"You Chase Storms?" Part 2

            Okay, I lied. I am not going to get to what I said I would elaborate on in this post.

           

Saturday, June 7^th, 2008. I was working as a lifeguard at a small hotel in the Dells. My hours were 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. I hadn’t seen a soul in the indoor or outdoor waterpark, which was surprising since it was rather warm and humid. It was less than an hour into my shift when I heard the tornado sirens going off in Lake Delton. I knew it wasn’t a test, as they didn’t do those on Saturdays. I also knew it wasn’t the fire warning siren because the tornado siren is a steady on three-minute tone, while the fire siren is a wavering up and down tone.

I went inside and asked the lone front desk clerk if she had a weather radio. She said no, and asked why. I replied that the tornado sirens were going off in Lake Delton. She called their sister hotel on the other side of town and was told they didn’t know anything about it. I went back outside and looked west. The sun was out. It was hot. Conditions were definitely right for storms and tornadic weather. I knew mom and dad were not home; I don’t remember what they had going on that day, so I couldn’t call them. Since my brother lived two counties west, I called him and asked him to check the radar for me because we had tornado sirens going off but it was sunny.

“Where are you?” He asked me worriedly, with a stern voice. “Tell me where you are RIGHT NOW.” I replied that I was at work at a hotel on the Parkway. He says, “Find shelter NOW. There’s a red hot tornado-warned cell just to your west, near Elroy, and it’s headed right for the Dells.”

I told him I would call him back after it passed so he knew I was okay. I turned off the waterslide, then ran inside and told the clerk that we needed to get everyone into the basement if they had a basement or into the hallways, as there was a bad storm with a possible tornado approaching. Well… she freaked out more than I had ever seen anyone freak out, got on the phone to the other hotel, then unlocked the basement door, ran into the restaurant attached to the hotel lobby and put me in charge of getting all those customers into the basement as she ran to alert guests in the other three buildings that housed the hotel rooms. She returned saying she could not find anyone but one guest and he refused to come to the basement. Right after she got inside and I locked the door, it began to downpour. Raining sheets and it came out of nowhere. I get the large metal roll door closed and proceed to the basement to ride the storm out with 45 strangers of all ages and a freaked out front desk clerk. I kept telling her that she needed to calm down so she did not freak out the patrons, especially the children.

The restaurant off the hotel lobby was a pizza buffet, and some of the patrons had brought their plates to the basement with them and just kept eating, as if nothing was going on.

During the storm, one of my supervisors came to pick me up. I left the freaked out clerk there in the basement with all those guests, but she told me to go. I was crammed into the front seat of his Chevy S-10 pickup truck with him and the other lifeguard from the sister hotel they had come from. Traffic was horribly backed up (as it always is in the Dells when it rains), there was about a foot of water at the bottom of the hill by Noah’s Ark, signs were blown over, there was small and medium tree debris everywhere, power was out, phone lines were jammed.

Downtown was even worse. Taste of the Dells event was going on but all the tents and canopies had blown away or were shredded from the wind. Larger trees and billboards were blown over. The Park Restaurant sign was shattered and in pieces across Broadway and into Bowman Park across the street. Traffic was bumper to bumper. By the time I was dropped off at home on the east side of downtown, the sun was out again and chainsaws could be heard.

I do not believe there was a confirmed tornado that day (that would take some more research) but people were claiming there were three funnel clouds sighted: one near the airport, one near exit 85, and another over Mt. Olympus. But I’ve never seen straight line winds do this:

I suited up in my rain pants, boots, and work gloves and headed to my friend’s place down the street from my cabin. I assisted them in moving some large trees from the alley behind their house then headed up by the park. Everyone appeared to be okay had assistance so they didn’t need ours, and it was probably an hour or so before I could get through to anyone on the phone to let them know I was okay. So I returned home, grabbed my camera and jumped in my car to go inspect the damage.

The following night, I was posted to security detail at a different hotel on the Parkway. It had been raining on and off all day. Around 0230 on Monday morning, dispatch asked an officer to check the water levels on Lake Delton because she had a resident on the phone stating the water was reaching his waterfront home. About 0430 Monday morning, they began recruiting volunteers to help fill sand bags. At 0630, they began evacuating homes around the lake. At 0658, two minutes before the end of my shift, the power goes out. I didn’t think anything of it. I went home and went straight to bed.

I woke up and headed up to my parent’s house. I was only there a short period of time when mom turned on the weather channel. I looked up to see video of the earth underneath a house on Lake Delton wash away and the house float away and drain into the Wisconsin River, along with the rest of the lake. At 0658 that morning when the power went out at work is when the earth around the lake eroded and our beloved Lake Delton drained away like a bathtub into the Wisconsin River within a couple of hours.

The summer of 2008 was rather interesting here in the Wisconsin Dells area. Tourists believed that the Dells was “gone” after it was wiped out by a tornado then the lake drained and flooded away the rest of the Dells. Another rumor was that the Lake Delton Dam broke, but that was not true either as the dam was intact and south of the point where the lake broke through and drained. The Tommy Bartlett’s Ski, Sky, and Stage Show just turned into a Stage show as he sent his water skiers to Florida for the summer. The freeway was closed in several areas downriver as the water reached the highway. Working security at the lakeside hotels was slightly unnerving looking out into a scary, dark mud pit instead of the small waves reflecting in the moon light. Cleanup commenced in the lake and some old artifacts believed to be from Al Capone’s days were unburied from the mud.

But, we returned. The road was rebuilt and a small park and historical marker were erected in that spot where the lake breached. The spillway on the creek that flows into the lake was opened up and the lake was refilled by the following summer. Granted, I didn’t really get to chase these except for some cool pictures afterwards, but they were probably the craziest disasters to hit and have an effect closest to home. 

Feeling Nostalgic Day 3: Wisconsin Dells

It saddens me to see what has become of Wisconsin Dells. The city has absolutely no connection to Greek history or mythology and there is a greedy guy who is trying to buy up everything and turn it into that, as he was quoted in the Dells Events newspaper a couple years back saying he wanted to turn his places into the “Disney of the Dells”.

When we went to Mt. Olympus a few years ago, we had more fun in the back part of what used to be Family Land than up in the Mt. Olympus crowded maniacal madness. The rollercoasters gave me whiplash, the wait for one go-kart ride was two hours for like….two laps, the waves in the gigantic wave pool are strong enough to literally knock you off your feet, and we nearly went head over heels on the tube ride. It wasn’t fun, it was terrifying! Plus having to walk a mile downhill from the parking lot AFTER paying $10 to park! Actually, the walk down the hill was not that bad…. It was going up that killed us, especially after a long day of being out in the sun and water.

I want the old waterparks back. Riverview Park and Waterworld, Family Land, and Noah’s Ark. Well, Noah’s is still around. Riverview was my favorite because it was small enough to not really get lost and still be able to do and see everything with enough to keep you busy. Plus it wasn’t totally a lost cause… if it was too cold or you got sick of being in the water, you could go on the rides. We always went to Riverview at least once a year because my Dad could get free tickets and I could choose who I wanted to go with me for one day of the summer. There was one year that Uncle Edward and Kayla, Derek, and Kyle came with me and Kayla had to be rescued by the lifeguard in the wave pool. I remember taking Melody and her three sons one year. Another year I took Dave and Carol and his kids. I had one of my birthdays there with my two best friends and Beth and Michele and my Mom. I had a waterproof disposable camera and took pictures of my friends doing handstands underwater in the pool. I remember just Beth and me going one year and we stopped at the docks to visit Dad and Beth locked her keys in her car. Then it was pouring rain so hard on the way home that we could barely see the road. The first year I was working and going to Riverview for my birthday, my boss would not give me the day off so I told her I was going to call in. And I did. Also called in the next day because I was sunburnt so bad I could not move. She was not too happy with me. Apparently if you plan on calling in to work, don’t tell your boss the day before...
Galaxi Rollercoaster at Riverview:

We had so much fun at those waterparks. Going to Riverview and Family Land for A/B days. If you had an A or B on your report card you would get in free and it was usually about a week or two after school was out for the summer. I remember going with Beth and Michele once to Riverview for A/B day and my brother got so sunburnt from not wearing a shirt in the pool. And we went to Family Land once also and I lost my t-shirt on the Pirate Ship ride. I was so upset because it was one of my favorite t-shirts. It was pink and in glittery letters it said “I once thought I was wrong but I was mistaken” or something like that. I was like eight and didn’t understand it, but I do remember my Mom telling me she never liked that shirt. She seemed almost happy that I did not have it anymore.

Family Land was also the waterpark that made me terrified of tube rides. To this day, I won’t go on the ones where you put your butt in the hole, but I’ll go on the ones that have a bottom and you sit completely down in. This is because Beth and I went on one at Family Land and at the bottom of the slide we flipped over and she came down on top of me and I thought I was going to drown. I didn’t, of course, but I’ll take a body flume slide over a tube ride any day.

Noah’s Ark is a good waterpark on a hot day because that’s just it… nothing but water involved entertainment. I’ve never really had many good experiences there. Went with Mom one year on Labor Day and the park was so big and hilly she couldn’t really walk around much, so she sat in the wave pool most of the day and I ran around on my own. That was no fun. I took a friend’s son a couple of years ago and after an hour and a half he was bored and wanted to go home because he’s been there so many times that it wasn’t fun for him anymore. Riverview Park and Waterworld has always been my favorite waterpark. Too bad now it is a zoo :(

There was also a small waterpark in Plover. It was called Rainbow Falls and I was only there once with two girlfriends of mine. It was small and now it’s a car dealership. “They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot…..”

But it’s not just the waterparks around the Dells… it’s everything. I remember being crowded by people window shopping until midnight or later. Now it seems the sidewalks are rolled up by 10 p.m. except for partyin’ bar hoppers. Broadway and downtown isn’t appealing to many anymore because they’re all in Lake Delton at the ginormous indoor waterpark hotels that have everything so no one ever has to leave. Downtown is losing its’ draw… and even the unique store that has been downtown for over 30 years (Bailey’s Landing) has closed down. I am just wondering where the giant singing troll from their store will end up.

 
 

And I remember the Pepsi tower I always wanted to ride at Fort Dells but they closed down before I got a chance to. I remember I was probably 5 or 6 and riding in the backseat of Marie’s car with Mom and staring up at the tower as we went by. I don’t remember where we were going that day, but it was raining. The old saloon and mini golf course downtown with the theater hidden in there somewhere. Biblical Gardens and Xanadu, the foam house of the future. Even though I had never been to those two places, I remember seeing them. The old Lake Delton McDonald’s where we could dine outside and the sparrows or wrens would come right up to the tables and beg you for French fries.

Every year I would anxiously await the arrival of the new travel and attraction guide to see what would be new every year. I would collect them and keep them in a box under my bed, along with all the individual attraction brochures. I wish I had still kept some of them; had I known when I was a child that these things would no longer exist. Places like The Wonder Spot and Corny Maze.

It was ironic yesterday… one of the local facebook pages I follow (Dells Local Views) asked “where is your favorite place to enjoy the natural beauty of the Dells” followed with an opinion question about nobody coming here for the beauty and history of the area anymore. 

Funny that I was just writing about that. I swear I have a sixth sense or something… 

On the Job Hunt....

...and hopefully not for much longer cuz... I GOT A JOB! Yeah!

Although I would have loved to have gotten the dispatch job at the local sheriff's department, I didn't realize (but probably should have known) that the process would take over 3 months. I probably should have been looking much sooner and completely during that time... but yeah, I'm lazy.

The application was due Dec 13th, the exam was Jan 21st, and my interview was Feb. 29th. I thought things were looking good.... I even filled out the wrong application and the contact person emailed me informing me of this, giving me three days to turn in the right one!

Then came test day.... she said 55 applied, and 44 were taking the test.

Never found out my score, just got an email that I passed with a 77 or higher. 70 was qualifying. And to sign up for an interview time.... there were 19 time slots. So it was me vs. 18.

The day before the interview, we got kind of a wild winter weather storm, and I got an email saying the person in line before my time slot had cancelled, so could I come in a half hour sooner? Absolutely! Me vs. 17!

Within about 5 days of the interview I got an e-mail saying I wasn't selected, which I knew once the interview was over that I didn't get the job and knew exactly why. Even though the Sheriff in the panel interview asked me about my background, I told him completely, and he said "thanks for being honest" but I knew that's what killed it. Oh well. 40 hours a week, at 14 something an hour with full benefits... yeah I can find that elsewhere... just not in this county....

So what's the next best bet? Get a summer job in the Dells then get the hell outta here. Cause ya gotta be crazy to wanna live around here without a decent job, unless you like traveling at least an hour one way...

I took a Wednesday and went to the Dells on the job search. Took a friend with me who has also been looking for work. We went to Chula Vista (dispatcher, lifeguard, housekeeping), Holiday Wholesale (warehouse), Ho Chunk (security and Guest Services... was told the security position closed a week prior but they would keep ap on file for 45 days), Kalahari (security, housekeeping, lifeguard) and Wilderness (security, housekeeping, lifeguard). Also picked up applications at Christmas Mountain and Atlantis. We filled out the same apps, gave them to the same people, for pretty much the same positions... and three days later, she calls to tell me SHE got a job at the Wilderness for housekeeping.

Sigh.

Got a letter from Kalahari saying they don't have time to review all applications, it will stay on file for 30 days, if I'm selected they'll call, feel free to re-apply after 30 days, blah blah blah.

Few days later get a phone call from Chula for an interview for the dispatch position, for maintenance and housekeeping. Had the interview on a Monday, she said her last interview is on Thursday and I will hear from her by Friday. Didn't. Call her the following Monday, she tells me her last interview is Tuesday and to call her Wednesday.... stringing me along, I didn't call her back. Still haven't heard from her.

Soooooo.... off I go again. Took another friend with me. She filled out an app at Wilderness, we both filled out an app at Great Wolf, I picked up apps at Knuckleheads, Buffalo Phil's, Ponderosa. SHE gets an interview two days later at Great Wolf.

We both applied for lifeguard.... I have experience and current certification... she has no experience and not yet certified.

Sigh.

I'm going alone from now on. Or taking someone with me who has a job.

Saturday morning I get a phone call for an interview at Knuckleheads. Go in Monday morning.... the guy who interviewed me was more nervous than I was. I thought it went well... got the usual "got a few more interviews....I'll let you know by the end of the week."

Nothing.

I kind of got the impression that you have to be a knucklehead to work there and that I am overqualified to work in the Dells.

Tuesday evening around 8:15 p.m. I get a phone call from Ho Chunk. She asked me to come in and "talk to her". Set an appointment for the next afternoon.

I go in, and while I am sitting in her office waiting for her, I see the Intent to Hire paperwork sitting on her desk.... I'm sitting there thinking "is that for me?... I haven't even had an interview...."

She walks in and asks me one question: the fated "tell me about yourself."

Oy. I was myself. Don't remember what I said but she replied that she liked my application, she liked my demeanor, that I have an approachable face and this was the type of person she wanted at her front desk, someone who customers wouldn't be afraid to approach, and she was going to hire me.

So I asked her what she liked about my application (I left resumes with just about every app) and she said that she could tell I was working towards something, and she liked that, and usually when she came across someone like that she had to grab them while she could because there's usually a very short amount of time that she could.  

In other words, we got along great :)

She sent me down to HR to fill out some paperwork, then I had to go downstairs for my wiz quiz and get my picture taken, and I was told the results should be back Monday or Tuesday and then I would be called to come in and fill out the rest of the paperwork.

I got the phone call today. I go in tomorrow afternoon for the rest of the paperwork and orientation is April 16-17!

It will start out as an LTP, but she said if they like me and I work out well then they may consider hiring me on full time year round. She is aware of the fact that I may not want to remain in this area beyond mid September, but I told her we would see what happens between now and then. I will be trained on all three shifts, but will mostly be on thirds, which I love anyways. When I told her I would prefer overnights, she was surprised and kind of happy I think, and said she did not gather that I like overnights from my application.

Night owl for life!