Our first official Workamper experience is taking place at Grizzly RV Park in West Yellowstone, MT.  Upon our arrival, the third week of May, we were both ready to turn around and return to the Coast.  Four feet of snow greeted us, daytime temperatures in the 30's, and nighttime temperatures in the teens.  No siree...this is not what we signed up for!

 Seven couples are hired each season and we live in this Park.  The schedules are the same each week and we have three consecutive days off.   The guys do outside maintainence and the girls are in the Office taking reservations, checking folks in to the Park and doing retail in the store.  There is little training for the guys, they just do yardwork and keep the grounds looking fabulous.  The girls must  learn to work the computer program, "Campground Manager"  and their retail program.  It has taken me two weeks to feel some-what confident.  I have managed to make just about every Boo-Boo there is but our Manager, Brenda, says there's nothing that can't be fixed.  She's GREAT !!

Our first week was not fun.  Being the newest couple, Norm had to establish his place with the guys.  Three of them are returnee's.  They gave him most of the 'grunt' work and it was pretty physical.  After two weeks, Norm does his own thing and the guys ask him what should be done next.  He's a great delegator !  Then, of course, the weather has played it's part.  Cold with snow!  Not sure we're going to continue with this.

The weather has started to warm up (to the mid 40's) so we drove into Yellowstone Park.  The entrance is about 6 blocks from here.  Lots of Bison and Elk  even though the snow is melting and causing the Madison River to overflow it's banks and flood parts of the meadows.  It was evening and Norm stopped at a pull-out to watch the herds. As we scanned the area, an Elk came within about 100 yds from us and birthed her baby!   Talk about an incredible sight, WOW !!  Hard to top this !!   She nuzzled it, it got to his feet and wobbled for awhile, nursed breifly then jumped around in the grass.  Mom walked off a short distance and grazed on some new grass shoots, looked at baby and seemed content that Jr had finally curled up in the tall weeds. 

The sun began going down so we packed up to head back.  OMG ! The entire road was full of  groups of Bison and their babies.  Baby Bison are a reddish color similar to an Irish Setter and are called 'Red Dogs' by the locals.   We watched as they meandered toward the fresh grasses near the Madison Campground.  Each group had about 15 to 30 bison.  It took us an hour to go 7 miles !

Our second week of work was a bit better than the first.  Each day the temperatures would warm.  We finally had a few days in the high 60's and low 70's. My computer skills are improving and so far I haven't put two rigs in the same spot.  I am having to bone up on my knowledge of the Park though.  Guests are asking all kinds of questions and I.m trying to give accurate answers.  (Although, sometimes I've had to wing it !)  A lady asked me the other day "When do they let the animals out so people could see them?"  Another asked, "When was the last time for Old Faithful to erupt in the evening?", as they didn't want to miss it .  And still another, "Do the geysers go off all year?".

 Yesterday, on our day off, we drove to the Mammoth area and out to the Lamar Valley.  This is Norm's favorite place to fly-fish.  Right now, the river is too high so he has been fishing on the Madison and Firehole Rivers.  We were lucky enough to see three grizzly bears in the area and a momma grizzly with two cubs near the Roosevelt area.  Really is spectacular to observe them on their own turf!  On our way along the Madison River a large brown furry object caught our eye.  Sitting in the water near the bank was a huge beaver gnawing at the base of a pine tree about 8-10 inches across.  We pulled the car over and watched him chew through that tree!  It fell with a loud splash into the water.  Again, it was a sight we have never seen before!  Incredible !

So very much to see and experience here in Yellowstone.  Work is still work, but the days we have off to go out and play are worth it.  I'll try to relate more of our adventures as the weeks progress.  Let me know how I'm doing, OK ?