and then returning to the Old Faithful Inn. We hiked with 3 friends and had a wonderful time. Yesterday Mary Ann and I did another 8 mile hike. We hiked to Fairy Falls and then to Imperial Geyser and back. We are both sore but are getting in shape and used to the altitude. Next weekend we have 3 days off so we are planning to drive the Beartooth highway and then continue onto Cody, Wy where we will spend 2 nights and do all the tourist stuff plus Mary Ann wants to do some shopping. Work has been good and we have been really busy.

The Old Faithful Inn Opens

The Old Faithful Inn opened on Friday at 11 AM. I had the opening shift which was pretty cool. The guests started lining up at the front door at about 10:30. We had some typical opening day problems but all in all it was a good day. I started my weekend today and am enjoying just lounging around. Mary Ann finished her training yesterday and arrived at Old Faithful about 4;00 PM. She is training today to be a ranger volunteer and will start training at the Old Faithful Lodge tomorrow. The Lodge opens on Friday. We are happy to be back and have renewed a lot of friendships from last year. I am looking forward to all the snow being gone and the weather getting warmer. I am anxious to start hiking again. That's all for now.

At Yellowstone

Well, we are at Yellowstone and you cannot believe all the snow still here. Last year the last big snowstorm was June 15 so that is something to look forward to. I completed my training at Mammoth on Sunday and am now in the Old Faithful area. Mary Ann is still training at Mammoth and will complete her training on Sunday and then come to the Old Faithful area. I will be working the front desk at the Old Faithful Inn which opens Friday, May 8 and Mary Ann will be working the front desk at the Old Faithful Lodge which opens Friday, May 15. Our room this year is very nice. We got 2 Twin beds which we put together to make a king which is a lot bigger than the double bed we had last year. We have 18 people working at the Old Faithful Inn and most of them are 50+ as opposed to last year when we had a lot of young kids and everyone but 3 of us are new. I got promoted to Senior Guest Service Agent which is like the shift supervisor which means I get to deal with unhappy guests. It was fun when I arrived at Old Faithful as I got to see alot of friends from last year. I am sure it is going to be a great season and we are going to do a lot of hiking. The only bad thing so far is our room is so far from the dayroom(location of the internet connection) that I cannot get the internet in my room but i just come and sit in the dayroom and so far the connection has been good. As you can see from the picture, I think Mary Ann had a little too much time on her hand. The first week of my training, Mary Ann only worked a few hours. I think she got bored.