Close Encounters of the Moose Kind!

Posted on October 7, 2016 by liv2rv

I have a lot to catch up on with the blogs. We have been very busy the last few weeks, with visitors, wildlife sightings, packing up the rig, working 8 days in a row, and driving back to Wisconsin. I will split this up into several posts. First up: visitors and wildlife.

September is a beautiful time to visit Grand Teton National Park, as the colors are changing, and the wildlife are very active. It is the third busiest month in the park, and the weather can be hit or miss. We had some visitors of our own, Mike and Sue, friends since college, drove out from Wisconsin to visit. Mike was going elk hunting in Idaho, so he was only able to stay for one night, but Sue was able to spend several days hanging out with us.

We managed to give them a brief tour of GTNP, including a stop at the now peaceful String Lake. During the summer months, this is a very popular area for swimming, kayaking and stand-up paddle boards.

Dan, Jonell, Sue & Mike

We went up by Jackson Lake, and were shocked by how much the lake has dropped since we saw it a month ago. It should be a good crop of potatoes this year, as Idaho has taken plenty of water from the lake! Idaho has water rights to remove water from the top of Jackson Lake and due to the lack of rain they took a considerable amount this year.

dsc03956-1 A short drive north of Jackson Lake brought us to the Berry Creek Fire area. It was sad to see acres of burned forest land, but it will be interesting to watch this area rejuvenate over time.

dsc03959-1 During our drive through the park, we spotted a lone female moose.

dsc03972-1 Along with a large heard of pronghorns, including a mama with two hungry babies!

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After Mike left the next morning, the three of us headed out to a short 4 mile hike to Taggert Lake. GTNP has so many excellent hiking trails, and the views never get old.

dsc03990-1 After our hike, we starting driving around and noticed a number of cars pulled off the road, but we could not see what they were looking at, so we pulled over and walked about 100 yards to where the crowd was standing. And we were glad we did! At first, we just saw a head of a moose pop out of the willows. But then mama came into full view, followed by a pretty good sized baby. We watched them for a while until they walked back out of view.

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Dan and Sue spotted a bull moose on the way to the airport the next morning, but it was too dark to get a good picture. So on our next day off from work, we left early in the morning to see if we could spot him again, and we were in luck. He was still hanging out down by the airport. The pictures are not the best, as it was early morning, and he was pretty far away.

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I did remember to turn around and take one shot of the mountains while we were watching the moose. You can see the airport on the left. Jackson Hole Airport is the only airport located within a National Park.

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We drove over to the same spot we saw mama and baby moose the prior week, and there was no one around (people that is), so we pulled over and started walking along the river. Dan was about 30 yards ahead of me, when I saw him jump up and quickly start walking backwards. Turns out he practically ran right into mama and baby moose, as they were on the opposite side of the river! Dan was less than 10 yards from the mama moose as she looked right up at him as she was eating some vegetation. Did you know more people are killed by moose than bears? I managed to take a quick picture of mama moose peering up at me, before we both walked away to a safe viewing distance. I just love the expression on her face!

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We walked away from the moose to a safe viewing distance, and both of them got up and started grazing. The baby was very curious, and would look over at us.

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We capped off our moose-filled day by having lunch with our friends Tom and Ellen. Ellen’s daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter were visiting with them up in Yellowstone, and came down hiking for the day in the Tetons. It was a great way to end a wonderful day!

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It was a busy, but great week with visitors. We started packing up the fifth wheel and getting ready for our last stretch of work. (that will be for the next blog)

Quote for the day: “We do not remember days, we remember moments.” – Cesare Pavese

Fall Colors in Grand Teton National Park

Posted on September 24, 2016 by liv2rv

Fall has arrived, and although the weather has been hit or miss lately, the view continues to be spectacular. Now we know why September is the third busiest month at Grand Teton National Park. The colors are amazing. The photos simply do not do justice to the colors.

As I was typing up this blog, I received a notification from Word Press, which is the site that I blog from. It said today is the third anniversary of this blog! I was not aware of that. Amazing how time flies. And thank you to those who have been following along on our journey. September 30th will be our last day at Luton’s Teton Cabins. It has been a great summer, and I will have more next week, wrapping up all of our recent activities and animal sightings.

This will just be a quick, picture filled blog, so enjoy!

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Quote for the day: “Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.” – Lauren DeStefano

Fire update, tourist time and graduation!

Posted on September 5, 2016 by liv2rv

The road to Yellowstone National Park (South Entrance) from Grand Teton National Park has re-opened, thanks to the brave efforts of over two hundred fire fighters. They spent a week battling the Berry Creek fire that had jumped over Jackson Lake and Highway 191/89. The fire is still burning, but has been contained enough to keep the highway open.

We had a brief scare last week when a new fire started just 3 miles East of Luton’s Teton Cabins, on US Forest land. It is believed someone had an illegal campfire which quickly grew out of control. Because this fire was so close to homes and businesses, they worked to quickly extinguish this fire. We watched several helicopters dump water on the fire, and they had it out in a few hours. It made a few of our cabin guests very nervous though! You can see the smoke and one of the helicopters in the photo below.

Just 3 miles away

BOAT/DINNER CRUISE TRIP

Brad and Joanne, the owners of the cabins, surprised all of us with tickets on the Jackson Lake Dinner Cruise. We only had a week to book the dinner though, as they were shutting down the cruise for the season. The State of Idaho actually owns the water rights to Jackson Lake. With it being so dry, the potato farmers have been requesting a lot of water this summer. Apparently it was the farmers that paid for the dam on the lake many years ago, and in return they received the water rights. They have been drawing down the lake at a rate of 1 foot every 5 days. So we booked a Wednesday night cruise with Karen, Al and Jane. If you look at the far left on the photo below, the water level is normally up to the trees.

Jackson Lake marina

The boat leaves the marina and docks on an island close to Mount Moran. The buffet dinner consisted of steak and trout. The salad bar is served out of the canoe!

a beautiful setting

We all enjoyed the boat ride over, as well as dinner. I think Dan was still chewing in this photo!

Jane, Karen, Al and Dan

After dinner we did a short hike up a steep hill and ha a great view of Mount Moran and the boat ramp on the island below.

Mount Moran

FLOAT TRIP

A very popular “touristy to-do” in Grand Teton National Park is a float trip down the Snake River. There are many companies that offer trips. Barker-Ewing is the company that we recommend to our guests, as they will give them a discounted trip. To reciprocate, Barker-Ewing gives all of the work campers a free trip. We finally made time to book an evening float trip, and had a great time. We would definitely recommend a float trip to anyone coming to the area. Unlike whitewater rafting, this is more of a “lazy float” down an 8 mile stretch of the river.

the boat launched ahead of ours

having a good time!

We had good views of the evening sky over the Grand Tetons.

Grand Tetons

And beautiful views down the Snake River.

Snake River

We were fortunate to see plenty of wildlife along the way as well.

a giant beaver home

Along with several beavers in the area.

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This beaver was busy carrying a tree branch!

busy, busy, busy!

We saw quite a few bald eagles, and I was able to get a photo of one of them.

a majestic bird

The highlight of our trip was seeing a mama and two baby moose. Unfortunately, I was only able to capture a photo of one of the babies. Mama and the other baby were too hidden from my view.

Hello!

GRADUATION!

Back in June, when I was still wearing the boot on my foot, we were looking for things to do in the park that did not involve a lot of walking. Karen suggested a ranger led talk on Menor’s Ferry. During the talk, Ranger Casey mentioned the Junior Ranger program that they offer in the park (almost all of the national parks have programs). When the Ranger mentioned the program was not just for young kids, but anyone “young at heart”, well that caught my attention! One of the requirements of the program is to attend a Ranger led program in the park. Check!

Ranger Casey

The booklet that you have to complete has various activities, geared to different age groups. All Junior Rangers have to complete various activities, from a hike in the park, to viewing some of the historical structures. For the older kids (and the “young at heart”) there are additional math and science related activities. (it’s always about math!)

After our ranger led program, I was reading the booklet and commented to Karen, Al and Dan that one of my activities is to pick up litter in the park. So they all obliged and threw trash down on the ground for me to pick up! (ummm….thanks?!) So I studied up on the booklet, and worked on it over the summer.

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Once I got my boot off and was able to do more in the park, I continued on the program. Last Wednesday I finally “graduated” and went back to the visitors center for my Junior Ranger oath and badge ceremony! Al played the ‘pomp and circumstance’ graduation march on his Apple watch!

an official Junior Ranger

taking the oath

my “official” badges

I would highly recommend this program to anyone. It really forces you to take the time to learn a lot more about the park that you are visiting.

Quote for the day: “You don’t stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing.” – George Bernard Shaw

Visitors and Fires

Posted on August 23, 2016 by liv2rv

For the past 6 weeks, fires have been burning all around us, but have not had much impact on us. Things changed yesterday, after 20-25 mph winds started in the afternoon. A small fire that was burning in a remote area of Grand Teton National Park jumped across Jackson Lake and spread over 5 miles. The main highway from GTNP to Yellowstone National Park is now closed. They had an emergency evacuation of Flagg Ranch and Lizard Creek Campground this morning. The fire is about 20 miles from our location, and it is not headed our way. However, with another afternoon of high winds expected, who knows what will happen. I think the most popular website in the state of Wyoming right now is Incident Information. You can click on that if you want to keep up with the fires in the area.

Work continues, but at a little slower pace this week. This is a “transition time”, as we switch over from families with school-age children, to couples and families with toddlers. By September 1st, we are back to full occupancy, for almost the entire month. So we are enjoying our ‘calm before the storm’ which hopefully won’t involve any fire related issues!

FAMILY VISITS!

Our door is always open for visits from friends and family, and we have had two visits this month. Our nieces, Carmen and Jasmine, were passing through on the way to Tacoma, Washington, and stayed overnight. Jasmine, who graduated from Pharmacy School in May, has accepted a pharmacy position in Tacoma, Washington, and they were moving her stuff out west. Makena was excited to have visitors!

Carmen and Jasmine

After they left, Dan’s sister and brother-in-law, Linda and Doug drove out from Wisconsin to visit with us for a few days. On their way out, they stopped in Custer, SD and met up with our friends Phil and Rudee at Crazy Horse, as well as visiting Mount Rushmore. We were able to switch days with another couple at work, so we had three full days to play tourist. We forgot how exhausting it is to be a tourist! We were able to cram as much as we could in a very limited time. There is just too much to see and do in three days.

Can you see Yellowstone in one day? No, but you can see a few of the highlights if you pack a lunch and plan on a long day visiting. We discovered an Elk happily licking the salty grass right inside the West Thumb geyser basin. It is always fun to see wildlife up close.

We have heard there has been an unusually high number of broken toilet seats in the park this year, due to visitors from countries not familiar with our bathroom protocol. So I was a bit amused to find this diagram in a porta-pottie in the park.

After our stop at the West Thumb Geyser Basin, we headed towards the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, to see the Upper and Lower Falls.

Upper Falls of Yellowstone

The Lower Falls were just as spectacular!

Dan, Linda and Doug at Lower Falls

After a quick picnic lunch, we headed over to the Midway Geyser Basin, home to the most beautiful geyser in the world, (in my opinion), the Grand Prismatic Geyser.

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And no visit would be complete without a stop at Old Faithful!

Old Faithful

We spent another day touring the Grand Tetons, seeing wildlife, and then we drove down to Jackson. We walked around the town square and stopped in at the Famous Cowboy Bar for a cold beverage.

DSC03822 (1) Since all the barstools are saddles, Doug opted to recreate the cowboy on the bar’s roof!

ride’em Doug!

Doug and Linda discovered when you are out West, anything goes for a vehicle. You never know what will be parked outside on the street.

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Although the time went by way to fast, we did enjoy having Carmen and Jasmine, as well as Doug and Linda stop in for a visit. Our door, wherever it may be parked, is always open!

Quote for the day: “Isn’t it amazing how much stuff we get done the day before vacation?” – Zig Ziglar

Going to the Chapel…

Posted on August 8, 2016 by liv2rv

Located within the boundaries of Grand Teton National Park are two chapels, both of which are open daily to the public. Both offer services on Sunday for park visitors and area residents, during the summer. And weddings are held at both chapels, with a special permit through the national park service.

CHAPEL OF THE TRANSFIGURATION

Built in 1925, this is an Episcopal Church, affiliated with St. John’s Episcopal Church in Jackson, WY. It was built to provide local ranchers and residents a place of worship without having to make the 12 mile ride into Jackson, which was a treacherous trip at that time, before automobiles and roads were commonplace.

Chapel of the Transfiguration

The cozy chapel seats 65 people, and does offer additional outdoor seating, weather permitting. They do have a Christmas service, but you need your cross country skis, or snowshoes, to make it to the chapel. The roads to the chapel are closed in the winter.

The window behind the altar offers a spectacular view of the Tetons.

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I think it might be hard to focus on the sermon, when you are staring out at this view!

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CHAPEL OF THE SACRED HEART

Built in 1937, the Chapel of the Sacred Heart is a Catholic Church, affiliated with Our Lady of the Mountains in Jackson, WY. It is right on the shore of Jackson Lake.

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Unlike the other Chapel, it does not take advantage of the views of the lake, as there are no windows overlooking the lake. My guess is the Priests want you to pay attention during Mass!

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No view out this altar!

The chapel holds 115 people for mass. The stations of the cross are very simple plaques.

stations of the cross

AND A WEDDING TOO!

Well I can’t have a post about the chapels, without putting in some wedding photos! The step-sister of our boss was getting married on Sunday, and they had the wedding on the grounds of our cabins. I was working in the office that day, and fortunately all of my check-in’s for the day had arrived. Many of our guests noticed several people all dressed up, and I mentioned there would be a wedding in the early evening. They all commented on what a beautiful setting it would be for a wedding.

Since all my office work was technically done, I decided to be a ‘wedding crasher’, and attended the small family wedding. It was a nice ceremony, and Brad gave away his step-sister.

Despite the clouds from a recent rainstorm, it was a beautiful backdrop for a wedding.

ATTENTION BIRD NERDS

One final note, when I was out watering the planter boxes by the cabins, I noticed this small bird, or a large moth, pollinating the plants. I have never seen this type of bird/moth before, so if anyone knows what it is, let me know!

Quote for the day: “Faith makes all things possible. Love makes all things easy.” – Dwight Moody

Road Trip!

Posted on July 20, 2016 by liv2rv

Another couple asked to switch one of our off days, which resulted in us having 3 consecutive days off one week. So we took advantage of the extended time off to go visit our friends Tom and Ellen in West Yellowstone, Montana. We had an excellent time (despite not being able to do too much with my foot) and were able to get together with our former co-workers at Madison Crossing from last summer.

Tom and Ellen had everyone over for a nice dinner, and Makena was on her best behavior helping Tom in the kitchen of their 5th wheel!

The food was delicious, and it was great to catch up with everyone!

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Diane, our former co-worker, had everyone over for a campfire at her house. It was an enjoyable evening, meeting new friends, and catching up with our old friends. It’s one of the best things about this RV lifestyle!

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Of course, no visit to West Yellowstone would be complete without a visit to the local Packers bar, Bullwinkle’s (Packer fans are everywhere!)

giddy up!

It was a quick, but enjoyable 3 days, and we hope to do it again so we can get together and do some hiking in Yellowstone, Montana, or Idaho.

On our way back home, we decided to take the scenic route through Idaho, and come over the Teton Pass, across the mountains. Since Idaho is famous for potatoes, and potatoes are the main ingredient in vodka, it would only make sense to stop in at the Grand Teton Distillery in Driggs, Idaho on our way back! We did a short tour of their facility, and sampled a few of their spirits. We both agreed their regular vodka, was excellent. Probably the best we have ever tasted. Their other spirits were ‘okay’.

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The finishing pot

fermenting pots

The Teton Pass through the mountains is a beautiful drive (as long as you are not towing a 5th wheel, which we were not!). It has 10% road grades, and many people that work in the city of Jackson, drive this pass everyday. Housing prices in Jackson are crazy expensive, so many folks live in Idaho, and have a long, but scenic, daily commute.

The city is officially called Jackson, but the area is called Jackson Hole, as the early settlers described the valley between the mountains, as the “hole”. The city is off in the distance in this photo:

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I would not want to drive this every day. Many times, the pass closes in winter due to storms. It snowed here on July 11! The locals said that made summer officially 21 days this year!

Quote for the day: “There are no strangers here; only friends you haven’t yet met.” – William Butler Yates

Meanwhile, back at the cabins

Posted on July 13, 2016 by liv2rv

It’s hard to believe that we have been here two months. Time has really flown by! Being in such a peaceful setting, with very pleasant weather, is good for the soul. Since school has let out, the 14 cabins have been at 100% occupancy almost every night. Work has been very busy, but we have managed to get out and do some fun activities.

My particular job duties have changed slightly, as I am now in the office 3 days a week, and 2 days in housekeeping. These new duties started before I broke a bone in my foot, not as a result of the injury. The office work is a split shift, from 8am – 12pm, and then back again from 3pm – 7pm. However, from 12 – 3pm, I still am responsible for answering the telephone, assisting guests that have locked themselves out of their cabin (seems to happen at least once a week), or guests arriving before the 3pm check-in time. When the owners, Brad and Joanne, put in the 5 RV sites behind the cabins for the work campers, they also put in telephone lines. So I have a regular land line telephone in the RV to answer calls from 12 – 3pm. Because of the unusual hours, I now get a flat daily rate of pay, instead of an hourly rate.

The office person is also responsible for cleaning the main lodge, daily cleaning of the BBQ grills, assisting housekeeping on busy days, watering flowers, and emptying the quarters from the coin-operated washer and dryers. The job keeps me busy, and I really enjoy interacting with the guests when they check in, and helping them plan their trips to the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.

To give an overview about what this work camping job entails, I will refer you to a post that Karen wrote in June of 2014, her first summer here at Luton’s Teton Cabins, in which she went into great detail on the job duties. click here to read the post. Needless to say, the cabins are immaculate! I have cleaned more ovens this summer, than I have in my entire life!

Chuckwagon Dinner

We have a good crew of work campers, and the nine of us all went to the Bar J Chuckwagon dinner and show one night. Brad and Joanne, upon hearing that we were all going out together, surprised us by paying for everyone’s tickets. We all had a great time at the Chuckwagon show. We had been to two chuckwagon’s in the Black Hills of South Dakota, but this one was far and away the best one we have been to. The show and the food were awesome!

our work camping crew

On the way down to Jackson, we were amused to spot this sign by the road…!

too late!

Those of you that have been following the blog for a while know that we like to visit craft breweries (always good to support the local businesses!), so we made a trip down to the Snake River Brewery in Jackson on our day off. It is Wyoming’s oldest brewery (started in 1994), and they have a not very catchy slogan “our river runs through your liver”.

cheers!

We did the sampler tasting of their beers, and deemed them to be “okay”. On the way back “home”, we stopped by Mormon Row in the park to view the structures that still remain from the early settlers to this area. Location, location, location!

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Quote for the day: “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” – Marcus Aurelius

Grizzly, Moose and Eagles…oh my!

Posted on July 3, 2016 by liv2rv

Before I broke a bone in my foot, we did manage to get in two small hikes in Grand Teton National Park. And we were rewarded with plenty of wildlife sightings! Before we even got into the park, Karen and Al spotted this Osprey in a tree.

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For our first hike, we went to Hermitage Point Trailhead in Coulter Bay, and opted for the short 3.5 mile hike around Heron Pond and Swan Lake. It was a relatively easy hike, with beautiful views of the Tetons (actually, there is no bad view of the Tetons!).

We had some nice views of Mt Moran, which contains what is called the “skillet glacier”, but the locals refer to it as Jimmy Hendrix’s guitar glacier, based on the shape. The more I stared at it, I started to see a profile of a face (might be the high altitude!).

What do you see?

Karen, Al and Dan quickly spotted a Bald Eagle in a tree, and it must have taken me 5 minutes before I could see it. Karen was able to get a nice photograph of the Eagle.

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We also saw a few sandhill cranes, ducks and geese on this hike. Later that night we went on another short trip down by Shwabachers Landing, and found a very active beaver in the water, along with evidence of his recent tree trunk trimming.

DSC_0607 (1) DSC_0644 (1) The next day we went on another hike with our co-worker Jane, and literally ran into a fox crossing our path. Fortunately, he/she ignored us, but it did startle us.

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We also spotted a coyote off in the distance.

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But the highlight of our day was spotting our first “wild” grizzly bear. I will pass along a tip for spotting a grizzly….when you see this:

bear jam!

Make sure you pull over, because something exciting is lurking nearby!

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The park rangers did an excellent job at keeping traffic moving, and keeping the tourists from getting too close.

After I broke my foot, I was relegated to looking for wildlife from the car, and not on a hike. Fortunately, I was finally able to cross ‘bull moose’ off my bucket list of animals to see in the wild. This young man’s antlers are just starting to grow, and still have the velvet on them. Again, Karen had her nice camera with her, and got some excellent photos (Dan’s worried this will cost us money, as I have been looking at new cameras online!).

Hello Mr. Moose!

But the photo I was most surprised with (and one I took!) was of the bee that popped into the picture I was taking of a flower. I really didn’t notice the bee until I was looking at my photos later on.

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We hope everyone has a safe and happy Fourth of July!

Quote for the Day: “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” – Anatole France

I Like It Here!

Posted on June 16, 2016 by liv2rv

Hello Everyone! I’m back, your favorite blog posting full-time dog!

Keeping my peeps informed!

I am really enjoying my time here in Moran, WY just outside Grand Teton National Park. My parents have found a dog friendly work camping job. I am not allowed to go in or near the rental cabins, so I can’t go to work with them (I would be good at licking up all the crumbs on the kitchen floors in the cabins!), but having 100 acres to roam around, is doggie paradise! (even if there are 6 other big dogs on the property)

Before I talk about my current activities here, I will get you caught up on what I have been up to the last few months. After leaving Florida, we went back to my favorite “campground”, Camp Meyer. (Dan’s sister and brother in laws house). I have the full reign of the facilities, and they have several acres to roam around on. I was able to visit with my great nieces. They gave me lot’s of attention and snacks!

Teaching Ellie about treats!

Raya and Leia playing with me

I briefly visited with my doggie cousins Rudy and Reagan, who, after sniffing my butt, pretty much ignore me now. My kitty cousins were not happy I was eating their food, and Bandit hissed and pawed at me quite a bit. Callie was much nicer to me this time and Jonell’s sister Margie and her husband Greg always treat me well!

Veterinarian Visit

As many of you may recall, last year my doctor was concerned about my weight, and said I needed to lose 1/2 pound. This year I weighed in 3 ounces MORE than last year! But, the doctor noticed I was much leaner and more muscular, and had a low heart rate, so he was very happy with my appearance this year. I am a lean, mean, football playing machine!!

My parents were concerned about my scratching and licking my butt for the past couple of months. They thought it was fleas and fire ant bites from Florida. Turns out, my anal glands were full (sorry if this is grossing you out, but this can be an issue with us dogs!). In 9 years of living, I have never had that problem. The doctor was able to “express” them, and boy did that make me feel better!

The doctor recommended that I have some canned organic pumpkin to eat (a teaspoon or so with my food). I guess that helps keep things from clogging up!

After my doctors visit, I joined my mom for her annual patio beers with her friend Amy, and I made a new friend, Taco. Taco and I really got along, once he stopped poking around my rear end!

did you get your anal glands expressed?

My buddy Taco and I

And now back at the ranch…

There are miles of walking trails all over the property here. Just look at this view I have every day. You can see my path just goes on and on. It truly is doggie heaven!

A dog’s dream field

I have been marking my spots all over the field, as there are all kinds of wildlife that come through this field.

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The owners have about 11 horses on the property. I was pretty scared of them at first, and when we went walking with my parents friends and co-workers Karen and Al, I stood behind Al while he pet the horses. But then I warmed up to them, and realized they had no interest in sniffing my but, despite their large noses. They are obviously civilized animals!

Al is protecting me!

you have a big nose Mr. Horse

There were cows on the property for a few weeks, but they have been moved to higher elevations for the summer. I was reprimanded for going under the fence to get a better view of them!

My parents have started allowing me to go off-leash on the property for part of our walks. But, after a few drop and rolls in some big horse poop, I have been warned I may lose my off leash privileges.

I have to stay out of the piles to keep my freedom!

I’m glad that I took agility class, because I have to be careful crossing over the cattle guards when I am carrying my football out to the playing field.

walking a straight line

Unfortunately, my mom broke a bone in her foot last week. She was carrying their laundry basket down the steps inside the 5th wheel, and didn’t see her shoes at the bottom of the steps, stepped on them and fell. So she is in a walking boot for the next 6 weeks, which means we won’t be doing this for a while.

Mom and I. Cabins in the background.

But my dad is still taking me out to play, and hopefully he will take me out for some long walks. I miss those. It’s such a pretty area for us dogs and being off leash to bound around the ranch is awesome!

Take care everyone, and thanks for following along with me!

Quote for the day: “I have a simple philosophy. Fill what’s empty. Empty what’s full. Scratch where it itches.” – Alice Roosevelt Longworth

Work Camping at Luton’s Cabins

Posted on June 1, 2016 by liv2rv

Two weeks of work have flown by, which is always a good thing! I must admit, it is nice to be back to work, and our bank account and my Fitbit are happy as well. For the next four months, we will be working at Luton’s Teton Cabins, located just east of Grand Teton National Park. This is the view we see every day from work!

Grand Teton Range

Our job for the summer is cleaning and maintaining the 14 cabins on the property. There are 3 other couples, and one single that we are working with. We have a nice group of work campers for the summer. Now cleaning cabins may not sound like the most glamorous job, but these cabins are so well maintained, that cleaning them is a breeze. Brad and JoAnn Luton, the owners, have done an excellent job of maintaining these cabins over the years. They actually built each cabin back in the early 1990’s, and have a tried and true method of keeping them looking brand new. It’s easy to clean something that is already clean.

With our job, we work as a 4-5 person crew in cleaning each cabin. There are three levels of service that we do: Makeup, sheet change and check out. Everyone rotates through the various jobs on each cabin: bathroom, vanity, supplies, makeup beds or sheet changes, dusting/oiling, windows, vacuum, floor and final check. The first two weeks, we have not been at 100% occupancy, which has helped as everyone is still learning the jobs, and what is expected. By this weekend, we should be full (schools are letting out!), and we will get into a good routine.

We start work at 9:00am, so we need to leave our RV by 8:59am, as we have a 1 minute walk to the time clock! Although it’s been in the 30’s in the morning, most guests have left for the day, so we can get started on the cabins right away. Because we have not been at full capacity, we have only been working 4-6 hours each day. Since this is a very physical job, we are happy to have the shorter days to start with. But that will change by this weekend!

Here are a few photos of the cabins.

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PERKS

In addition to getting paid for all hours worked (and Wyoming has no state income tax), we have a 50 amp full hook-up site for free. There are five sites behind the cabins, strictly for the work campers. This is our site.

And the view out the back of the site is very nice as well. It is a very peaceful, serene place (and it’s all free!)

view behind our site

Other perks include free use of the on-site laundry room, including the use of the industrial washer/dryer, which is great for super large loads and comforters. We generally average about $30/month on laundry, so this is a nice little savings.

Since the closest major city with a grocery store, Jackson, is 30 miles away, the Luton’s have also provided a freezer and an extra refrigerator for use by the work campers to store extra food. There are a couple of convenience stores that are within a few miles, but they only carry a limited supply of groceries.

All of the cabins have full kitchens, and many guest will leave food behind when they leave (since many people fly to this area). All that food gets put into another refrigerator, and we all take turns picking over the leftover items. So far there has been bacon, ice cream, pizza, butter, cheese, yogurt, bread and more to pick from. And, some of our guests have left tips as well. The money goes into a tip jar to be evenly split up among the nine of us throughout the summer.

We were also told we would have free, fast Wi-Fi this summer as well. We were very surprised at just how fast it has been. This was a speed test that Dan did the other day. It was the fastest we have ever registered.

There are several walking trails on the 100 acre property (Makena will have more to say about them in a future blog). We have also been into the park a few times, and plan to spend a lot more time exploring the park this summer. The Tetons, unlike Yellowstone, is a bicycle friendly park, so we plan on exploring by foot and bicycle this summer.

Quote for the day: “Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.” – Ann Landers

Liv2RV

Living and working around the country in a RV