More Rolls

Easy day today because most of the campers are out on a 3 day ride and campout. Big news today was I had not one screw but one screw and a nail in each of my front tires. I was pretty sure one tire was losing air but kind of clueless on the other one. There is a gravel road up to the camp and a lot of camp vehicles travel it daily shaking stuff off of them I guess.

Made a small batch of rolls tonight and put parmesan cheese, garlic powder and italian seasonings in the dough, smelled really good like we were making pizzas! Girls enjoyed them and we ran out.

My next day off is Friday and planning to hike as much as I can. I am such a flatlander that might not make it too far up but everyone hikes around here so have got to try.

Past Week

Days are passing quickly, even though they are pretty long, starting at 6 in the kitchen going until 1:30 in the afternoon, breaking which I usually jog around Estes Park Lake or go swimming at the high school indoor pool and then going back into the kitchen at 4 until 7:30. Here are some pictures of the Chipeka kitchen dining room and the setup of the dishes before a meal. Everything is served family style so lots of bowls have to be filled before everyone can eat. Our numbers can range from 9 tables of 8 to 26 tables of 8 and 10 depending on the meal and day. Most campers are in on Saturday night and Sunday breakfast and dinner so thats why our day off is during the middle of the week. I scheduled do go on a rafting trip on Thursday last week with the campers so I got on all the garb which included my swimsuit, splashjacket, safety vest, baseball cap, helmet, and sunglasses(quite a sight I assure you and thats why NO Picture!) and then they discovered there was two too many for the trip! So...got some good pictures of the campers floating down the river and changed clothes and headed to tour Ft Collins. The rest of the weekend prepared food which included 50# of potatoes for the cookout potato salad( a far cry from the 5# I prepared for Whits graduation party potato salad) and hot rolls. I really am enjoying doing the rolls from scratch and the campers do too!

The Stanley Hotel and Sunday lunch

Sunday was a packed day with cinnamon rolls and hot rolls for lunch. It was a half day but worked 8 hours! Go figure? Took a picture of the meal of sliced turkey, broccoli and cheese sauce, hot rolls and garden rice. For dessert was strawberry shortcake! I made the cake and hot rolls. Our full house of feeding is around 200 but lots of seconds are asked for which makes one feel like they are liking what we are preparing. After work I went to the famous Stanley Hotel where "The Shining" was filmed. We sat down and listened to live music. Everywhere it seems like they have someone singing at night which is very relaxing to hear and to view the mountains.

Baking cookies, Dinner meal

Got to make a batch of 360 cookies for the Munch Inn which is the location the counselors go to for their campout meals. They actually turned our, oatmeal coconut which is kind of like a ranger cookie in my opinion. This is a picture of Thursday night dinner which the campers really liked. The chicken is soaked in water then just baked with a mixture of parmesan and seasoning salt sprinkled over it. Got to shape the rolls also. The dough raises soooo quickly up in this altitude that you hardly get done shaping the pan and they have risen. Made 3 pans of 77 and we just had enough. Told the campers we would make more the next time for seconds! These campers ARE HUNGRY!!

Cookout at Woods Kitchen, Lily Lake

On Sunday night the Support Staff had a cookout at Woods Kitchen with a beautiful view out over Estes Park. Then after dinner we went for a walk around Lily Lake. Its not very far from camp and its FLAT! Its about a mile around the lake so thats my running track until I get use to these mountains! On Monday night we had a "non-cocktail cocktail party" at Sky High and afterwards the counselors had a talent show and their units performed skits. Really funny and everyone had a good time.

More about "THE DAY OFF"

Our days off are precious so we try to make the most of them. Went to the "Wool Market" at the Estes Park Fairground. Saw the yarn on the animals, being spun and then the end results. Lots of beautiful textures and colors. I even bought some alpacca yarn to start a scarf. Watch out relatives everyone might get a scarf for Christmas if I start knitting again!!

Then that Saturday night we had our "Code of Living" ceremony and I took a picture of Don Cheley the 3rd generation to run the camp attempting to play the guitar!

On Sunday morning it was up at 6:30 making cinnamon rolls. Our headcook, Barb, was in complete control of the dough!

Day Off!!

Prepared Friday breakfast (coffeecake) and lunch(chili) and got dinner off. The counselors liked our meals so much they called for a "Cooks Parade" after our first day! That was real rewarding I must say however I was pooped! I think I am definately going to sleep well at night after fixing 3 meals a day. We get 2 hours off in the afternoon so really not much time to enjoy all this beauty away from the camp except for days off. Those I think are real treasures! Went out to dinner with some office staff and the nurses on Friday night. We traveled upto Rocky Mountain National Park for an after-dinner walk. Saw lots of elk. The locals say many more elk than usual this year. (kind of like the deer in back in Kansas). Got up early Saturday morning and headed to Estes to the local laundry mat and it is run by the nicest couple. They will make doing laundry not such a dreaded chore I think.

My roommate, Sandy is from Florida and we are getting along just fine. We are about the same age so that helps. She lived in Estes a long time ago and doesn't really remember too much about it but does still have some friends in the area. She works in the Boys Kitchen so we trade stories about each others kitchens which keeps it interesting.

Grandmas Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies

Started baking today and impressed everyone with a double batch of Moms choc chip cookies. One of the cooks actually ate 8!! When I make them for the whole house will have to make 16 dozen instead of 3.

Been running in the morning at 6 and this morning saw 2 deer by the road. They just stared at this crazy women huffing and puffing by. Not as bad as I thought it would be running up here just the uphills are a bit of a struggle. I will have to start running in the afternoons since starting tomorrow I will be starting work at 6. We have Friday night off and all day Saturday so am trying to plan a venture to Colorado Springs. We'll see if I can get it all arranged.

My first and hopefully only Bear! He was friendly!

Me cleaning pots and pans

Fello Cooks

Cleaning

New House

Showed Mom and Courtney the inside of my new house today . Both thought it was definately an upgrade. Courtney was already scoping out the upstairs bedrooms for the biggest one but then conceded since she knew Blaize is a big guy!

Started driving around 2:00 today and stayed the night in the Colby Super 8 Hotel! About half way and needed some rest before starting out bright and early around 6 AM on Sunday to make it to Cheley and unpacked to register in by 2:00.

When I got to the Super 8 they said Hotels.com had charged 2 rooms to my credit card and wondered if I really wanted 2 for myself. Sooooo had kind of a mess already but the people were all real nice and solved the issue rapidly. Lesson learned: Always bring your confirmation # with you checking in hotels and the phone number to reach someone where you made it!

Getting Ready to Go

Last week of work before heading West to Cheley Dude Ranch in Estes Park, Colorado!! I am EXCITED!! Showing Missy the way we have purchased food for the Residence Halls for the last 25 years. Now she will purchase her way for this summer.. Packing up 3 suitcases full of winter clothes because I do think it will be pretty "nippy" in the Mountains.

To complicate matters I just bought a house near campus so over the summer hopefully my friend Patty, a realtor, will sale my condo OR I will become a Landlord in Sept!