Crazy week

2010-07-26 18:18:12.000 – Hanna Brewer,  Summit Intern

Low clouds nestled around Mt. Clay

Oh my goodness… What an exhausting week! And it’s not even over yet!! Between visitors and Seek the Peak there has been no rest for the weary here on Mt. Washington. Thursday kicked off our shift with an overnight Summit Adventure Trip (which means sharing our living quarters with seven extra guests), Friday involved a lot of preparing for Seek the Peak plus giving tours to the first hikers of the event, Saturday was of course Seek the Peak itself (meaning constant tours of the Observatory, although we did get to go enjoy the after-party), Sunday we had more visitors (a couple who won an overnight stay at the Obs), and tonight two more guests are staying overnight! Not to mention while all of this is going on, there are still hourly observations being taken plus forecasts and all other daily duties required to keep things running. Of course we all love seeing friendly faces and getting to meet and talk to the people who support our organization, but this was definitely the craziest week I’ve seen in my short time here!

And not only was there something going on every day, but Mike Finnegan is on vacation in Germany and our second volunteer had to cancel at the last minute. Poor Brian has not only had to run our shift making sure all events go smoothly (which he has done a fabulous job of), but he also had to be responsible for taking and recording every hourly weather observation during the 12-hour day shifts. Not to mention poor Dennis, our solo volunteer, who has had to cook extra meals for all of the visitors plus the 500 cookies for Seek the Peak snacks. Needless to say, everyone’s been in a somewhat zombie-like state for the past few days and will probably remain that way until we go home Wednesday to recharge.

But even though things were hectic here at times, it really has been a rewarding week so far. I’ve only been here about two months but I’ve definitely become attached to the Observatory, and it was really exciting to see visitors on the summit with a genuine interest for what we do and the biggest fundraiser of the year come out with such awesome results. Thank you so much to everyone who participated and helped us out this week!

Hanna Brewer,  Summit Intern