The Great Escape!

We made it! Finished the season, packed up and checked out! We are now in Salt Lake City eating tacos, being a part of the real world. Here are some things we haven't done in a LONG time that happened today.

1. We bought something in a store that didn't say "Yellowstone" on it.
2. Watched Live TV
3. Made our own lunch from non-sysco food
4. Drove in traffic that was non- animal related

Tomorrow we're off to Arches, and to make sure the salt lake is salty...

its freeeeeeeeeezzzziiiinnnnggggg

 Today is my Saturday and Sunday so we tried to see eruption of Grand Geyser. Our timing was perfect and Grand went off just when we got there. Why did we picked Grand? Because its the only big geyser that I did not have a chance to see, so that`s why. Nice eruption, lasting like 10 minutes or so. It was funny to be there with people which were wohooing when the eruption happened  I know it is quite exciting but hey! calm down, it happens every day.

     Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Today we woke up to 7 degrees temperature. Pretty awesome isn`t it?  It seems that winter is coming to the Yellowstone country, maybe we will once wake up to the snow covered roads. Anything is possible in here, mostly I want to see snow\frost covered bison.

     The other day we started to play cribbage but the point is that who ever wins, gets to wear a coconuts bra whole day. Yesterday was my turn. New game is awaiting us today.

     Another exciting new is that we probably pick our future dog. It`s gonna be a Corgi!

Everything is scenic as hell!!!

Today we planed to taste a little bit of life as a cowboys. What else could be more cowboy than a horse back ride? Probably not much. After short time spent in West Yellowstone we headed to the Diamond P ranch just short car ride from the West. First it looked like it will not be much of a ride because it was in middle of nothing. After meeting our horse companions and leaning their names ( mine was Bulls Eye)we went across freeway to the mountains. It was a very beautiful ride, everybody was enjoying it and it was pretty around us. Sometimes Bulls Eye has to do his things, so Em who was behind me had a good view on everything what was happening. Later she told us that she saw insides of Bulls Eye and it looked like a brain. Interesting. Horses were definitely working hard because we gained 700 feet elevation on our almost three hours long ride, but awesome ride. I liked it a lot and we could see Idaho and mountain ranges all around us. It was little bit of smokey but it did not limited our experience.

Our Dumbass Car - an excerpt from Emily's Journal

 Once upon a time their was a couple of happy Morons. They needed a way to get from place to place faster than walking. One sunny day the Morons, along with Dad, went to Sparkles Used Auto. They walked around looking at all the shiny used cars.

An old man came out to ask which of the cars they wanted to test drive. After a few seconds of thought, the Morons chose a care based purely on looks, and hardly at all on function. They pointed at the Green Kia Sportage and asked to drive it- without prior knowledge of the make, or prior want for the model.

Daddy moron pushed every button and pulled every lever whild Mrs. Moron sped down the freeway. the heat didnt really work- but it was hot out, so what does that matter?  and the windows were very slow going up and down, and sometimes got stuck.

without thinking, reason, or logic on Mr and Mrs Morons side, they bought the car without looking at any other cars, or researching their purchase.

Later, Mr and Mrs moron became experts at timing which days they should take the car to the shop to get it fixed. Every other month they paid the mechanic a visit, and a check to add to his children's college fund.

Mr. and Mrs Moron left their small town to explore, and spread the wealth, as well as the frustrations the car created. The morons visited many mechanics throught Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming only to find, none of them could fix the car.

Now, the Morons have quite a predicament on their hands. They live in the mountains, far from home, and other people, cities and cars. Their dumb-ass car doesn't go up hill. What are the Morons to do?

Here's the kicker: Roman's Dad is an expert mechanic..... but he lives in Slovakia...

trip planing

Finnaly, Em got her official winter contract on paper, and not just in verbal form from somebody. For me it means that I can start to plan trip from Minnesota to the World and back . Plane tickets are booked and we are leaving at 6.30 from Minnesota to Atlanta and then from Atlanta to New York on Friday the Second. Then we are leaving from New York on Monday the Fifth and we are flying to the Prague we we are going to stay   one day or so. Next on the plan is Slovakia and Slovenia. On our arrival to US we are flying from Prague to France, and then from France to Toronto, and then from Toronto to Minneapolis.All this on November 20th.
Now I just have to book hotel in New York and plan our tourist wondering. It`s gonna be awesome!

Christmas Time Is Here!

Once Upon a time, in the early years of Yellowstone National Park, there was a snowstorm on August 25th. It was  a whopper of a storm and everyone was stuck in the Inn for a day or so. The guests, and staff made light of the situation by throwing a Christmas party. The tradition continues on today!

Employees volunteering to decorate cookies. The Asians said they had never done it before... seems to me they are basically pro.

I helped decorate the lobby with some of the managers, and the skills I learned as an apprentice to my mother during her Church lady days.

Santa even came! He came down from the crows nest in the lobby. The kids were freaking out and saying things like: "how did he know we were here???? Were on vacation!" the foreign kids gave him quizzical looks as if to say "why is Santa speaking English?"

Natural Arch

Today Roman and I drove down to Bridge Bay Marina to hike Natural Arch. It was pretty cool, I remember doing this hike last time I was here. We ran into a family of Russians on our way too.

Natural Arch

Today Roman and I drove down to Bridge Bay Marina to hike Natural Arch. It was pretty cool, I remember doing this hike last time I was here. We ran into a family of Russians on our way too.

Romanians Fix Everything with a Hammer....

Or at least thats what they all told me when I was driving to Gardiner. I got off work early, and they were searching all day for a ride to Gardiner to go rafting. There was four of them we were the beginning  of many jokes: 4 Romanians and an American etc...

We got there early, so I showed them how to have fun with statues. We also went to the K-Bar for a pizza. they ordered "the crazy woman" pizza... I told them that they already had a crazy woman.

It was fine.....

until it started raining.

The dining room roof has been under construction all season so far. Last week  the managers stood in near the buffet, jaws agape, staring at the sky through the ceiling. Soon after the gap in the roof was discovered a 4 inch bold fell on an employee working at the buffet. He said it didn't hurt, that it was funny, and thought Chef might want to do something about it.

Pat conquered her fear of heights to go upon the roof adorned with a hard hat to give the workers a good talking too.

Monday.... was a day of terror for any manager on duty. It started raining. and by raining, i mean Pouring! the rain was leaking all over the roof, and inside the fully seated dining room at 5:30p. Not only was the floor strew with buckets and pans to catch the water, but the water got into the smoke detector and alarmed the building.

The WHOLE building- forcing everyone staying in the hotel out into the rain. Eventually the rain subsided, and guests were fed, but half of the dining room was soaked.

I didn't witness anything until morning when I came in and was wondering why the Bear Pit- Bar was filled with people enjoying their breakfast. Half of the dining room was still flooded, so they had to move the tables into the bar- so we could still seat to capacity.

Happy Monday Everyone!

Photobombing

The lobby of Old faithful Inn is very unique and historical. Its the kind of place that millions of people each summer walk into, and immediately take out their cameras and attempt to capture the essence of the Inn. You can almost here the machine gun like sound of the shutters on all the cameras- which makes this a perfect place for a photobomb.

On occasion, when Roman and I treat ourselves to ice cream, coffee, or a drink at the bar, we go to the second floor and wait.... for a camera. We sure do amuse ourselves. I wonder how many pictures we are in of other peoples vacations.... I wonder if they've noticed....

Minnesota Visitors!

Today we got to see Ruth and John! They treated us to a delicious breakfast, and we showed them around Old Faithful... They didnt have time to walk all around the geyser basin, but they got to see the buffalo bones in Blue Star spring!

Questions Of the Day

In order to entertain ourselves at work, Sous Chef Tom and I came up with a game: Question of the Day. You get as much time to think of each question as you want, and usually it turns into a full kitchen survey. Here are some of the questions we've all pondered:

1. What would your super power be?

2. If you had acess to all the crayons in the world, what would you do with them?

3. If you could go anywhere and bring only 5 things, what would they be, and where would you go?

4. If you could create any pet with a combination of any animals real, or fictional, what would you create?

5. If you were a Muppet, based on personality, which one would you be?

6. If you were a disease or sickness, what would you be? (we made this up on a day where everyone was crabby)

7. If you could be any children's tv/movie/cartoon character, who would you be?

8. If you could live in any era, what would it be, and what would your occupation be?

Traveling With Slovenians

Today we went on an adventure with our Slovenian friends Marko and Mateja. We went on a hike to ferry falls. On the way there we climbed up this hill to take pictures of Grand Prismatic- the largest hot springs. Its super pretty. 

When we got to ferry falls there were rasberry bushes everywhere! I was really excited, I left non for the bears or small rodents. I ate them all.

Roman was pretending to be a bear, and attack me and steal my raspberries. After the hike we went swimming again at pocket basin. Mateja and I went down the rapids, but the boys were a bit too nervous I think.

Lake Yellowstone

Today Roman and I set out to explore Lake Yellowstone. Our car did make it there, but it had a few "tired" moments. We went to Lake Hotel and saw the lobby, and picked up some post cards at the gift shop there. We also walked along the shore and had a delicious picnic lunch with our friends the Muskrats. They were pretty friendly.

Next, we picked up some Hitchikers (our friends from somewhere in Asia that we work with) and went to Bridge Bay. They rented a row boat.... it was funny to watch them try to get out of the marina. We took a scenic boat cruise.

The cruise was fun, but after the ranger told us a few facts that I know are incorrect, I spent more time looking at the smokey blue mountains than hanging on his every word like the rest of the retirees on the boat. We saw a shipwreck and some Bald Eagles. I got sleepy, as I usually do on boats. It was very relaxing. The Lake was calm, and the weather was hazy from the forest fires and from the dreary weather. I had a great time!

Shipwrecked!

Fires in Yellowstone map : http://www.nps.gov/yell/parkmgmt/upload/20120808_1630_allfirestarts.jpg

Doodly Dooo

A treasure map I drew for Tom- to get to the hot springs you can swim in :D

Everybody's fighting their own battle

inspired by "question of the day" - If you could create a pet from any combo of animals what would you make?

Our Weekend in Bozeman

We set out for Bozeman after work on Thursday for a weekend with Auntie  Linda, and Bob. We made it almost to West Yellowstone before our car started to act up. We didnt think it would make it all the way there so we rented a car and set out for our destination again.

Our Rental Car

Bob- Making Lattes with his new toy

 We made it to Linda safely! we had a great time chatting and watching the Olympics. Saturday we did a lot of shopping and other city things. We even got to cook our own dinner. We made tacos for Linda and Bob while they set up for the SLAM show.

Linda and Em at Support Local Arts and Music Festival

On the way home we stopped at Norris Hot springs. It is a really rustic swimming hole basically in the middle of no where. we had organic nachos and local beer. It was very relaxing. We also took a short cut back through Idaho and Targee National Forest.

Norris Hot Springs MT

Once we got towards town we saw a "Mountain Man Festival" we stopped to check it out. It was a whole village of people trading 'mountain man' type things. It was similar to a voyager village or something. West was really busy because there was also an auto show that roman found really intriguing.

Idaho-Montana Boarder

Mountain Man Festival

Crazy Mountain Man Hat

Kids playing with axes... that seems safe.

West Yellowstone Auto Show

White Water Rafting

We went to white water rafting with full van of Asians. Half of them were from housekeeping what was kinda fun. But anyway, white water rafting was  awesome and fun. Hopefully we will do it again.

Natural Hot Tub

     Today we went on a hike through a meadows which some parts looked like we were walking on a human brain, so I renamed it The Brain of a Yellowstone. It was really weird, squishy and soggy with brain like structure.  Also it was fun to watch all the Asians in their fancy clothes as they were going through some swamps, and another fun thing happen on the hike. We had to jump through a little stream, our Asians friends were little bit scared so our guide ask if they want a piggy ride on her back. They did not wanted, too bad, it would be hilarious. Also our guide fell in to a mud pond, deep to her hip, luckily only one of her legs got in there so she was able to climb out of there just by her own help.
 
 After this fun hike we headed to the secret swimming area. It was on the Fire Hole river by some hot pools and geyser runoff. The water was kinda cold on me so I did not go swim, but I stayed on one sweet spot on the river. It was right bellow the one geyser with its runoff so when all the hot water got to the cold river water it made it feel so good. Like a natural Hot Tub. Interesting thing was that the water, don't know if it was the geyser water or the river water, changed colors of our wedding rings. We stayed there for two hours and then we went home, extremely relaxed and ready to take a nap.
    It was day well spent.

    For those ho did not see our ring before they have this awesome color, they were silver. Now the color is fading away, bummer.

                                                           Have a good day everyone!