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

Whitewater Rafting and Big Sky Country

Posted on July 1, 2015 by liv2rv

We decided to take advantage of a few freebies with our coupon book before they expired, and headed up to Big Sky, Montana (about 40 miles north) for a full day of playing tourist. Our pass for Montana Whitewater offered two options: a zipline tour, or whitewater rafting. When I first mentioned to Dan that I would like to try Whitewater Rafting, he was very surprised, as I do not swim. However, I knew I would feel a lot safer in a boat, with multiple people, a helmet and life jacket than zipping over trees held on by nothing more than small cable. The company offers several different tours , and we opted for the less challenging 1/2 day on the Gallatin River with Class 2-3 rapids.

If you want to go whitewater rafter, the earlier in the season, the better the water will be, in terms of water level and speed of the water. After mid-June, you will not really encounter much “rapids”, and the company will offer river tubing tours. So the earlier you can go, the more challenging it will be. Of course, the earlier you go, the colder the water temperature is! In our case, it was a brisk 40 degrees, so every splash was a bit refreshing!

There were three rafts in our group. The guides give a lot of safety instructions, and you practice your strokes as a group. Then each raft is on its own with a guide, going down the river, for the next 90 minutes or so.

the calm before the rocks

We bounced off a few rocks, and our guide Nicole, informed us she is an ‘equal opportunity splasher’, and she would turn the boat in different directions so we all got wet. Fortunately, this tour company provided free wetsuits and neoprene boots, which helped, but it was still chilly.

There were areas of calm water, followed by rocky, fast-moving water, which made for a fun morning. Enjoy our little sequence where we all got wet!

Our group

The Gallatin River runs along Highway 191, and the scenery is very beautiful.

a small waterfall behind us

watch out for the rocks!

We had a great time with Montana Whitewater, and would definitely recommend this company. The cost for a 1/2 day tour is $55.00 per person, and does include wetsuits. There are other tour companies, but they charge you extra for the suits. If you go early in the year, you definitely want to have them. We had free passes, but this was definitely something we would pay for with this company.

We stopped along the river for a quick picnic lunch, then headed into the city of Big Sky. On our drive in, we saw a sign for Lone Peak Brewery, so we decided to stop in and sample some of their local brews. Our 5 sampler came on a mini ski!

snow ski sampler!

Of the beers that we sampled, we liked two, Hippy Highway Oatmeal Stout, and a bourbon beer that was finished off for several weeks in a used bourbon barrel. Unfortunately, they do not can or bottle either of these two flavors. So if you want to try them, you will have to come to the brewery!

We continued on to the Big Sky Resort, for our complimentary scenic ski lift ride ($16/adults) from Mountain Village (7500 feet) to Swift Peak (8800 feet). There is an additional tram that will take you to the top of Lone Peak (11,000 feet), but we did not have time for that tour. The lift was very quiet, and took about 15 minutes to get to the top. I found that staring at my feet helped with the heights!

don’t look down!

Lone Peak 11000 feet

In the summer, the trails open up for hiking and cycling, and they have special lifts to take the bikes to the top.

bicycle chair lift

Even though we did not go to the top, it was still a beautiful view of the mountains.

Lone Peak double diamond trails

You can see the city of Big Sky down below.

Big Sky country

A view of the resort area coming down on the chair lift.

closer look at the resort area

For those that love skiing, there are many trails for all abilities.

After our quick tour, we headed over to 320 Guest Ranch for our complimentary Pig Roast which they have on Mondays in the summer. For $15, you get a pulled pork sandwich, coleslaw, potato salad, beans and a cookie. While the ranch itself is very nice, we were happy that we did not have to pay for the meal. This went into our “glad it was free” category.

We enjoyed our time Big Sky. It is a wonderful, and growing city.

Quote for the day: “When you put your hand in a flowing stream, you touch the last that has gone before and the first of what is still to come.” – Leonardo DaVinci

Craft Beer tours of the Black Hills

Posted on October 19, 2014 by liv2rv

Craft Breweries are increasing in popularity, and the Black Hills of South Dakota has several good brew pubs to stop in for a sample or two. All the brew pubs have flight tastings so you can try small samples of several different styles of beer, from wheat to pale ales to stouts. They all offer growlers, where you can fill up a 64 ounce container of beer to take home with you. But such a giant container does not fit so well in the small, shallow refrigerators in an RV. So we just opted to stop in for samples (but not all in the same day!)

The Buglin’ Bull Restaurant and Sports Bar in downtown Custer, SD has a full service restaurant on one half, and a bar on the other half. They also have a rooftop deck as well. With just 4 different selections of craft beers, they offered the least variety, but still had some good flavors. We both enjoyed the Elk Poop Stout the best.

Buglin Bull

4 tasty samples

The Firehouse Brewing Company, in downtown Rapid City, is housed in Rapid City’s first firehouse, built in 1915. It has a full service restaurant, with a wide variety of food, and reasonable prices. The have a rotation of nine craft beers on tap, including seasonal brews.

Firehouse Brewing Company

These were the beers on tap on the day we did some sampling. Lot’s of different types of ales, from pale ales, brown ales, Scottish ales as well as wheat beers, stouts, and a very good cider beer called Teachers Pet. Normally we don’t care for the cider beers, but this one had more of a beer flavor than the sour apple flavor.

Brews on tap

It took some doing, but we managed to get through the long line of beers to sample!!!

9 tasty samples

Crow Peak Brewery in Spearfish, SD was established in 2007,and is the only brewery that offers cans and bottles of their flavorful beer (Although they have a very limited selection).

Crow’s Peak Brewery

They have a large variety of beers, including seasonal selections. When the menu is on a chalkboard, you can expect a constantly changing variety of fresh beers.

The “menu”

They have tasting flights of 4 beers. Our favorite beer was the Pagan Stout, which they unfortunately do not (yet) bottle.

our samples

Miner Brewing Company in Hill City, SD is a brand new, opening in the fall of 2013. The owner/brewmaster is part of the family that owns the Prairie Berry Winery that is located next door. We stopped in several times for tasting, as they also rotate the beers on tap.

Miner Brewery

When our friends Forest and Mary stopped in for a visit, we stopped off for some sampling after a day of playing tourist.

Cheers Forest & Mary

They have a wide variety of beers, and we all enjoyed their oatmeal stout.

Miner’s sampler

Bitter Esters Brewhouse is right in the heart of downtown Custer. They pride themselves on using locally grown ingredients whenever possible. They also consider themselves to be a Nano brewery, which is a very small craft brewer. They offer a limited menu of food.

downtown Custer, SD

They have a variety of beers, brewed in small batches.

colorful brews

The Sick-n-Twisted Brewery shares space with the Naked Winery in Hill City, SD.

Sick n Twisted

They had the largest variety of beers, but we were not too impressed with the ones we were able to sample. They did have some creative names for their beers.

a creative lineup

If you do enjoy beer, and you are in the area, stop in for a sample or two. Our favorites were Crow Peak, Miner Brewery and Firehouse Brewery.

We did sample several glasses of wine at three of the wineries just north of Hill City: The Naked Winery, Prairie Berry, and Stone Faces. We did enjoy several of the selections at Stone Faces, but we did not care for most of the samples we tried at the other two.

Quote for the day: Well ya see, Norm, it’s like this… A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That’s why you always feel smarter after a few beers.

– Cliff Clavin, of Cheers

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Liv2RV

Living and working around the country in a RV

Tag Archives: breweries

Meanwhile, back at the cabins

Whitewater Rafting and Big Sky Country

Craft Beer tours of the Black Hills