Day 80 and 81 (July 25 and 26, 2010)– A Couple of very long Days

In order for me to go on my backpacking trip. I had to work a couple of long work days such as a breakfast, brunch, dinner. That was a fun day. Other than that, I am excited about the chance to use my brand new backpack. Sorry, Dad, I went to REI to pick out the backpack I wanted to get for my birthday in October and got talked into an internal frame backpack. Yes, I got my birthday present from my parents very early, but it has gotten some use right off the bat.

Day 79 (July 24, 2010)– Amazing Shift Switching

So apparently, my manager didn’t get my time off request form, so he didn’t give me the days off I needed to go backpacking. Which really sucked, but I was able though about 6 different switches get the days off anyways. Which means the trip is on and I will get to hike the north section of Wonderland.

Day 77 and 28 (July 22 and 23, 2010)– Work

Nothing new going on just work and hopeing I get the days off I need next week to go backpacking.

Day 74 (July 19, 2010)– The Great Ovi Arrives

Basically since I have arrived, I have heard all about Ovi. Ovi is from Romania and has worked at Mount Rainier for 3 years (I think). I was working with him for about a two hours and I totally understand why everyone kept going on about him.

Day 68 (July 13, 2010)– Work

Nothing new to report other than work. Though, the resident Paradise foxes now have names: Choclate Cake, Red Velvet Cake, and Vanilla Cake. One of the cooks was hungry for cake and the foxes wondered by. So she named them after cake.

Day 65 and 66 (July 10 and 11, 2010)– Work and Alumni Network

The past two days have been nothing interesting other than work, though I do love the UF alumni network they are everywhere. It seems like; I meet a fellow Gator, or see another Gator Shirt every other day at least. It is a great feeling to know how large the alumni family is and that no matter where I go there will always be fellow Gators.

Day 60 and 61 (July 5 and 6, 2010)– Work and Trip Planning

For now there is nothing to do but work and plan my next adventure. For this week’s days off, I am planning a trip to North Cascades National Park with two of my friends. The current plan is to leave Wed. morning, and stop somewhere at 11:30 to watch the Germany Spain Soccer game and then drive up to the Ross Lake National Recreation Area and have some fun there. Then camp at Marble Creek Campground and the next day hike up to Hidden Lake.

Day 59 (July 4, 2010)– Happy 4th of July and NO Fireworks

Well this is the first 4th of July that I haven’t been home for that I truly missed not being home. I missed going shopping for fireworks at Bimbo’s on July 3rd with my dad. I missed shooting firecrackers and the cannon’s off with my dad in the morning. Yes, my dad does have a cannon. It is not a full size one just a mini one, but my dad made it himself. And it’s fun to shoot off.
Another bad thing about this 4th of July is that the weather is awful up here. It is cold and cloudy.

Day 56 and 57 (July 1 and 2, 2010)– Work and Cold Weather

Coming back from Olympic to Mount Rainier was a big shock. The temperature had dropped about 20 degree and whiteouts were occurring again. In case you can’t figure out what a whiteout is it is when a fog bank rolls in and you are luck If you can see 5 feet in front of you. So basically the only thing to do was work and hang out in the lodge.

Day 50, and 51 (June 25 and 26, 2010)– Work and Soccer

The last two days have been work and soccer. I really haven’t done anything else, at this point I am torn between hiking, and watching soccer. I know it would seem logical to most people to not watch the world cup and go hiking but it the WORLD CUP and only happens every four years. In addition, there is the fact that I have hiked everything that is snow free in the park.

Day 45 (June 20, 2010)– Happy Father’s Day

Happy Father’s Day to all. Needless to say, we were expecting a big day on the mountain and a really busing brunch, but that wasn’t the case. Brunch was beyond slow and I got cut early which really sucked. I hate not being able to do anything and then getting cut because I still couldn’t do anything because I worked dinner as well. Even though I got cut I did get to come back and eat brunch. Brunch is my favorite meal of the week. Dinner was about the same as brunch but they didn’t have as many bussers on so I didn’t get cut this time.

Day 44 (June 19, 2010)– More Work

Today was a exclusively work day, due to working an Lunch/Dinner shift and bad weather. I didn’t watch soccer because I felt there was no good reason to watch the games today; nobody I cared about was playing.

Day 43 (June 18, 2010)– Very Early Morning

I am a very dedicated soccer fan. I got up at 4:00 a.m. in the morning to watch a soccer game. I know this is nuts, but it was Germany playing Serbia (which the reefing was awful). I mean come one 7 yellow cards the first half and two to Klosa so he gets thrown out. It was RIDUCULUS. After the 4:30 soccer game, I took a nap and then got up to watch the U.S. - Slovakia game.


That was a stressful game. The U.S. was down 2-0 at half time and slowly came back 2-2. But yet again bad reefing screwed the U.S. over, the U.S. put in a late goal that the ref called back for some unknown reason. He called in a U.S. foul or offside, but the footage show no U.S. player off side and at least 3 Slovakia fouls (and possibly a red card). One of the Slovakia players has there arms around Michal Bradley and is holding him back, personally I would have shown at least a yellow card for that, and maybe a red.

Other than that work was good, though my boss found it funny I was getting World Cup updates from the porter.

Day 42 (June 17, 2010)– Work, and simply work

So today was a really long day, I worked 12.5 hours. A normal day up here is between 3.5 and 9 unless it’s a Sunday then its 10. Why you might ask, one of my co-workers wanted to go to Seattle, so I picked up there shift. I liked working the extra hours.

Day 39 (June 14, 2010)– Another Pay Day

     Today was pay day again. I was really surprised by how much I made busing. Originally, I had decided no to climb the mountain due to cost, but now I am thinking it might be possible if my tips stay the same or go up. But they still haven’t fixed my room and board costs.


     This time I skipped my manager and went to their manger, Wes. Wes had me call a few people and get the run around and then he got the run around, so he got his boss involved and hopefully it will get fixed, but we will see how long it takes.

Day 38 (June 13, 2010)– The Dreaded Brunch

     Today was the first of the Paradise Inn Dining Room Brunches. It was very chaotic, because I got there late due to some miss communication on what time to be there but it wasn’t my fault. Once Brunch started we got really busy, and about the time I got the table turned the table was re-sat. After Brunch was over and all the people left, they let the dining room staff eats the remaining food.


     Oh, my God, the food is amazing. More or less the desserts are amazing. Tarts, cakes, and strawberries. I will try to get some pictures next week, but I might be too busy.

Day 37 (June 12, 2010)– More World Cup and shift switching

Last night one of my co-workers asked to trade shifts with me and I agreed as long as we could trade shifts today and I could watch the U.S. game. I was really disappointed the U.S. tied, but hey we tied England. Though, getting to what the game also meant getting up a 6:00 AM to work the breakfast shift. But hey, I got to watch the game.

Day 35 (June 10, 2010)– The Turks Arrive

     So today, the Turkish arrived. Basically they are a group of like 15 guys and 6 girls who are from Turkey. Two of them work in the dining room and a couple more have yet to arrive. There are five in the dining room. The three guys work on the floor, and two of the girls are hostess. For the most part, they all speak really good Enlgish. Sometimes their English is a little hard to understand, but we work though it.


The guys are named:

• Berkay - the Turkish Godfather, he has been working at Paradise Inn for 5 years and has recruited about half the Turks
• Metin - my new best friend, not sure how this came about but he calls me his best friend
• Arda – started as a dish washer but got promoted to busser and his English is the hardest to understand

    The girls are named Esme and Irma. Both are nice and Esme is teaching me Turkish along with Berkay, and Metin.

Day 32 and 33 (June 6 and 7, 2010) – Work and Planning

     Today, I worked the Lunch and Dinner shift so I didn’t have time to do anything fun, but I did start planning my days off. The plan was to hike another section of Wonderland that was about 8 miles but half the section is under snow and the other half is flooded out so I am just going to wing it tomorrow.

Day 24 and 25– Busy as a Bee

Since this weekend is a holiday weekend the hotel was at about 80% capacity which was really good considering the weather (snow and foggy). I was working both lunch and dinner shifts so that meant we were really busy, no sooner did I get a table cleared and re-set would it be filled again. This meant I was always moving and having something to do. Despite being busy, it was more fun than the days where we had no one.

In case you haven't noticed or figured it out most these posts are about a week behind due to no internet in Paradise (they still tell us its coming but I am not holding my breath)