What's that? You want a disaster porn image of the old Lodge on fire? I am here to oblige, sicko:
Insane, right? It burned down in October of 1999 and was replaced by the space port tents. Fortunately, no one was killed. As far as I know, they never figured out exactly what started it. But I have to say, the place was a tinderbox and it's a wonder it didn't go up years before it did. There was speculation at the time that the fire was not accidental. When questioned in December of '99 by the New York Times (I love working for a company with a ProQuest account) , a Park spokesperson replied, ''It's far fetched but it's easy to rule that out. Had we been thinking like that, we would have burnt it down in April.''
9 comments:
When it burned, I remember thinking, "I'll miss the ghosts." Those space pods just aren't spooky.
I can't look at that picture without Danzig's "Mother" in my head. Maybe because it's so metal and Jerey. Pretty insane.
Amanda- Yeah, it is pretty metal, huh?
Melissa- I know! Stupid space pods.
I thought I read that the cause of the fire was an electrical short in the kitchen. Funny, since the place wasn't open.
Not sure if anyone's still keeping up with the blog but it's been found in Tampa and it's brought back some memories. Nothing better than getting called at 8:00am on a Sunday you're off, to hear 'Gary dear, our little lodge is on fire- what should we do' Maybe call the 911 or at least find the MOD. Maybe the MOD hadn't noticed since the heat from the fire because it was offset by the lodge's temperature being 40 degrees everyday after the Canadians came in. In using Canadians, I'm referring to actual Canadians- not the slang term for persons from the city who tended to swim poorly that was immortalized on Channel 2 by Scott Tanke. Maybe people in the lodge didn't notice the fire because they were shell shocked by that Natalie Imbruglia song or some Smashmouth song blaring at ridiculous decibals inside the lodge. But for some reason, I seemed a better option to call than maybe 911. If I had super powers, maybe I could have done something. But I think the only super power I've ever had was somehow convincing 16-18 year old kids who were paid below minimum wage to come in when scheduled and actually put forth an effort.
The place just wasn't the same without the lodge. Favorite lodge memory: one of the dregs of humanity we used to hire as liftees getting caught hiding in a stall in the women's bathroom on the second floor. I had driven thru a snowstorm from Glassboro for my night shift at work. The drive consisted of the ten most frustrating hours of my life. I get to work and we are completely short staffed, shocker. Employees who live ten minutes away can't make it in after I just drove the length of the state to do so. But three of our more unique employees were brothers who had three different fathers. They were reminiscent of Larry, his brother Darryl, and his other brother Darrell- of Newhart fame. These three brothers lived a good distance away and stayed to help us through pm shift breaks after already working the day shift. After they finished helping us through breaks, two of them decided they wanted to take a few runs. The third brother, who did ski or snowboard, was left to wait in the lodge. The normal lifty in this situation would play some video games, get some food, or sit in the office annoying me while I tried to work- to kill the time. Not this guy, he had an idea that would provide us with an endless amount of jokes and make me laugh my ass off after just having gone through a nightmare of a drive. He snuck into the women's bathroom on the second floor and was caught standing on a toilet peeking over the tops of the stall to view women urinating. How he got into the bathroom unnoticed will always be a mysetery. But when caught, he was apparently enjoying himself. This like many park stories, involved people attaining a level of stupidity thought unachievable- stuff you couldn't make up it you tried.
Gary! Is that you?
Yeah, the lodge was the soul of the place. The rare times I go back there now, it's just weird.
Hello Therese, yes it's Gary, and hope all is going well. Was looking for a video from the park and came across Tom's Headbanger's Ball with Alice and Chains at the park that was linked to the blog. Amazing the video was out there for him to find.
It's great to read the posts and have some old memories brought back. In response to one of Melissa's posts, I was only fired twice and came back the following season in the same or higher capacity. Once by Greg Shropshire and once by Stephanie/Bennyan. I was suspended twice- once for two weeks and once for about ten days. Both times I was welcomed back in a supervisory capacity. And I quit three times. Once came back in a similar capactiy in a different department, once came back to the same job, and once I was actually able to stay away. Actually, I guess as always- Melissa was pretty much dead on in her statement. Not sure which is applicable question: why did I come back all those times or why did they bring me back all those times. But wouldn't trade the memories, good and bad, and people I worked with for anything.
I hope everyone is doing well. I'm just going through a lot of sunscreen here in Tampa and fighting to get my first bachelor's degree done before my twenty year reunion.
John Menzies, Russ Straight, Rob Beekman - affectionately referred to as "The Beekmans" by most co-workers. I often found the three of them sleeping (sitting upright) in their pickup truck when I arrived at the ski area in the morning.
Worked there in summers and winters from 1989 to 1996 when I was young. I have fond memories of that lodge, I skied there all the time in the winter, and when I was working I worked in the cafeteria (in the main lodge), and in the stockroom (under the main lodge). This was the first time I had actually seen a picture of the lodge burning, and it kinda brings a tear to my eye, even 15 years later. The replacement space pods don't look right on the premises, and make the place look almost temporary, like an afterthought. Miss the lodge a lot!
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