Roger and Diane Celeste's Stories

 

HARMONY AND THE PEANUT BUTTER >

We were all working on the building in 1977.  We broke for lunch and everyone had their lunch food spread out.  Dan had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day.  When we went back into the dining room, we saw Harmony, less than one year old, on the floor with the whole jar of peanut butter spilled out before her. She had dived in with both hands and her face.....and we got a photo to prove it.

RAFTERS FROM AL >

We wanted pole rafters exposed on the ceiling.  Our friend, Al, had a nearby plot of land with just the right size trees to use as poles.  Joe, Roger and Diane proceeded to fall about 30 trees, trim the limbs, trim to length, pick up and carry out of the woods by hand!  If you ever visit the current building, look up and you can see those poles, nicely varnished, above. 

MAYONNAISE AT THE GONG SHOW >

The Gong Show was our version of Halloween entertainment at the Mountain Song.  Costumes and entertainment were the order of the day.  Diane dressed as a BLT and chanted "I am a BLT and I am looking for my mayonnaise.  Has anyone seen my mayo?"  No one had seen it until Roger replied, "Yes I have," and proceeded to smash a plateful of mayonnaise into Diane's face!  Unlike whipped cream, the mayo burned like fire in her eyes!  The skit ended with buckets of water splashing in her face.

THE EGG LENTIL SANDWICH >

Dan and Sarah had been serving the egg-lentil sandwich at Ma Green's Drive In. Its popularity came from its generous helping of healthy protein filling a pita pocket, and also for its very low price – 45 cents. Every spring our group had to decided on every price of every menu item.

I will never forget Leno insisting that we keep the price at 45 cents so that anyone could afford this menu item. The folks at the Park Service will be forever grateful for this decision!

THE SALAD BAR >

Many hikers would come to the North Cascades, especially on the weekends. On Sunday nights those hungry hikers would invade the Mountain Song and head directly for the salad bar. As soon as they had helped themselves two, three or four times, we would rush to replace the lettuce and the other items (tomatoes, garbanzo beans, homemade dressing, etc,) to prepare for the next onslaught!

NEW TECHNOLOGY >

Dan was always trying to get us to the next level of technology. Sometime in the 80s, Dan introduced “the microwave.” What is this new-fangled item? We did not all trust it, as it was fondly said that this machine “nuked” food. Finally, after several months, we decided that we were not going to get cancer from the Microwave and made the purchase.

The next new tech item was a computer. Dan really wanted us to start using a computer. Again, we were hesitant, mostly because we didn't know what a computer was! Again, we finally gave in and purchased this amazing life-changing machine.