Internship Offers Unique Adventures for Softball's Alexis Lindsey

Busing tables doesn’t sound like the most memorable summer vacation, but when you’re working at one of the most spectacular national parks, and you have a chance at new adventures during your off-time, it’s a much better deal. At least that’s the case for South Carolina softball redshirt sophomore Alexis Lindsey, who interned at Yellowstone National Park this summer to earn credit towards her tourism management degree.

“I had gone and visited Yellowstone last year with my family, and I just loved it,” Lindsey said. “I wanted to work with the national parks because of my major, and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity. I’d get to spend a couple of months in a national park and get a hike in whenever I want on the weekends. It was an amazing experience.”

For someone who loves the outdoors, there was not a lot of downtime when she wasn’t on the job.

“When I wasn’t working, I was hiking and doing whatever I could to see as much as possible,” Lindsey said. “We’d work for five days straight, then you’d have a weekend. I’d go hiking and camping every weekend. I went to Grand Teton National Park, which was not even an hour away from Yellowstone. It was so beautiful.”
 

Lindsey’s summer adventures took her to 10 different states and five national parks. 

“I went to a different state every weekend,” Lindsey said. “I was in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, and lots of other places. We drove to South Dakota strictly to see Mount Rushmore. I mean, when else am I going to get to see that? 

“The wildlife is unbelievable at Yellowstone. I really like elk and bison, and they are everywhere! You would be walking down the street, and all of the sudden there’s a bison standing there. So, I’d say ‘hey man, what’s up’ to this 1,000-pound bison! Honestly, getting up knowing you can go where there will be wildlife and just watch them in nature was probably my favorite part.”

Lindsey is also an amateur photographer, and she had plenty of opportunities to put the camera, which was a gift from her father a few years back, to good use.

“The Tetons were so majestic, but a picture doesn’t do them justice,” Lindsey said. “I took a lot of geyser pictures. There were over 300 of those in Yellowstone. Badlands National Park in South Dakota was really cool, too. It’s so different. You’re just driving along these prairies and all of the sudden there are these huge canyons.”

Of course, the summer wasn’t all playtime as she worked as a server assistant in the Old Faithful Inn Dining Room at Yellowstone.

“I was the busgirl,” Lindsey deadpanned. “I worked about 55 hours per week to get the 400 hours I needed for my internship. It was a lot of work, but the weekends were so worth it!

“I lived in a dorm. It was basically like college, but in a national park. I had a roommate. You get food and board all paid for. Now, it wasn’t as nice as what we have here (at South Carolina). We had community bathrooms there.”

In addition to her weekend recreation activities, Lindsey did have a chance to play a little softball, although it was slowpitch, and some of her coworkers were eager to have her on their team as a “ringer.”

“We played twice a week. Nothing fancy. A dirt field with rocks as bases,” Lindsey said. “I got recruited to play on the transportation team, so I had to play against my beverage people. They asked first, so I couldn’t say no. The rangers were pretty good. I didn’t hit as many ‘bombs’ as I’d hoped.”

All in all, it was a memorable summer for Lindsey, and she learned a few things along the way.

“Working with people when you’re in the service industry, you have to have a lot of patience. I’m working on that,” Lindsey said. “I definitely made a lot of connections that I think will help me out in the future. I worked with a lot of people that are in tour groups and are in active travel companies and things that made me interested in those areas for next summer. People have no idea what it’s like to work in a restaurant until you’ve done it. I definitely have a different perspective.”