'The Deep'

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6:26 am - Monday - 42º F, humidity 73%, wind 3 mph out of the south southeast with clear skies.....forecast high for Gardiner today is 78º F......76º F for Mammoth Hot Springs.....there is a definite chill in the air.

From the looks of downtown Gardiner Sunday we are past the summer crowds.......usually there is no street parking available at 1 pm on any day of the week due to all the tourists in town, but Sunday the lack of vehicles in town was a little spooky.  I guess there are a lot of schools back in session as of August 7th (Monday), which means most families with school age children have returned to their home towns, and workaday lives.  

After Saturday's 'Great Ice Cream Disaster' it was kind of nice to arrive at the General Store to find things relatively uncrowded, and that is how the day went.....uncrowded.  The best thing about Sunday was everyone was smiling again......

TLE with our 'CLOSE' shift supervisor 'Dodge'....look at how empty the store is!

I pulled a cash drawer Sunday, and that is what I did 90% of my shift.  Since we had no ice cream to sell we were acting as the 4th checkout station for the store to keep the lines from getting too long at the retail checkout stations where TLE works.  That was good for me as it kept me busy most of the time.  In the picture above you can see there is no one in lie at the 'Fountain' at 6 pm!

When things got quiet I spent time helping my co-workers deep clean the 'Fountain' area.  Since the ice cream freezer was empty we turned it off and spent about an hour cleaning the inside to a point where it almost looked brand new again.  At one point I suggested that I lift one of the hot dog rollers off the counter so my co-worker could clean the counter behind, and underneath it......we got a little surprise.....

.....there was one hot dog, and one bratwurst under there that appeared to be about 2 months old......they were essentially petrified.....we found one more under the other hot dog roller.  I guess we need to move them more often in the future!

We were promised an ice cream delivery by Wilcoxson's Ice Cream Sunday, but the truck never arrived.....no doubt they will arrive by Monday, but we will not know, because we will be out hiking new to us Yellowstone trails for the next two days!

The temps inside the store were utterly delightful Sunday......there was a nice breeze coming in the doors and windows, which combined with the lack of foot traffic made for a very pleasant Sunday......nice to have a slow day once and a while.  I'm sure we'll see a transition from the family type vacationers to those who visit places like Yellowstone outside the tourist season, but I think we have passed the zenith for this summer. There is, however, a strong possibility we will see an increase in traffic for the upcoming August 21st solar eclipse.

We were home by 10:55 pm relaxing and looking forward to our two off days, and more '100 Mile Hiking Club' hiking miles......thanks for stopping by!

When you need to buy something from Amazon, think of us.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission.