My first week here has been a mix of webinars, online training, in person training and meeting new people. There’s always something to do here. The first couple of days have been observing and shadowing my coworkers. As I’ve watched and practiced, I’ve gotten comfortable enough to create a work routine here.

After I get to the island and pass the park sign, I say hi to Mickala at the entrance station. Since I am usually early, we have time to talk about our favorite books and shows. I learned that she’s a big sitcom fan and we both like New Girl. Once I head out and get to the Visitor’s Center, I focus on opening the store. This means unlocking the rocking chairs under the porch, cleaning the windows of saltwater, filling up the dog bowl, starting the park film, and putting UP2U bags out for guests. I also check the weather and flag status to prepare a PowerPoint we display for our guests. It has the forecast, tide charts, water temps, weather advisories, turtle nests found, and the Texas Sea Turtle Hotline. So far 330 Kemp Ridley’s nests have been found along the island! Turtle releases will be happening soon and I’m excited. I’m not excited about waking up so early for them. Another part of the opening is putting up the flag. It took an embarrassing number of times for me to figure it out. The flag almost flew away the first time and another time it fell way below half mast.

After opening, I put my safety vest on, take the NPS truck keys, and do stats! What’s stats, you ask? It’s when one of us goes out to the 4 marker boxes we have along the park and document the numbers shown. These indicate how many cars have passed by the area and are needed for the park’s statistics. Another part of stats, is to check campground availability and refill UP2U bags. UP2U bags are yellow, mesh bags we have at the park that encourage beachgoers to pick up any trash they see.