Park Hosts - A Day in the Life

Maya likes me in my uniform...

Being Park Hosts has kept us busier than I thought it would!  We have been here almost 4 weeks, our first month almost gone and only one more to go.  Two months is just barely long enough to get ‘broke in good.’  Next time we will have to look at staying longer.

Our life is really good though.  A typical day starts with David getting up a little before me and taking Maya for her morning walk.  As soon as they leave, I get up, get dressed and start making breakfast for all us.  Maya’s gets fixed first because she will be arriving back any moment all excited to eat.  She does like her routine.  David and I have our breakfast next and look over our assignment for the day.

Beautiful Spanish Moss near the Zizelmann House

 

We are assigned to work 4 days a week and to have 3 days off.  But that is flexible depending on our projects.  Some of our projects have had us working parts of most every day but we do try to take off two whole days each week.  We have two shifts per week working in the fee booth at the park entrance.   That is the one ‘job’ that is not flexible as the fee booth must be staffed at certain times.

 

Dinosaur tracks can be seen in the park

 

Hikers near sauropod tracks

 

Theropod tracks

 

The fee booth is both fun and trying.  It is great to talk to the people coming into the park, give information and tell the ‘first timers’ about fun things to do at Government Canyon.  We nearly always see someone we know coming to the park.  In fact, our first day at the booth we saw several of our Master Naturalist friends coming in for a Golden Cheek Warbler survey, some friends who worked with me at the Botanical Garden and our neighbors that we lived next door to for 14 years here in San Antonio.  It felt so good to see so many of our friends and it wasn’t even planned.

Old Kallison Ranch house located in Government Canyon

 

Park Ranger, John Koepke leads volunteers on tour of Kallison property

 

The trying thing about the fee booth is that we do work on Friday and Saturday afternoons and it can be really busy.  Sometimes there are 10 or more cars in line waiting to come in and of course that is usually when the car you are waiting on has 5 adults in it all wanting to pay admission with separate charge or debit cards.  It takes longer to do all those transactions for just one car and inevitably one of the cards will be denied or not scan or something.  Next time I have to wait in line at a park I’ll try to remember to have patience for those working the line.  They are often volunteers and are trying their best.

‘Field days’ are our favorites.  Those are the days we work on the park’s projects and programs.  David has been helping with inventory and one day I helped him take an inventory of all the picnic tables and note which ones needed some repairs (no doubt actually repairing them will be a project soon).  Maya got to help with inventory too and we hiked the campground and picnic areas to find all the tables.  When we are working in the field and if the project is suitable, Maya can come with us.  So field days are also her favorite days.

Bluebonnets are coming up everywhere!

 

Mainly I have been working with the school groups coming to the park and taking the kids on interpretive hikes.  David enjoys doing this too, and in fact he is leading one this morning while I am having a few hours off before working the fee booth this afternoon. 

Picture Your World kids on a photo hike

Every day is a little different and we stay flexible.  Just this week we had a cold, rainy day on Wednesday and the school group that was scheduled for that day rescheduled to Thursday.  So we had to readjust our schedule.  But it all usually works out.

When we have a few free hours we often spend it taking hikes and touring parts of the park we have not seen before.  We used to volunteer at Government Canyon many years ago before it was open to the public. But since then things have changed - new land has been added and new trails finished.  I don't think we will get it all explored while we are here.

 

 

'Cedar' or Ashe Juniper pollen has been really annoying this season

 

It has been different for us having to be on someone else’s schedule again.  We’ve had almost 2 years of being vagabonds and doing things in our own time.  We are truly enjoying our Park Host duties but we are also starting to think of traveling again.  The open road is singing her siren’s song and we are not going to resist.  Come the middle of April or so, we will be ready to move on…

Back in the saddle...

Possumhaw holly berries add color to the winter landscape

Since returning from our New Year’s trip to the Big Bend Country, we've been having a bit of ‘house time’ and taking a little break from RVing.  We spent some time with my parents in Odessa and then visited their cabin in Ruidoso for a couple of weeks.  With this being such a cold winter it has been good to spend some of it in the comfort of warm houses bigger than 200 square feet.  When it is cold and it isn't as fun to be outside then interior space in our little RV can become hotly contested territory.  Even sweet Maya has been known to get cranky about intrusion into her space.  Our three weeks of house time was much appreciated.

Frost on the RV windshield

For the past two weeks, we’ve been back on the road in our RV. While in the Austin area visiting friends we took a Wilderness First Aid Course.  It’s been a long while since our last first aid class and with all of our travels and hiking adventures; we thought it was time for a refresher. Next time you see us, we will be able to splint your arm or leg with just the clothes on your body.  (But I’m hoping you will have on more than a swim suit.)

 

 

Last weekend we arrived at Government Canyon State Natural Area near San Antonio for our two-month stint as Park Hosts.  We’ve been settling in, doing some training and trying to stay warm.  Our first week in the park we had four nights below freezing, two of them in the 20s.  And this is south Texas, right?  We will be extra glad to see spring this year.

 

Maya is learning her way around

 

Now that we are settled in and trained a little, I’ll make regular blog posts to let you know what life is like being a Park Host for the State of Texas.  We are looking forward to this new adventure...

 

Our 'home' at Government Canyon