Home is where we feel connected. Where everything has its place, and we feel our place in it.
Luz Hernandez has called the wide-open plains of Western Wyoming her home since she was eight years old. Her family moved here from the mountain town of Flagstaff, Arizona, where her dad had worked as a logger.
He accepted a position at Little America Hotel and was offered family housing on-site. This property, a beacon of hospitality on an otherwise long stretch of I-80, is where Luz was raised.
She remembers riding bikes with the other children of hotel employees under the big Western sky that stretches for miles. Some of these kids from the neighborhood, like Luz, still work on the property today.
When Luz was fifteen, she started her own career with Little America, beginning as a “Fountain Girl” in the hotel restaurant. This required speed and careful dexterity, filling the soda orders of the many patrons who stopped to dine on made-to-order, home-cooked meals.
This was around the time she developed the careful skill of pulling the iconic 75-cent ice cream cones in the Travel Center.
You have to have a steady hand and know the “feeling” of a perfect cone pull. Luz has this sense. So much so that she could even pull a perfect cone with her eyes closed. This is something, she explains, that all the initiated ice cream cone pullers should be able to do.
From the soda fountain to the Hostess stand to Food Running and Waitressing, Luz met people from all over the world working in the restaurant. Sometimes by the bus-full. Bridging the language barrier with a universally understood warm and friendly hospitality, she brought all-American comfort foods to the masses of worldly travelers.
A Pillar in the Community
Little America is more than a landmark. It’s a gathering place for the community and a reliable haven for the travelers always passing through.
Luz has been witness to this time and time again. She remembers the days when the restaurant would serve over 300 turkeys on Thanksgiving. It seemed like every family from miles around would come to spend their holidays at Little America. They would line up out the door and around the building.
It was an “all hands on deck” situation. Everyone would chip in. You would work side-by-side with folks from all departments to deliver a home-cooked holiday unlike anything else. Each table would be served not only their own turkey but their own full-sized, freshly baked pie.
Despite how demanding it would be, these days are among her favorite memories.
More than the Essentials
While Luz no longer lives on the property, this community is still home. Her answer is deceptively simple when asked what has kept her at Little America all these years: “Fun and family.”
She herself is an example of this. She has an easy way about her, welcoming customers in the Travel Center as if welcoming them into her home. She jokes with them and her co-workers, contributing to a familiar and familial atmosphere.
When the road ahead is as long as the one you’ve traveled down, there’s nothing as comforting as a meal prepared from scratch, served by people who feel like a family. Where there’s a space for your RV with a roaring fire pit. Where the Lobby Bar restaurant serves cuisine you won’t find for miles around, like gourmet burgers and protein-packed salads. Where there’s room to stretch your legs, play a round of pool, or catch your favorite team’s game. Where there are comfortable rooms to spend the night in, right next to a heated swimming pool.
There’s a reason Little America is called Wyoming’s “oasis.”
People like Luz Hernandez are a part of the fabric of this oasis. Hard to believe it until you see it, Little America Hotel makes travel easy. Providing more than just what’s essential. But what might otherwise be missed.