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.

What a Hectic Year but A Fantastic Wedding

Well, my daughter's wedding was a joyous event. Everything went well and a good time was had by all. We rented a 6700 sq ft house near the Seville Country Club in South Gilbert that was perfect for the occassion. After some nervousness about rain, it cleared up by 1 o'clock and was fine for the 5 PM outdoor ceremony. The ceremony went off without a hitch and the reception after was great. We could not have pulled it of without the master planner and creative genius(Mary Ann), great staff(Dale, Jannell, Steve,Carol, and family members Jean, Alice, Becky, and Betty Jean). Our friend Marsha did the cake and it was stunning. Sharon did a fantastic job on the massages. In fact if she would have got me any more relaxed I would have gone to sleep and missed the wedding. A special thank you to Diane for housing Mary Ann prior to the wedding so she could accomplish all she needed to.Our son Michael was busy running any errand we needed plus shooting video. A very, very SPECIAL THANK YOU to Donna for taking absoluting perfect pictures of the event. Also a special thank you to Stev for stepping in and filming the ceremony. It turned out great and the memories will last forever for Kim and Mike. There are so many people who helped out( Mike's Dad and family and our friends from Tucson). I hope I did not forget anyone but Mary Ann and I feel blessed to have such wonderful friends. After the wedding we spent 2 nights in Las Vegas and then 3 nights with our friends in Boise. We are now in Bozeman, Montana and are on the way to Yellowstone National Park to work again from 23 April until 2 August. I plan on updating the Blog every week or so.

I'm Back

It has been a hectic month and a half. We had a good Christmas and New Year in Virginia. Our son was able to visit for over a week. Mary Ann is constantly busy making preparations for our daughter's April 11 wedding. We had originally planned for the wedding to take place in Freestone Park in Gilbert but have since changed to have it at a house we rented in Gilbert. It is on a large lot, has 6700 sq ft and six bedrooms. This gives us a place to stay, somewhere to have the reception and Mary Ann can get everything ready ahead of time. We left on vacation on 16 January. We spent the night in Charleston, SC and saw a lot of historic Charleston. The next day we drove to Savannah, GA and spent the day touring the city. We spent the night in Kings Bay,GA and then the next day we drove to Kennedy Space Center where we did the tour and actually saw the Shuttle on the launch pad as it is scheduled to launch this month and they move it to the launch pad 30 days prior. We spent the night in Melbourne, FL and drove to Fort Lauderdale the next day and picked up Carol and Steve Kizziar at the airport. We toured the Coral Castle in Homestead, FL and spent the night at Homestead Air Force Base. The next day we drove to Key West where we had rented a 3 bedroom townhouse on Key West Naval Base for 3 days. We spent the next 3 days exploring Key West, enjoying sunsets and freezing(they had record low temperatures). On January 23 we drove to the Everglades and spent the day exlporing before heading to our motel in Fort Lauderdale where we met up with other friends(Janelle and Dale Huddleston and Jan and Richard Fisher) who were also going on the cruuise. The next day the eight of us left on our cruise to St Maarten, St Kitts, and Grand Turk. St Maarten was the highlight where six of us did the Zip Line where you go from tree to tree on cables or walking on ropes, cables or boards. Luckily you are attached by safety cables so you cannot fall unless you are stupid enough not to connect your safety cables. We then spent the rest of the day at a nice beach enjoying sun, food and beer. On St Kitts Carol, Steve, Mary Ann and I took a tour of the Island and then had lunch and relaxed at the beach before taking a water taxi back to the ship. On Grand Turk Janelle, Dale, Mary Ann and I rented a golf cart and explored the island. It is only 6 miles long and 1 mile wide. After taking then back to the ship we returned to Governor's beach which was the best beach I believe we had been to. It was less than a mile from the ship but was deserted except for a few people. We arrived back in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday and drove as far as Walterboro, SC and checked in the Holiday Inn in time to watch the Super Bowl(What a game). The next day we arrived back in Virginia. Mary Ann is busy again preparing for the wedding and we will return to Phoenix next week for a short visit.

Great News

On Thanksgiving day, my daughter's boyfriend asked my permission to marry my daughter. I think very highly of him(not to mention, he is my golfing buddy) so I of course said yes. He was planning on waiting until Christmas to propose but ending up asking her about a week ago. It appears the wedding will be on April 11 at Freestone Park. More details to follow. We left Phoenix on Thursday December 11 and flew to Nashville. When we arrived it was 33 degrees but felt much colder due to the wind chill. That night the temperature dropped to 25 degrees and it snowed. The schools were closed on Friday. Boy what a difference from Phoenix. We fly to Norfolk, VA and will spend the Holidays there. We will be back in Phoenix early January and then back to Virginia . We will leave to vacation in Florida the middle of January and then leave on our cruise out of Ft Lauderdale 24 January and will visit St Maarten, St Kitts, and St Lucia.

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Happy Thanksgiving

We have been in Phoenix for over 3 weeks and have been extremely busy. Mary Ann has worked quite a bit and we have been to Las Cruces, NM, Tucson and San Diego. Our son arrives from Las Cruces today and we are having Thanksgiving Dinner at our daughter's house. Our son will be here until Sunday. Monday afternoon we fly to Nashville as we close on the condo we bought on Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon we fly back to Phoenix. We will then have about 9 days left before we fly to Nashville for about 4 days and then back to Virginia for about 5 weeks before our cruise in January. Mary Ann and I have taken 25 flights in the 7 months I have been retired and 3 of those months we were in Yellowstone working and did not fly at all. It gets real confusing trying to remember where I am. We now have a car in Arizona, a car in Virginia, a home in Virginia, and a home in Tennessee and we don't seem to spend a lot of time in any of those places. A Happy Thanksgiving to all.