An Unwelcome Visitor

When you love what you do, it doesn’t seem like work, even if you do it 7 days a week, 14+ hours a day! That, by the way, is the minimum amount of time it takes when you’re in the hospitality business, and it requires nothing short of pure passion to fuel that midnight oil! I remembered something the other day I hadn’t thought of in years. When we lived back in New York, our pastor gave each member of our congregation a little quiz. There were no right or wrong answers … its purpose was to determine what special gifts each of us possessed that God might be calling us to share with others, either now or in the future. Mine, it turned out, was ‘Hospitality’!! … and I was put in charge of meeting and greeting visitors at church each Sunday, and following up with a friendly phone call. Little did I know at the time, but a decade later my husband and I would move our family to the White Mountains to become your “Lodgekeepers”!! We’re more than halfway through our 6th year now, and we have no regrets regarding the ‘big decision’. When you have passion for what you do, it shines through, which is why our guests still rate us the #1 Small Hotel in Jackson on Trip Advisor after all these years. But it works both ways! I’ve often said that if there were such a thing as a ‘Guest Advisor’ website (maybe I should start one!), our guests would be right up on top, as well. We’ve made a number of true, lifelong friends here, all of whom we met for the very first time at the front desk. That is one of the special blessings of our profession; what makes it all worthwhile. Once in awhile, however, we get an unwelcome visitor, and this happened to us last week. He was a grizzly, unfriendly-looking fellow, and as he ambled up the walkway toward the front door, I just happened to be walking through the lobby. One glance was all it took, and I knew he was one guest that we didn’t want to mess with! This guy was big … at least 250 pounds BIG, and he hadn’t shaved in a coon’s age … he was covered with black fur! He was, of course, one of our local black bears, and he was no longer a cub by any stretch of the imagination. This guy has apparently dined very well since he came out of hibernation. When he saw me running out with my camera, he thought better of continuing towards the front door, and headed for the road out front. His appearance was a traffic stopper, but not too abruptly, thank goodness. Mr. Bear then ambled across the lawn, and swam across the river, he was quite a sight to behold. He paid us another visit the following night, I’m afraid. I had filled up some hummingbird feeders with nectar that day, and put them out back on my patio. Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to hanging them up before night fell, and then I got distracted and forgot about them. I discovered yesterday morning that our bear had emptied each one, and completely taken one of the jars. I haven’t found it yet! While bears are interesting creatures, and I’ve never been afraid of them, they DO deserve a healthy dose of respect. Here’s some good advice regarding bears: Do not feed them! It is interesting to watch black bears, but they can become a real nuisance as well as a danger once they lose their fear of humans. Cover your garbage and be sure to secure the lids. Our large commercial dumpster out back has plate metal lids and heavy metal bars across them. Once the bear tried lifting the lids and bent them perpendicular to the metal horizontal bars. It takes ENORMOUS strength to do such a thing, but a bear is equal to the task! Take down your birdfeeders also, until after the bears go into hibernation; or else you’ll find yourself missing your feeder one morning!