In Defense of Wandering - Meagan Robidoux

Lobster Cakes with Jay Peak Nordic Center Manager Meagan Robidoux

Megan Robidoux is the Nordic Skiing Manager at Jay Peak. She has been a group sales person, a hiking guide, a mountain bike guide, a landscaper and waitress at several Jay Peak restaurants. She’s also a wife, a mother and someone who beams no particular affection toward creamed soups. “Actually, I don’t really ever eat them, but I probably would—like them I mean—if I did.” Forward, we get her thoughts on the development at Jay Peak, how she went from there-to-here, and learn what those on-trail call her. And then she will leave with several poked-upon Lobster Cakes which will land in the lap of her husband, Corbin; delivery yet unverified.

Steve Wright	I know you well, so this is strange.
Megan Robidoux	Yes.
SW	That’s why I thought lunch would be good. I will probably get the Cobb Salad but without eggs.
MR	You don’t like eggs?
SW	No, I love eggs.
MR	Oh.
SW	You should get something expensive like Lobster because we’re going to comp your meal.
MR (to the waitress):	I’ll have the Lobster Cakes. And your hair smells so awesome.
Waitress, bemused:	Well thank you. I just washed it.
SW	So why Jay Peak? Why not someplace else?
MR	I’ve tried all the somewhere elses there are. Tahoe, Jackson Hole, Stowe, Maine, the Long Trail, Crested Butte, Alaska, New Mexico, shit I’ve been to a lotta places. Belmont New Hampshire even.
SW	Belmont New Hampshire even?
MR	I went to High School there and played volleyball. I pretty much moved to Vermont thinking I was going to be a volleyball player forever.
SW	Knowing you, and I’m not 100% sure why, this seems strange.
MR	I know right? I mean, look at me.
SW, looking.	You could be a player. A setter maybe. Do they have setters in volleyball? People that set I mean?
MR	Yes. I was a defensive specialist though. I’d dive all over the place. Make saves. It was super fun.
SW	You have a young family now and with all the mania that comes with that, how do you find time for Jay Peak?
MR	The resort, and my work here, is a big part of the family. The lines cut across lots of different areas. Managing the Nordic Center, I have the kids out multiple times a week, all weather conditions, even gnarly stuff.
SW	The growth here has provided more options for families and I know you’ve been able to take advantage of that.
MR	Yeah, I mean the waterpark isn’t always our first choice because it’s generally pretty busy, but the kids love it when they get in there. I just have to parcel out our trips so they don’t get, you know, too comfortable.
SW	I guess comfortable is relative.
MR	When I lived in Tahoe City I worked at a place called New Moon Natural Health Foods, and there was a guy that lived out front in sort of a snowcave/cardboard box structure. I figured he was always cold, but he said he was comfortable. He made his own Mead though, so maybe that was it.
SW	You hiked a good portion of The Long Trail (Vermont’s end to end trail that ends just about at Jay Peak). What was that like?
MR	Fun-it started with like 7 of us and ended up with less. My trail-mates called me Spills because, you know, I’d fall a lot. I made it more than half way then I had to split because my parents were throwing me a graduation party and thought I should go.
SW	Thoughtful.
MR	Yeah. Part of the deal with them was that I’d finish school after my wandering was done.
SW	And then you wandered yourself here.
	I love it. It’s different here. People need jobs because they need jobs—they’re not working here for season passes, they’re here to support themselves and their families. There’s a cool urgency in that; it comes across in the way we treat the guests I think.
SW	You haven’t done particularly well with those Lobster Cakes.
MR	Corbin will be pumped.