Tubing!

So with all the snow we got last week, some of the guys had the bright idea to prepare one of the hills for tubing! The awesome dudes had to pack down the snow on the slope, and from what I hear, it took a few hours to do so! What love, eh?

From the left, Stone (wrangler, Stone is his last name... I don't remember his first name) with his head lamp, Nate (maintenance), and Paul (wrangler).

Chelsea had the bright idea to bring over hot chocolate for the tubers (haha) that were there ahead of us. I love how everyone is so loving towards each other! Stone is having a good old time chilling on the tube.

Paul pouring hot chocolate for Chelsea.

From left: Courtney (waitress from Cali! woot! woot!), Nate, Brittany (cabins), Stone, Chelsea (wrangler), CK (cabins), Paul (wrangler) and Lindsay (cabins).

Yay! I'm actually in one of my pictures for once!

Ok, so they had the bright idea to have 6 people go down at once. It was really cold, so I understand the urgency in wanting to get home. However, it was a bit complicated trying to figure out the logistics of putting 6 people on one inner tube. See Courtney front and center in this photo? 

Now you can only see her legs. Where did her upper half go? I have no idea, but Nate is about to jump in...

And they're all on! Amazing!

Chelsea pushing them down, down, down... amazingly enough, no one fell off, and they made it down safely!

Good old Paul, coming up for Chelsea, Lindsay and me. That inner tube is huge, and heavy, so it was super nice of him to come back for us.

There is no picture/video of me going down. If you don't know, I have a terrible fear of heights. Also, I had my fears about the whole tubing experience... what if I bounced off? What if we crashed into a tree? What if we spun 180 degrees and we went down the mountain backwards? What if my hair got caught, and the tube, with the rest of the riders, ran over me, snapping my neck, and leaving me paralyzed on the side of the mountain? I figured the least I could do, was put away the camera, since I would need both hands (for prayer), and to grip onto something. I ended up looping my fingers into someone's (I don't know who) belt loop. Miraculously, no one fell off, and it was quite an exhilarating experience. However, "for safety, Guests should be in good health and free from high blood pressure, heart, back or neck problems, motion sickness, or other conditions that could be aggravated by this adventure. Expectant mothers should not ride. Due to the nature of the experience, service animals are not permitted on this attraction."

First Guest Dinner!

Our first guests came Tuesday of last week. They were a group of pastors from our "home church", Woodmen Valley. It was a pleasure to serve them while they were vision casting for the new year. Look at the snow!

I haven't been trained as a waitress yet, as Spring Cleaning has been taking up all of our time, so Heidi, my crew leader and Sarah, a veteran waitress from the past few seasons, had the privilege of serving our dear pastor friends. Here is the table setting. Notice the linens are black and red, and match the waitress outfits. I, too, had to buy clothing that matched the linens in the dining room.

Sarah and Heidi! Don't they look cute? I love how their tops and bottoms are alternating. I don't think they planned it. It's funny because Heidi has red hair, and Sarah has brown... which continues the alternate color pattern!

This is Anne, the awesome head chef. She finds the most amazing recipes wherever she can... online, books, even the Food Network, and turns them into Lost Valley classics! Here she is with the BBQ ribs... yum! 

In the kitchen, it's the first real trial for the new staff. From right to left: Will (orange beanie), the back of Rachelle's head, Coulter, Anna, and you can see Paud's (Irish for Patrick) black shirt.

The staff have to plate the meals as fast as they can so they're still hot and fresh for the guests to eat! Here's Anna putting... carrots? on the already full plate. I don't know how they do it.

Coulter is giving a thumbs up, when he should be plating. Get back to work Coulter!

They wipe the plates so they look clean. It's all about presentation! I think, with these plates, the message is: this is a lot of good food! Eat up!

Here's a video of Heidi being an awesome waitress. And I love how Sarah shows such care by placing a towel over Heidi's arm to protect it because the plates are HOT! It makes me nervous to think that I'll have to balance three plates on my left arm AND manage to walk towards my tables AND place them in front of each guest from their right side! (serve from the right, clear from the left) Ahhh! I imagine myself dropping all of the plates on the floor, or worse, dropping food onto a guest! Ahhh!

Go Heidi! Oh, how much I have to learn!

So one of the awesome things about my living situation, is that my roommate is Rachelle, the ranch baker and dessert maker. She says she has no budget, so she makes cookies, cupcakes, all types of breads and other desserts whenever she pleases, for all of our consumption (since guests don't always eat everything). Everyone says they have a love/hate relationship with Rachelle because they love her baking, but it ends up making everyone gain weight! Here she is, putting some sauce on the cheesecakes for dessert. She says she hates her chef's jacket, but I think it makes her look spiffy! Go Rachelle! You can see Will off to the side wanting some dessert... not until the guests are served, Will!

Ah, pecan pie. I don't really like it myself, but it's a favorite among the menfolk here at the ranch. And yes, that IS a huge tub of vanilla ice cream. It's spilling over the top because of the high elevation here at the ranch. Don't you just wanna take a big bite out of it? Yum...

The night went off successfully. The guests loved the food, and everyone did a great job! I've never really thought about all the effort that is put into preparing a meal and serving it to guests when I'm eating at a restaurant. The way the waitrii and kitchen crews work together to serve our guests makes me appreciate the whole dining experience so much more! I realize that it is such a luxury to be able to eat at a restaurant and be served... it makes me feel like a queen! I look forward to being able to bless our guests in this way, as well!

Superbowl Sunday

First Sunday in Colorado, we drove 2 hours to Colorado Springs to attend Woodmen Valley Chapel. This is the church that most people at Lost Valley Ranch attend. It could be categorized as a "mega-church", but it doesn't feel overwhelming. It actually reminds me of Epic, my lovely church in Fullerton. They both value community and relationships, which makes me feel at home.

There are tissue boxes in the pews. I thought it was pretty funny. Even though I tear up a LOT at Epic, I never think to bring tissues. Somehow, it doesn't seem natural when you've prepared for the tears.

What blows my mind, is that every service is COORDINATED between the two campuses. Woodmen Valley has two campuses, and one campus has two worship buildings. The pastor, Matt Heard, alternates speaking at each campus, and even the worship is coordinated. The worship leader and all the musicians have earpieces, so even the two drummers are in sync at the different campuses. It's amazing. I was so entertained, watching them. Is that a bad thing? Should I feel guilty... because I don't.

I saw this and thought of Cecille and Nate. Hehe. They make us line up for communion, but we take it all together at the same time.

I thought of Kristy and wanted to put this up. Woodmen Valley has a hallway where they have all these 'L's'... I think it stands for "love".

I'm guessing it's inspired by Valentine's Day. Boo. Just kidding. I'm not at all bitter about it. :P

Isn't that nice? Free Bibles for everyone! I didn't take one. I wonder if they feel sad when people don't take them. I should, next time, to make them feel better. Anyway...

Superbowl party! Look! We used SNOW instead of ice! Free ice outside! Everywhere!

Nice spread, eh? The Warnocks, Tony and Brooke (Tony is acting manager of the ranch), hosted all of the staff at their cabin. So nice of them! (They're one of the few cabins that get satellite TV).

Clockwise from top left: Tony (manager), Jacob (maintenance), Anna (kitchen), Lauren (kitchen), Nate (maintenance), and the back of Tish's head (gift shop).

At the end of the night, Chelsea (wrangler) found an icicle hanging from the Warnocks' cabin. Look at the size of that thing! Maybe she's mad that the Steelers lost? What a great way to end the day!

House Cleaning Day 4

Today is day 4 of Spring Cleaning! I feel myself getting buffer and buffer, as I buff out the scratch marks in the paint of closets and walls with the super duper Mr. Clean Magic Eraser! That thing is amazing! When I get home, I'm buying me some to clean my walls and dressers and laptop and everything!

Sarah (one of the waitresses) and I, Tilex-ing the shower. Oh, the fumes.

Chelsea (one of the wranglers) with the Baby-O vacuum and Sarah getting a breath of fresh air!

Courtney (another waitress) being Cinderella and scrubbing the fireplace.

Caroline (cabin girl), taking out the precious glass fixture to clean. She is also going to dust each ceiling fan blade. We do a thorough job here at Lost Valley!

I thought it was funny that we put Anna, the shortest girl kitchen girl, on the ceiling job. Go Anna! You'll notice that a lot of the crews are helping out with the Spring Cleaning, because it is a HUGE undertaking. I think it's so nice that everyone pitches in to get things done!

Another example of how seriously we take Spring Cleaning... Sarah, here, is using a toothbrush and a Q-tip to dust the grill behind the refrigerator. It is amazing.

Vacuuming the furniture. Hide-a-bed! Ooh, one fun fact. We have to put a mattress pad on the hide-a-bed mattress. If we don't, we lose our AAA four diamond award (which we've gotten every year for the past 30 years).

Loading up Corona, the cabin girl van! I'm not sure why it's named that...

So, don't report us to any authorities, but we ride around the ranch like this: one driver, two girls wedged in the front passenger seat, and up to two girls standing in the opening of the sliding doors, holding on to the van for dear life. This doesn't include any girls that have found room between the brooms, buckets, bags of blankets, vacuums, and other cleaning supplies that we take with us to each cabin.

A clean vanity. Can you see the wood shine? It's because it's been Liquid Gold-ed!

A finished fireplace, complete with a handy fire extinguisher.

A finished bathroom. Everything has to be done a certain way. The shower curtain liner has to be on the opposite side of the faucet. The bath mat has to be placed in the center of the tub, with the soap placed on the center of the mat. There has to be one folded towel on the top of the toilet, along with a new toilet paper roll. There are so many other things to remember, but these are some of them. We do things right, here at Lost Valley.

I love funny poems. This one is a set of instructions on how to clean your riding boots at the end of a long day, riding horses. Yeah, there's a lot of muck you walk through... and it would suck if it was tracked onto the carpet. I have so much respect for the cabin girls that clean every day.

This chalkboard hangs on the side of the front door of each cabin. It has a little pail of chalk and a rag to erase with. Cute, ain't it? If we know, ahead of time, the names of the guests who are staying in the cabin, we'll write "Welcome ________!" Isn't that nice, personal touch? I love it!

And now for the explanation of our brand. We bought the LVL brand along with the ranch in the 50's. It is one of the last "mirror brands". It should be just "LV", to stand for "Lost Valley", but because of the mirror-ing of the brand, the first "L" looks like a "J", and there's an extra "L" at the end to make it a mirror image. "V" is already symmetrical, so... yeah. Confused? I still am, a bit. I'll have to have it explained to me again some day. Until then, just accept it.

P.S. 13 cabins down, 11 more to go! Oooo-ah!

Spring Cleaning!

Today was the first day of spring cleaning! Our super crew of 10 gals and 3 guys was specially assembled from the cabin crew, watrii crew, wrangler crew, and maintenance crew. We tackled the biggest cabin first: Cliff Dweller. It accommodates 8 guests, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. It took us only 3 hours to clean, all of us working together. And man, did we work! These people have been doing this for years, so they have developed an awesome system to do everything efficiently.

First, we had to get our cleaning supplies! They're stored in the "Comm", short for commissary (where we get our supplies and launder linens).

Shelf of cleaning agents, solvents, magic erasers, pumice stones, polishing agents, etc. Below are our "kits", which we bring to each cabin we're cleaning. Inside are cool cleaning tools, like Q-tips, toothbrushes, sponges, gloves, etc.

"If you can't Pursue a man, Pursue a toilet!" What an awesome name for a bathroom disinfectant and cleaner! I kinda want to know how this company came up with the name.

LOC: this was all over my training manual, and I had no idea what it meant. It stands for "Liquid Organic Cleaner". Supposedly, you are able to drink it (diluted)... and every member of the cabin crew is supposed to have swallowed a squirt. They say it tastes like soap. I'm not interested in verifying their statements. We use this on EVERYTHING. It's not just for the bathroom, on no. Every non-wood surface got a nice LOC rub today.

Ah, and the second hero of the day, Murphey's Oil! If you've ever been in a cabin, you would know that  there is quite a lot of wood in the construction of such cabins. Our cabins all have 13-foot wood-paneled, vaulted ceilings, and 4-foot high wainscoting panels. All of which needed to be cleaned with Murphey's Oil. That was my job. I ended up using one rag in each hand, and cleaning two wood panels at once. The taller menfolk had the privilege of using sponge brooms and standing on furniture to clean our ceilings. I was reminded of how nice it is to be born a female :)

This one is my FAVORITE because it's almond scented. It's also an aerosol... so I might have gotten a bit high from the fumes. But everything that was Murphey's Oiled, also had to be Liquid Golded. Again, sponging the ceiling, wiping the panels with Liquid Gold. All that work was worth it, though, because the wood really gleamed with a golden luster. Maybe that's why they call it Liquid Gold! Wow!

I escaped bathroom cleanup today, but I'll probably have to do some sooner or later. I heard stories about the Tilex fumes during lunch and dinner today, so I'm sure it'll be quite an experience. Here's a picture of where we store some of the bed sheets.

More bed sheets. I just love the neat, organized piles! It makes the little neat freak in my brain so happy!

In the afternoon, we split into two teams and finished Saddle Horn and Silver Spur. They say we set a record for most cabins cleaned on the first day of Spring Cleaning. Yay for us! Here's a little sign we have in the Comm. I like how "N", in cabins, stands for "neat freaks" :)

Anyway, my body is tired, my fingers feel a bit stiff, my back is achy, but I feel good. It feels good to eat a good meal after a hard day's work. It feels good to work with other people and serve our guests. As a team, we prayed over each cabin, for the guests that would be staying there this year. It really helped me to remember who and why I was doing all this labor for, and made it a great experience.

Three down, 21 cabins to go!