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Hi. I’m Ben Benton from Flagstaff, Arizona. I believe that you will enjoy my daily journal from Winter Park, Colorado, Ski Resort during Christmas break 1999-2000. I left downtown Flagstaff Wednesday morning, December 22 with my skis, duffle, and laptop computer, and ended up at Snoasis, a lodge midway up the mountain in Winter Park. My journal will continue through the first week of January. You’ll read about Winter Park Ski Resort, Snoasis, Sunspot Lodge, the great people who work here, and anything else I can think of to write about. I’m the author of “National Park Employment Data,” a guide to working in national parks, which is available for purchase on my web site at www.gorp.com/nped/. I’ve been working in national parks and ski areas off and on for over twenty years. Because I want the data in my book to always be fresh, I continually test the concepts, employers, and tips that I provide. I first worked at Winter Park in the late 70s while I was a student at Arizona State University. |
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Thursday, January 6, 2000Winter Park to FlagstaffI packed and caught a ride to the mountain residents parking area along the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad tracks by snowmobile early Wednesday morning, sorry to leave Snoasis after such an enjoyable Christmas and New Year. Rather than go over Berthoud Pass and through the Eisenhower Tunnel, crossing the Continental Divide twice, I decided to go around by driving north to Granby, west to Kremling, and south to Dillon to pick up I-70 there. The trip back to Flagstaff was just like the trip to Winter Park, so to save words and repetition, simply go to my Winter Park journals for December 22nd and 23rd and read them backwards. Seriously though, there was one change. I stopped at the Valley of the Gods north of Monument Valley and drove the 17-mile loop road. It should be posted for four-wheel drive, but my 30-year-old pickup navigated it just fine. The Valley of the Gods is a spectacular array of monoliths in shapes like monks, Buddhas, and assorted saints. The loop road winds through miles and miles of vistas at various elevations with great overlooks for photos. A standard lens camera is powerless to capture what the eye sees. I tried, though, and a panorama is shown below. After 16 miles of rutted, rocky dirt road, I looked ahead and saw a fenced property. As I got closer, I read the sign in the front yard, “Valley of the Gods Bed and Breakfast.” I’m not making this up. It’s really there.  Valley of the Gods, Southeastern Utah ***** I arrived in Flagstaff Thursday at 4:00p.  |
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