Folks at The Chrysalis Inn & Spa are a family of hardworking people who care about their positions and the quality of their work. That kind of work ethic can’t be taught, so it’s no surprise each and every one of the staff has an interesting story to share. Among some of the more adventurous of the staff, maintenance engineer Scott Gilbert has been to the very lowest point of the world — literally — and back again. Not to mention, he plays in a Grateful Dead cover band in and around Bellingham.
Early Life
Growing up in Western Maryland, Gilbert was a part of small-town culture with children going out, exploring, and playing with other wandering kids before returning home each night. Gilbert was always drawn to the water.
“My grandparents lived in Annapolis, so I spent lots of time messing around in boats on the Chesapeake Bay,” he says. “Once you start playing around in boats as a kid, you’re a boat guy forever.”
Gilbert began competitive swimming when he was a young boy and continued on to a national level through high school and beyond. “My freshman year of college I had an injury that took me out of that game,” he says, “but I ate, slept and breathed swimming for the majority of my early life.”
Transitioning to maintenance engineer
As an adult, Gilbert followed his deep connection with the water and eventually moved onto a sailboat, embracing life on the sea. However, in order to comfortably afford the lifestyle, Gilbert sought to find work in a distant land.
“It all started in Antarctica,” he says. “Prior to doing this, I had been a cook for a long time, and I ended up in Antarctica working at McMurdo Station as a way to make money during the North American winters so I could have summers off to keep sailing.”
At first, Gilbert primarily cooked for the scientists at McMurdo Station while one of his good friends ran the maintenance shop. “He approached me because he needed somebody who knew kitchen equipment and could work on it,” says Gilbert. “I had worked on most of the equipment, so it kind of backdoored my way into the maintenance shop, and then subsequently I learned about boilers and motors and electronics, and all of the things involved with maintenance. I’ve been a tinkerer all my life, but never professionally, and that was my entry into the professional realm of facilities maintenance.”
Scott worked in Antarctica for 13 Austral summers, a timespan he explains is November through March every year.
Settling in Bellingham
When Gilbert and his then-wife decided to embark on a land-based life once again, they chose Bellingham for its proximity to the water as well as its countless recreational outdoor activities.
“I really like the access to the marine environment,” Gilbert says. “I’m also an outdoor recreationalist so, the opportunities for that here are great: fishing, skiing, hiking, boating. And I’m a musician, so I really enjoy the music scene.”
The Sleepy Alligators
With his Grateful Dead cover band, The Sleepy Alligators, Gilbert plays guitar and vocals in some of Bellingham’s most beloved musical hotspots.
“The core of the band started around 2015, and a good friend of mine was one of the guitar players,” he says. “I had played with him previously in another band. He passed away a few years back, at which point that band stopped playing. The other guitarist gave me a call to see if I would be interested in sitting in with them to play a set for our buddy’s memorial party.”
Gilbert didn’t hesitate to join them as he knew the material well and admired the talent of the other musicians.
“It was the reunion of that band and was supposed to be a one-off, but before the memorial even happened, we’d already played a couple of gigs we got hired for and had more gigs lined up,” says Gilbert. “We all looked at each other and said, ‘Well, I guess this is what we’re doing now.’”
“I feel very fortunate to play with this group of musicians,” Gilbert says. “They’re all very talented and adept at playing in an ensemble. I like to say that everybody listens more than they play, and that definitely makes the musical interaction among us a lot more fun and fulfilling for everyone.”
At The Chrysalis
As for Gilbert’s career at The Chrysalis Inn & Spa, he appreciates going to work every single day and interacting with both the guests and his fellow staff members.
“I really enjoy working at The Chrysalis,” says Gilbert. “We’re affiliated with the Hilton chain, but still independently owned by Mike Keenan. He’s a wonderful, easy guy to work for. The management staff here are great, responsive. I’m a Hilton-affiliated employee, but the feeling of my job is that I work for a small business. I like that.”
Despite a relatively predictable routine in his day-to-day duties at the inn, Gilbert still finds a problem to solve every now and then. “I’ve done this 1,000 times, and I’m going to do it 1,000 times more, but then there’s also a certain amount of head-scratcher problem solving when things arise,” he says. “I don’t think I would like it all one way or the other, but this provides a really good mix of the two. I’m a maintenance engineer here, so I fix broken stuff and keep the building working like it’s supposed to work.”
Throughout his life, Gilbert finds that maintaining a positive outlook is one of his primary motivations. “I try to meet daily and long-term challenges with a positive outlook, but I know that doesn’t always work,” he says. “I really do try to enjoy what’s around me in my life and keep it moving.”
