For the Love of Park Rangers

I love park rangers. At least the ones I'm working with. Charlie, one of the returning seasonal rangers, who has really been like a mentor to me since I first got to SD, bought me lunch today... the rangers must've already figured out that the way to my heart is through food.

Today, the new interns and I had our second day of training. Even though I've been here for 3 weeks, I still have to do this training, which is incredibly tedious and lame. In showing all the interns how to open the visitor center, my boss says to everyone, "Jacob's been doing this for weeks now; he can tell you how easy it is," to which I jokingly said, "Yea, but then again, I am smarter than most people," to which NO ONE laughed; everyone just gave me a confused or dirty look and now all the newbies think I'm a tool.  Oh well, at least I still can charm the seasoned professionals!

During training, there was an allotted time when the new rangers were supposed to ask the other rangers questions about the park, about being a ranger, etc.  This is what the Q&A session sounded like:
"Can rangers give recommendations to tourists about other activities in the area?"
"No; because park rangers are government employees, we cannot give anyone any recommendations."
"What about restaurants? Can rangers recommend restaurants to tourists?"
"No. Rangers cannot give any recommendations whatsoever to tourists."
"Can rangers give recommendations to tourists about the best hotels to stay at?"
"No. Rangers cannot give recommendations about any hotels."
"Can rangers say something to tourists like, 'You should eat at this restaurant; it's awesome!'?"
"No, that is providing an opinion... giving a recommendation."
"Wait, so can rangers tell people not to go eat at a certain restaurant?"
......do you feel my pain?

Today I also gave my first ranger walk, which was impromptu.  My ranger friend Charlie announced to the entire Rushmore viewing terrace that I was giving a tour, so I had no choice. BUT it turned out to be quite successful, so that was cool! So now I have to go write an official, polished, ranger walk tour.

Hope everyone's having a sunny summer; there's a flood watch for the southwestern region of South Dakota for the next week. Fail.