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Hi. I’m Ben Benton from Flagstaff, Arizona. I believe that you will enjoy my daily journal from Yellowstone National Park during the summer of 1999. I left downtown Flagstaff with my saddle and duffel in early July and lighted in the horse corral at Mammoth Hot Springs. My journal will continue through September 20th, unless the weather shuts us down earlier. You’ll read about adventures on the back country trails, Yellowstone history, people I meet, 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. Right now, I’m working for Amfac Parks and Resorts. They are a top notch concession company because they place employee training, morale, and amenities first. |
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Previous 7/16 |
Saturday, 8-28-99We closed the corral for a rain day today, so I decided to drive to Butte, Montana to see Rick Railson. We’ve been friends for over 20 years and roommates in both Flagstaff and Los Angeles. I fed the horses at 11:00 A.M. and left for Butte. I haven’t been to Butte since 1978. The first impression I got today upon arrival is that nothing has changed. Rick said Butte is slowly dying because the copper mining is gone, but it looked this way 21 years ago. At one time, Butte was the largest city between Chicago and San Francisco and now every third building is empty and crumbling. Rick told me over the phone how to get to his house in Walkerville, which is just up from Butte and a bedroom community for the hard rock miners in years past. Now most of the homes are shanties and available for under $10,000. When I get to Daly Street, he said, I was to turn left and drive until I saw the bar “Pissers’ Palace” and then park and walk to the house next door. I’m not making this up. Well, it turns out that the bar is actually named “Piszer’s Palace, after the name of the owner who lives across the street. Rick and I headed out for supper and he suggested Denny’s on I-90 in the Holiday Inn Express. I obliged but thought to myself that there must be a hundred places I would have picked first. At Denny’s, I ordered the 18 ounce T-bone and it was the best steak I’ve had in years. Denny’s are billing themselves as a steak house now and they sure are on the right track. After Denny’s Rick showed me his favorite places in the
revitalized (after a fashion) downtown then we headed back to
Walkerville for a nightcap at Piszer’s Palace.  |
Previous 8/1 |
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