The park is no longer mine

Sorry for the absence. Work comes first then the blog. If I don’t work; I have no blog. Last weekend was spent just watching Daredevil on Netflix with a run to West Yellowstone for supplies. A couple of pictures were taken but none worthy of posting. I do have to say, that the preseason is slowly coming to an end. To that, I mean I’m still in preseason, but with the road opening, and the masses checking in for work, the park is definitely not just mine. A week or two ago, I was at the top of the chain but that has changed. I ran the Employee Dining Room to the best of my ability and slowly people higher up the ladder came through. I ran the EDR like it was my kitchen and hoped things ran smoothly when I was away, like any EDR manager would. As I stated before that it is sad the park is no longer all mine, I will state, I am glad to see people to help with the stress.

                I am now a prep cook and trainer, unofficially, for the Snowlodge EDR and no longer have as big of a responsibility; I have a boss. What I can and will say is that I thought the job would be hard and challenging. I thought there would be obstacles that I would have to overcome to the best of my abilities and I went into the position thinking I could. I say with great confidence that I handled those tasks with even more challenges and I never thought would come across but I did. The last three days, two of which I had to be the cook, I was nervous. I had no count on the amount of people I would cook for and the worried me. Should I cook for 60 and hope 50 come or should I cook for 80 and hope 80 come? The first day of cooking was intense, stressful and just really, way out of left field. I survived one day of cooking.

                My second day of cooking I stopped by the smokers post and the employee who served the latest dinner was there. He assured me all was good in the amount of food and some stress was relieved. That day I knew I was cooking for more and lunch went off without a problem. Dinner was scary. I had a plan and threw it away at the last moment and went with my gut; Chinese. I had egg rolls, rice, stir fry, some tempura chicken to deep fry, but all I needed was a sauce. I looked and looked for a recipe for General Tso’s Sauce but no luck. I searched the internet and found three recipes for Sweet and Sour sauce and combined all three and hoped for the best. I found the ingredients and put them into a pot and waited. It took about 35 minutes for it to come to a boil and it was happening…The best sweet and sour sauce I ever made. This sauce was sooooooo good, every time someone walked into the establishment, I grabbed a spoon and asked for their opinion, and sure enough, it was pretty damn good.

                My two days of cooking was done and got out early on my ninth day. Life was good. I through some disc on the course with two buddies and called it a day after watching some Daredevil.  I got to sleep in on my first day off that felt like forever but none-the-less, I ate food, caught up with some friends, played some discgolf and caught up with even more old friends. Tomorrow is my “Saturday” so we’ll see what’s in store. I may go out to Lake or I may just have a nice relaxing day after nine days of stress….We shall see.

                When another summer starts in the park, each location opens up like a branch on a tree. And for the first time, I start to climb a different tree and explore new branches like a squirrel. There are many branches to this tree, some stable, some strong, some others have told me about, and others weak. It’s nice to find this new tree and the things I can learn from it. At the same time, I would like to revisit Mammoth and see what has changed, but at the same time, a tree doesn’t change over the course of a night or year, but with time it will. I’m happy for this change I have made and the people I have met. There is more to the park than just one location and the people of the park will show me each location has to offer and for that I’m thankful. I am honored to go through this experience and meet these new individuals that could possibly return.

                In a final closing I would like to say this: Gerald A. Royse, you have, for the past three years, run the EDR that I have had the privilege of eating in. In a short 32 days, I have an idea of what you go through in your time in Mammoth and I can say this: You sir, are a truly amazing person to go through everything that you do and I my only wish is that you could follow me from season to season, location to location because I know that you are straight up the greatest EDR manager that has ever walked the park in my very own opinion. I can only hope that each EDR that I eat at this summer has an EDR manager that takes great pride in their work like you. Also, I love you oriental cooking, can you make me some General Tso’s Chicken some time? Seriously though, you rock as an EDR manager and a friend. I only hope for great things for you this summer! Thank you so much!

MacKeag Resh