Training period

We had Monday to settle in and get acquainted with the park and the area. We drove to Rutland which is about 20 minutes away. It has one of the few Wal-Marts in the state. It is NOT a super store. We drove around the town and located a church where we plan to attend on Sunday. They also have a Home Depot and several restaurants.

Gifford Woods State Park is located just outside of Killington, Vt. It was established in 1931 and a lot of the buildings were built by the CCC during the Great Depression. It has 22 tent/trailer sites with no hookups, 21 lean-to shelters and 4 rental cabins located on 285 acres. The Appalachian trail runs through the state park so many of the campers are hikers and they have a lot of day use people using the trails. Today, Gifford Woods contains one of the few old-growth hardwood tree stands remaining in Vermont. Killington is known as a ski resort and a lot of the lodges and motels that cater to the winter crowd.

Tuesday we started training and work. Our schedule is pretty much up to us as long as we work 30 hours between us per week. There is lots to learn and do here. They have everyday jobs like clean up and jobs that need to be done weekly or monthly. And then there are many special projects such as painting and repairing and gardening. We are trained in cleaning the bathrooms, site cleaning when someone checks out of a campsite and cabin cleaning. These will not be everyday jobs for us.
This week beside the routine schedule, Jeanne has done some gardening and Allan has done some clean up around the office and mowing.

Kent Pond which is pretty large for a pond is located across the highway from the state park. We hope to fish and put our inflatable kayak in soon. Tomorrow we are suppose to get our fishing license. This is one of our perks. We can get free use of state parks and their facilities as available and discounts at many attractions. We are planning a day trip on Saturday. The weather is suppose to be sunny and in the low 70's. We have had a number of rainy days here and high temps have been in 50s -60's. We are very happy and blessed with our site, job, area and temperature.