The Bear Who Guards Kitchen Storage

Every time I walk upstairs this guy give me a good start. Although, I think I've determined that he's mostly harmless. If you look closely you can see that he's been de-clawed due to years of souvenir-seeking campers.

The View from my Window

Reason 95:

We fed close to 700 people today. That's a lot of happy stomachs!

Reason 96:

Homemade tortilla chips! I manned the fryer today. It was great.

Reason 97 Winter Park Rocks:

Crooked Creek has the cleanest grills in the Fraser Valley! Well, maybe. We don't actually, actually know that but after two days of deep cleaning, oh it's up there on the levels of clean. Pics to follow before it gets all dirty again!

Reason 98 You Should Come Visit Me in Winter Park:

You can drive on this. It's a lake. That you can drive on. Because it's so frozen.

I didn't because I didn't know until I got to work today. I mean, yesterday, when I was at Grand Lake, CO I saw tire tracks and all but was like, it's got to be just snowmobiles. Nope. I was informed today that people actually drive on this frozen solid lake because it's so frozen solid.

You should come visit so we can try it.

Reason 99 (or until I get tired of counting) You Should Come Visit Me in Winter Park:

SNOW TIRES! I can finally safely drive in winter weather. Man, you wouldn't believe the difference these babies make. Then again your tires probably aren't as far gone as my former tires were.

Reason 100 (or until I get tired of counting) You Should Come Visit Me in Winter Park

Sitting in the living room looking out over the mountains and ski slopes on a beautiful, sunny day.

101 (or until I get tired of counting) Reasons You Should Come Visit Me in Winter Park:

Cheese and Wine Pizza at Alberto's.

I've fallen into another lapse of blogging. Apparently this happens. At least it's a pattern, albeit unpredictable and entirely dependent on my whims and fancy.

So update: This is where I work now! Crooked Creek Ranch in Fraser, Colorado. You should all come visit me in the kitchen. It's been so fantastic so far. Even getting pulled out of a snowbank by a co-worker had the fun, adventurous feel of living in the mountains, prompting me to order snow tires and compile shards of broken bumper on my passenger side floor.

But don't feel too bad for me. It was all my own fault. The snowbank just got in the way.

As far as work goes, I'm so excited. I got to grill yesterday. With giant flames and everything! I'm continually in the process of locating things in the kitchen and am SUPER excited when I can tell someone where, say, the giant lettuce slicer lives. I've already been a participant in a steak eating contest (not timed, of course, since that would almost definitely disqualify my slow-eating self). The result was a respectful draw when the reality of eating an entire flank steak set in. We got really close, though.

So that's that, for now, I suppose. Just having a great time up in the mountains. More pictures to follow. Cheers!