Best Gate Crew Ever!

Working the west entrance of Yellowstone is not for the faint of heart.  We're a hard working group of people who take untold amounts of abuse every day.  And for some reason we keep coming back.


We don't get to socialize outside of work very often, but when there's a fee free day we sometimes get to close the gate early and have a barbecue or potluck.


When we're working we are stuck in the booth most of the day and have very little time for interaction.


That's why it was nice to get a night off to have a little fun.


We invited one of the LE rangers to our potluck.  This guy stays close by the gate and makes us feel safe especially when people speed up to the gate at 60+ miles per hour when the speed limit is 15.


You may have noticed from the first picture that the gate crew is heavy on the female side.  We have one guy this year.  He's the same age as my grandson so I always tell him to mind the old ladies.  He's a great guy who is a snow mobile guide in the winter.  He keeps telling me to come back in the winter, but I really don't think I'd enjoy 40 below for more than a couple minutes.


Irv got to meet everyone, most of them have gotten to know him over the years.


We're a close knit group.


This is my good buddy, Diana.  She's from Colorado originally and she invited me over to her house for home made pork green chili and burritos.  Yum!  She's also an avid animal lover like myself.  Any dog that comes through our lanes gets a biscuit (if it's okay with their mom and dad).


It was a night full of delicious food, fun, and great conversations.  I love these people.  They've become my family over the years.  We all love Yellowstone, believe in global warming, conservation, science, etc.  We take a lot of abuse every day.  Since 2016 it seems to have become okay to be utterly rude to the guardians of the world's first national park.

By the way...tomorrow, August 25th, is another free day at America's National Parks.  So glad I'm off duty.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Skywatch Friday: A little close for comfort

Image
We had a fire out here on the eastern plains of Colorado last week.  I kept getting reports on the fire's location on my cell phone while I was at work.  Then a warning popped up that let me know it was time to hit the road and go home to prepare to evacuate the critters. When we initially got home it was still a decent distance away. Within 30 minutes it had come up over the ridge and flames were visible. The winds were gusting 45 to 50 mph.  It was a fast moving fire that burned 5,000 acres in only four hours.  Then the most amazing thing happened--the winds died down and the firefighters got in under control by 8:15 that night.  Thank you, Lord! Have you ever had to stand in your house and wonder what you should take out with you?  There were only two things I could think of...1) my critters and 2) my passport so I could still go to Europe next month.  Irv and I agreed that we need to get things organized so we can just grab a box...
Read more

Skywatch Friday: Upper and Lower Falls

Image
Yesterday I got to visit the recently completed Uncle Tom's Overlook along the Yellowstone River in Yellowstone National Park. This is the first really good look I've ever had at the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River. These falls are almost as good as the Lower Falls. After leaving the Upper Falls you go downstream for a mile or so to.... ...Artist's Point which has the very best view of the Lower Falls (in my opinion).  In this location the view is perfect, so perfect that it look like a painting. This is just one of the features of this Park that make it my heart and soul.   Linking with Skywatch Friday
Read more

Skywatch Friday: Wild Horses!

Image
 The Salt River wild horses have been eluding us since we arrived in Arizona several weeks ago so today we went in search of them again. This time we started at the Coon Bluff Recreation Area.  First we went one way down the river, but soon had to turn back because we didn't bring any rock climbing gear. Then we turned around and went the other direction. The water in the river was crystal clear, but no sign of fish or horses. There are times when I really miss my dad especially when I want to know what kind of tree I'm looking at.  This one has something that resembles Spanish moss hanging down.  What is it? This riparian area that surrounds the river has all kinds of wildlife.  Today we saw theses white egrets. This gray heron was also hanging out in the distance. We met a guy carrying all kinds of photographic equipment and he said we needed to go about a quarter of a mile further down the river to find a spot where the horses cross every afternoon around 5:0...
Read more