Woo hoo! Fixed!

Check out the column to the right -->

Notice anything?
Good. You shouldn't. It's right where it should be, and not spread all over the page.

I expected to write much more here over this break, and I'm not sure why I haven't. I suppose I've been a little busy getting ready for the launch of pcusacollege.org (still a work in progress!). That consumed week one of break, with a lot of emails back and forth to friends on the east coast.

Working with people from the east coast takes up a LOT of time. I would wake up at a good early time, find 10 emails that they had written (because it was already noon there!), we'd chat a bit on the internet, then I'd spend the afternoons and evenings fixing those things, send some emails, etc. Sometimes I would even read other things for fun. Anyway, then it starts all over the next day. I'm not sure if it's more efficient yet to work with people at a distance. I think I'll call this concept "Time Zone Productivity Leverage".

It's been fun attending Maple Valley Presbyterian Church this week. I"ve had a lot of great conversations with old friends. It's a good place, and I get the feeling that they are in the middle of a transition. Feels like they're trying to work out a little bit more about who they are/are going to be in the next 15 years. That's good.

The card to the left was a little project of mine I worked on for the family. Pretty quality family picture, eh?

Also, I've turned on comments for anyone. Try it out. Click the "1 Comments" button right below this post and leave one. Of course, it might say "2 Comments", or "10,000 Comments", be prepared. You don't have to sign into any account anymore. I realize this will probably allow some random robots to post garbage, but it'll be nice to hear from those I usually wouldn't.

Leave a comment, right now.

New Template

This is a new template I wrote today to match the new look at steadwald.com

I like it... but templating for blogger is a little weird, so this is a real jumble right now. Oh well, I'll get back to it tomorrow!

Oh, one of those.

It's one of those nights. Cold, winter feeling. All that. The day started out just like so many other Saturdays this quarter. Laying around, not really wanting to do anything. I'm fine with that. Eventually I did get some stuff done (like packing all my belongings).

But then the temperature dropped. My plans of walking around in the afternoon, or even the remove possibility of going out for a little run faded gave way to my desire to stay healthy (ha, by not running...) and visit friends. The cold air didn't change my day too much, but it had an impact.

But then it started to snow. As the tiny sandgrain sized flakes began to fall to the streets in the cold, Bellingham rapidly took on a different look. Usually snowfall is eagerly anticipated by thousands of Western Washington University students. I remember being in that place; the anticipation of whether or not classes would be canceled, the excessive calling of the snow line, and the eventual caving to play late into the evening and early morning in the snow with friends whether there was school or not.

This snowfall is different for me. I'm not a student anymore, so I'm not really waiting for anything to be canceled. Most students have returned home by this point after finishing their finals, so I don't even feel the spillover from them. This snowfall, it's just me. Just me and some friends.

3 inches, maybe less. That's all. But that's also all that it takes. Snow has always had a strange power to change a community. Pre-existing plans and obligations get canceled, people come outside their houses and play, friends stop by to see if you'd care to join them. Complete strangers ask if they can borrow your sleds for a quick run down the hill, and you let them with no hesitation. We find ourselves in neighbor's houses later on that we hadn't met until this point. Community looks different when our ability to transport ourselves and build schedules is hindered by a mere 3 inches of white snow.

I realize that I keep saying it looks "different" which I think has something to do with my training in foreign countries that things are "never bad, just different". I've repeated that with people, used it to help myself be open to other cultures, and heard it said a thousand ways. 

But for today, I'm willing to say that having the snow on the ground was better. I was in better, more complete, community because of it. With that said, it wouldn't be healthy to have the snow on the ground all the time. I'd probably become some kind of hermit.

But good or bad, different or the same, this is one of those nights. A day that started out as completely ordinary and was transformed into something I couldn't have forseen. I couldn't have forseen it because the start place seemed an unlikely place to start for such an extravagant ending, and on top of that, the end was something different than I could have arranged on my own.

In a bigger way than my musing about snow changed communities, this is a season about the ordinary and unlikely becoming extrordinary. Advent is a time that we sit waiting in expectation for the coming of Jesus Christ, a new king, that would come into this world in the most ordinary, unlikely, way for a king.

This is one of those nights.

PSALT - 2008

Well, a month+ has passed since my trip to Louisville, KY, so I guess it's probably about time to write something about it...

This year's fall PSALT (Presbyterian Student Advocacy and Leadership Team) meeting was great. The most exciting part of this meeting for me was being able to get to meet the people that we had elected to PSALT from their applications just a month prior. We picked some awesome people to serve students across the country through this team. I'm excited to see how the work will continue in the coming years with these enthusiastic young members (haha, that makes me sound old).

The first night we spent getting to know each other, because the team had been pretty depleted over the last few years. Actually, during our get to know you games, only Betsy, Rick and I had met before out of the 10 or so of us.

The next morning, I led a brief (so brief!) devotion about our unity in Christ. During our time together, we realized we were going to encounter many different viewpoints on social and theological issues. I think the devotion set us on the right track and helped us keep our focus on what was important.

Of course, we couldn't get to work before taking a little historical tour around the PC(USA) Presbyterian Center(headquarters). The building is amazing, historical, and very cool. The tour was interesting, and it was neat to see where all these people work that are behind emails, phone calls, websites, governance and more.

Over the rest of the day, we broke down what college students need and categorized them into a few different areas. Out of the weekend, this was the best thing we did. Not only did it help us figure out where we were starting from, it also got everyone excited for our team and trying to help students fill these needs.

For now, PSALT is working on a website. I know, I know, a website is only kind of cool. Another goal is planning several mission trips for smaller college ministry groups, or individual students to attend if missions wouldn't be available to them otherwise. As soon as we get the website rolling(and it's getting there!) we'll start collecting info on resources, ministries, and anything else. What should be included in all of this... We're not sure yet. Through surveying students and asking questions of people we know, we hope to figure this out more.

We took a little time the next morning to visit the Louisville Seminary. A pretty nice place, beautiful campus. After that, we took round one of departures to the airport and the rest of us headed off to Churchill Downs. Awesome.

I love our conversations about where the church is going. At times it feels overwhelming. Where is the PC(USA) heading? Is it right where it's supposed to be? What gets changed? Visiting different churches in different parts of the country has given me a bit more perspective on this and its become a bit of a fascination.

I'm excited to see PSALT moving. I have full confidence that the people that are on this team have a great vision for how we can start connecting with college students and providing resources. We've got a huge task in front of us, but we're moving forward. Excited to see what comes of all of this, and how it shapes the Presbyterian Church(USA) in the future.

Nearing the End of the First Quarter

It's almost here. The end of the first quarter. I can't really believe it. I posted on the INN's intern blog the other day about how it feels like we just started. With the whirlwind of activity, blogging here has fallen a little by the wayside.

Over the last few weeks, the things I haven't told you about are crazy adventures in ministry of things like building wooden frames for 25 feet of Christmas scenes, helping plan an alternative worship gathering, lots of hanging out with students, late nights building timelines about my life, or seeing Peter Rollins speak at Mars Hill Graduate School (not the church). All good things, but those things alone deserve a book and something more than a little blog post.

I work with a lot of awesome interns and staff. As this quarter comes to a close, I can use prayers to help me keep service in mind and keep myself mindful of their needs. Also, to end the quarter strong, and begin planning Winter quarter.

This post may have not informed you of anything, but it helps me feel like I've blogged, and removes all of the above items from things I feel like I should write about. I'll be able to write more frequently because of this. It's weird, but you probably get it. Right?

Thankfulness

//Some variation of this shared at First Presbyterian Church of Bellingham today, twice//

My name is Stead Halstead, and I’ve been asked to share a little bit with you today about thankfulness. This year I’m working at the INN as an intern, a mission of this church to the students of Western and Whatcom in the area. I help coordinate small groups, financial matters, electronic publicity, and various other areas. So far, the internship experience has been great. I’ve learned a lot, grown a lot, and had to do a lot of new things to help make the INN happen.

When I look back over my short life, I realize I have a lot to be thankful for. Starting out at a community college, I’m thankful that I have parents that were willing to keep me around for a little bit longer. While during that time in my life I struggled to find a Christian community, I’m thankful that I had the opportunity to go to school and learn things that have helped made me who I am today.

I have a great family to be thankful for. Throughout my childhood and my college years, they have been supportive of all my random adventures and activities. I spent this last summer driving a tour bus in Alaska. After spending four years in school and having a job offer from the Fred Meyer headquarters, I predicted the last thing my parents would be interested in me doing would be running away to Alaska. For myself, I thought that giving tours in Alaska would be a great opportunity to practice public speaking, relationship building, and patience.  As well as have a great adventure. When I brought this plan up to my parents, instead of the confusion that I expected when they heard the news, they responded by asking if they could drive up to visit. I was still a little skeptical, but at the end of July, my parents made the 1700 mile trek to spend a few days with me, and get a little adventure in for themselves.

I’m thankful that even during my time at community college when I had essentially walked away from my faith, that friends, family members and people I had never met had been praying for me that I might come back. The result of their prayers was a seemingly random phone call from Drake, a great friend from High school. Drake encouraged me to move to Bellingham, while having full knowledge that none of my current educational or career goals could be met up here. As weird as his phone call, if not weirder, I accepted his offer to leave home.

I’m thankful that the INN and First Pres are communities of friends that encourage connectedness and growth. In my first week to Bellingham, I was invited by another old friend to attend the INN. Searching for something to belong to, I visited a few times. I joined a small group, that I reluctantly attended. Even with my resistance to being in the small group that I signed myself up for, my leader pursued me and eventually eliminated all of my excuses for sitting at home on Sunday nights. The more I attended the group, the more I enjoyed having a place to connect with other people, build friendships, and ask questions about faith that I either hadn’t yet asked or hadn’t thought about before.

This year, I’m also incredibly thankful for the support that this church gives to the INN. Week after week, you allow lots of students to flood through the doors of this beautiful building. I’m thankful that the Hamiltons have been generous in sharing their home with me. This congregation has shown incredible support to the INN.

Through the INN I have been a small group leader, local service planner, and student leader. This year, serving as an intern has also helped me grow in ways I never could have imagined. This has been an amazing piece of the Body of Christ to belong to, and I’m excited and thankful for the future opportunities to learn, grow and serve.

All Languages

It's always good to remember that some things need no translations and are universal across all cultures. The last half is the best!

Old Friends,

Last weekend I got the chance to have lunch with a former intern. We chatted about how things were going, and I told him about how much I've been enjoying it. It was great meeting up with him, and the breakfast was really fantastic.

Before breakfast, it had been pouring down rain. We were totally soaked in just the walk between the parking lot and the restaurant. After breakfast though, the skies had almost totally cleared and we had quite a bit of blue! It was aweomse to see, very energizing. Sometimes in the winter months, people get pretty bogged down here because of all the gray. I took the chance to take a quick picture of the chuch in the light, very cool.

In other news, I was walking to the office the other day, minding my own business when I ran into(well, almost) a deer. I was probably a good solid 3 feet away when I looked up and saw the deer infront of me on the sidewalk. If I wouldn't have looked up, I totally would have tackled the poor deer and probably gotten a swift paw to the face. That would have made a pretty crazy story.

The last week has been pretty fast paced for me. I'm not sure if I've just been unproductive, or my todo list is getting longer, but I'm working on it. Thursday I accomplished quite a bit actually, and chopped tons of things off the list. Very nice.

So far this weekend my time has been filled with coffee shops, friends, farmers markets, and some great dinners. My challenge for this next week is to hang out with more students, seeing how things are going for them at this point in the quarter, hearing how God is working in their lives. These walks and coffee times do more for me than just encourage me and hopefully help me keep up with what is going on in their lives, but also provide a great time to slow down for a few minutes and enjoy some relaxing momments with some friends.

INNferno

There's nothing quite as beautiful as lots of people gathering for late night worship things. I realized this as I walked through a swampy grass field near lake Samish on a warm, dark rainy night. Trying to avoid the deeper puddles, I couldn't help but keep my eyes looking down towards the ground, which was too dark to see anyway. In the middle of my trek though, I did manage to peer up accross the field towards my destination. The dining hall of the camp was glowing in the middle of the dark, muddy field that I was in.

The candles and fire illuminating the room cast tall shaddows accross the field of people sitting, standing, and supporting each other. I starred at the building for another few seconds and through the sound of the rain drops falling all around me and on my waterproof jacket came singing. The voices spread accross the field, seeming to fill the dark empty space.

Entering the building, I was greeted by a roaring fire, warmth, and many friends. The singing kept on coming, even louder as I stood in the crowd. Another opportunity to witness students connecting with God in various ways. Some ponder, some sing, others pray with friends.

These were good momments.

It's good.

In most every conversation over the course of the last month, students, parents, family, friends, Alaskans all ask, "So, how's the internship going?"

I usually answer something generic, like, "Oh, it's great!" or maybe, "I'm having a good time, and learning a lot!"

Yesterday in a conversation with someone I would consider a good friend as of recent, I stopped to think about my response a little. I wasn't lying to other people, I just hadn't actually thought about what they were asking. I haven't paused until yesterday for this question. The internship has made me pause for lots of other things, but this question hadn't made it there yet.

As I responded in the car, in an honest momment, I said that I loved it, but this time really, really meant it. I wandered to why I love it, and further.

I love that I get to see people connect with God, and make their faith their own after growing up with what their parents may have(or may have not) believed. Students land in this same place and understand that they have a chance to try new things, think differently, and discover more about who they are. I get to be a part of this and I'm loving it.

I love that I get to work with caring people. People that will tell me when I do well, people who will help when I don't. People that are very family to me.

I love the flexibility, because I think it mirrors the flexibility that the Kingdom of God demands. We operate in a stream of ideas that sometimes don't fit what has been done before.

This is a great year. Not just because I'm learning a lot for myself, but because I get to be a part of a community that is living and growing that meant so much to me as a student.

So when I'm asked how the internship is going, and I respond, "Oh, it's great!" these are the wheels that start spinning that makes me smile, and most likely chuckle, at whoever I'm talking to.

Fall!

The leaves are falling. Every day that I want to drive my car, it seems that I have to scrape off quite a few leaves til I can even think about driving anywhere. I think I've been doing a pretty good job of not driving too much, and I'm really enjoying all the walking I'm getting in.

This weekend was my frist real weekend to not do anything. I got in some good sleep, visited some great friends, and relaxed. Much needed!

I'll be writing about it more later, but my visit to Louisville was awesome. I'm really excited about the team that we selected and how well they all work together. We're working on a big website and working to make it useful for students.

A rainy day today, but not all bad. This week is going to be a little busy with working on the mission location announcement video. I think the idea for it is really cool, it'll just be up to me to pull it off technically. I know all the locations of the 2009 trips, and I wish I could say what they are. I'm really excited for all of the trips, and especially my own. We're going to a great place, and I've got a great co-leader! I've said too much :)

Featured on Blogger.com Front Page

I was flipping through stats tonight and noticed a rediculous point on October 20th, where the daily visitors to the blog went from a usual 4-5 to about 100. Wow! After thinking for a few seconds that I had become very popular on the internet, I researched a little more and found that all but 3 of those visitors were refered to me from blogger.com. This means that my blog isn't still at 100 vistors per day, but it is pretty sweet that I was randomly featured! And also interesting to think that some people(97!) actually click on those links.

North Carolina!

Well, I'm in North Carolina now. That's cool, but even cooler than that is that I flew over Maple Valley on the way out. I saw everything. Awesome. Here's a picture I took, while the flight attendants weren't looking!

In a few hours, I'll be in Louisville at the Fall PSALT meeting. Should be good. I'm excited to meet all the people after reading their applications.

This is a great adventure, but I'm ready to have a weekend in Bellingham. Actually, a day of doing nothing would be sweet too. Soon!

Some quick Stats

Summer Stats Calc:
I Drove 4679.5 Miles
I was in Alaska for 2.5 months
I logged 264.25 hours behind the wheel
That's an average of 17.7 mph.

Awesome!

Retreat 2.0!

Wow! We're back from the INN's 2008 Fall Retreat: When INN Rome. Pretty crazy weekend. Lots of new people who were very excited about meeting other new people. As I glanced around the 60 or so students there, I rarely noticed anyone alone. Not only that, but I didn't notice the same people hanging out all the time either. Interesting.

The weather couldn't have been any better. The one bad thing I remember about every fall retreat I've been on is wet socks. Always wet socks from walking through the field to get anywhere. This year, I don't think I had near as much of a problem with it. I'm either used to it now, or maybe it wasn't as wet. A few students slept outside each night and they didn't seem to get too soaked, so it couldn't have been that bad.

I led the hike up to the deception pass from camp. Not too long of a hike, not too short. On the way up I forgot that on this specific hike, as soon as we get to the bridge, everyone tends to scatter. Some walk all the way across the bridge, others stop midway and admire the view. Still others hang out on the other side or go explore other beaches. Crazy. Either way, on the way up I shared in some great conversations with new and old friends.

I also led a forum on Money. It was interesting to discuss how each of us spend and save money in our culture, what we view as important, and how even though most people nodded at me, saying that saving was important, when the time came to nod if you actually saved, there were quite a few less heads moving. Why is this? Why is it that in our culture we seem to have an obsession with spending so much? Even worse, why do we have an obession with spending so much more than we earn? More on all of these later when I post the forum in a little different format.

All in all, great retreat. Those who planned did an excellent job of ensuring things were running smoothly. Anyway, now I'm off to the office to write some stuff up, teach Sarah about iMovie, and possibly even make a poster. What a great day to relax!

Looking for a chance to hear more updates about what I'm doing? Fill out the little contact form below and I'll put you on the INN's mailing list!

This information will be used to help me subscribe you to the INN University Ministries Mailing List. This is a monthly newsletter from the director, as well as student stories. The mailing list also presents an opportunity to give to the INN. If you do give, understand that you're taking part in God doing something great in the Northwest, as well as around the world as alumni spread over the globe after graduating. the INN has been the greatest factor in my enjoyment of school. If you're able through finances or prayers, please help it continue to be that for others. :)

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Retreat 2!

Here we go again! Tomorrow afternoon I'll be heading out to Deception Pass with the INN staff. Jim pointed out today that this will be retreat 4 that we've been on together in the last six weeks! Wow, I can't believe it's been that long, or that many retreats. I can't believe this is my job. Awesome.

The retreat tomorrow is different then any other retreat I've ever been to. I mean, it is the INN's fall retreat, to the same place I've been going as a student the last three years, but different still. Instead of the traditional retreat model with big speakers coming to teach us things over the weekend, we're having staff led discussion groups. Being creative we(Lindsay, actually) came up with funny song titles to represent each seminar. Mine is, "Money money money money. Money!" You might be able to guess the topic. I'm pretty excited about it, but having a little bit of a struggle coming up ways that it can be discussed. As of tonight it doesn't seem to lend itself to much of a forum, but we'll see. I've got tomorrow to do some more planning.

More exciting than discussion groups are the people coming on the retreat. A great friend from my recent adventures may be coming along. Pray that she finds community, support and encouragement in this group like so many others have found.

More Murdock Retreat Stuff!

Cross-posted from: http://www.theinnministries.org/category/interns/

We’re back from our Vision and Call Retreat for the Murdock foundation! The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust is the organization that is funding the internship this year, and we are incredibly grateful for them. As if receiving the grant wasn’t enough though, this last weekend they sponsored a retreat for all the interns they were supporting this year. We gathered in beautiful Yelm, WA near Elbow Lake with 70 other interns from all over the northwest. Together we enjoyed getting to know each other, meals, great speakers and more.

One especially encouraging aspect of the retreat for me was the getting to meet all different types of interns. We met interns from Youth Dynamics, YoungLife, Youth for Christ, and many more. In our small groups, it was great to hear all the different perspectives on ministry and the ways that each of our organizations impacts the culture of our surrounding areas.

Another positive aspect of the retreat was learning how much the trust really cares for the work that we’re doing. Throughout the weekend they put a lot of effort into getting to know us and providing different activities to help us get to know each other. For more than just personal financial reasons, I’m very glad we received this grant this year now. I know that behind the money is an organization that is praying for all of us, deeply interested in how we’re doing, and interested in getting us connected with other ministries to learn and grow.

October 15th, 2008 - Posted by Stead Halstead

Rubicon

I just got back from the Murdock Vission and Call intern retreat. It was a great weekend of hanging out with the other interns, meeting interns from all over the northwest, and a bit of fun. The folks from Murdock were awesome to us and I think we all had a good time, and walked away with a much better understanding of what the trust is all about and how much they care for what we're doing.

Part of our adventure was getting the opportunity to take part in the camp's little activities during our freetime. Our girl interns decided to go horseback riding together, so Ty and I headed over the the Rubicon, aka the ATV driving challenge course. At first glance, these souped up go-carts don't catch the eye as a fun thing to do, as they blaze through the ~200' long track at an incredible 3 miles per hour. I'll admit, I was skeptical.

Ty and I jumped on to try it. These golf cart like vehciles were on a course that was layed out with drops, stumps, pipes, and all sorts of things to drive over. Even with the slow speed, we had a great time out there.

Probably a little more on the retreat at some point in the future. For now though, I need to get some sleep. At tomorrow at 5am I'll be heading down to Seattle to Alaska Marine Lines(aka, the barge). I'm picking up the last of our stuff and bringing it back up to Bellingham before we have Check-in @ the INN at noon. I wish I didn't have to go, but tomorrow is perfect for the trip. It would have been really convenient if I could have picked up that stuff when we passed through Seattle today, but unfortunately they're not open on Sundays.

Oh well.

I hope things are well with all who read this!

Sabbath, Sickness, and Waves

Before I knew it, another week passed by at the INN. We've got all the students in small groups that have signed up so far and things are going fantastically, from what I've heard from group leaders so far. I've had some good student meetings in the last week and heard stories of excitement again and again. This is going to be a great year.

At the end of the second week of classes for the students, on Friday night, we had Sabbath. This is a time of extended worship, rest, relaxation, and discovering different ways to worship. This Sabbath focused on the question "Who do you say that I am?". While this question seems simple, when God asks it of each one of us, the responses vary by person. A big reason for this is that we can't come up with any words or expressions that do God justice and capture all He is. God speaks into each of our lives differently, causing many different responses. The picture is Sarah and I near the center piece of the room for the evening. On a table cloth on the floor, we made a large parenthesis of candles, symbolizing that no matter how many names we come up with for God, we still can't come up with a definite name.

Unfortunately, all the excitement of the last few weeks had me feeling a little under the weather, so I spent all day Saturday sleeping and watching movies. The movies were quite relaxing and exactly what I needed. Feeling better after laying around for the afternoon, Zach, Bryce and I ran out to Z. Point Park to watch the waves crashing on the Jetty. It was awesome, windy, and amazing.

I'm starting to feel more back to normal here. The last month was a tough one with the transition between Alaska and Bellingham and leaving friends behind and trying to pick up with new ones wherever we may have left off. Oh well, I'm getting there!

Busy Times!

Man, it's been really busy here. I've loved the internship so far. Good, challenging at times, and lots of great people to work with. Earlier this week was the first INN, which seemed to go decently smoothly, minus a glitch in the video I made. The glitch was pretty ugly: no sound for a portion of the clips. Dang.

Tonight we have our Fountain Festival in Red Square on campus. It'll be a great night of music, games, chalking, and all sorts of things. It looks like a nice day out there, so hopefully we won't have to make a run for the VU MPR in case of rain. We'll see though.

Here's a picture of the people that I've spent most my Bellingham hours with over the last four weeks. They're all amazing:

Bellingham is Nice.

It is so nice to be back in Bellingham again. While I miss Alaska quite a bit, things are starting to fall into place here and make it a nice place to be. After moving into my host family's home on tuesday, I took off to Camano Island for the INN staff retreat. The retreat focused mainly on getting to know each other again and that sort of thing. I had a great time, and it was fantastic seeing everyone again and getting to relax a little before the crazy times come. 

After the retreat, I spent some time walking across campus, seeing what's changed and taking a little time to pray for whatever might happen here this year. One of my goals this year is to spend more large sections of time praying for what is going on and for wisdom. As I walked across campus, it had a distinctly different feel for me than what I left behind a short 2.5 months ago at graduation. Instead of a looking at classrooms and thinking back to the classes I had taken there, I could only keep thinking that this is my mission field. It makes me excited and terrified for whatever might come. Actually, more excited than terrified. Pray that I'll be flexible enough that I can see God moving in the quick pace of the year.

To remind me that this is my mission field, I took a few picture that I'm planning on having somewhere around my work area at the INN to look at from time to time. A trip across campus on a beautiful night wouldn't be complete without some pictures taken anyway. They're right here. 

This morning I visited the farmer's market with some friends and met some new ones. Its still a little overwhelming trying to remember who I know and don't know, but I'll get over it. The juggler at the market upped his act a bit this year with some funny jokes and fire. It was actually pretty good!

Home.

It's been a nice few days in Maple Valley, but I've found myself bored. I noted to a friend last night how lonely it is to be in the quiet now, after being surrounded by noise and community for the last 2.5 months. I deeply miss all the other drivers.

What isn't helping all this is that I missed the chance to say goodbye to many of them. With everyone's crazy schedules, I didn't even realize that I wouldn't see everyone within the last few days. On top of that, my flight left 5 hours before the end of season company party. That would have been a great chance to say goodbye. Crap. At the end of a great Alaskan adventure with tons of stories, great memories, and hopefully lasting friendships, I find myself asking the inverse of the same question I asked myself going into the job. For my first few days, all I could wonder was, "What have I gotten myself into?", in almost a funny way. Now I've started to wonder what I've left behind.

On a more comical note, what I've left behind is something I've been pondering on a more physical level too. I came in with 96 pounds of checked and carry on's, and with at least 100lbs on the barge. I left with 75 checked and carry on items, and maybe 50 pounds at most for the barge. Where did all that stuff go? Some of the barge stuff was food... but still. I even brought back some gifts for my family!

There are some items that I'm well aware of now that I've left behind. My tent is in the closet, alongside my wet towel. I would imagine some tips are still inbetween the matresses. To even get cheesy, a little bit of my heart is in Skagway(and liarsville). I long to drive a 1983 MCI motor coach.

This transition time between two great adventures is tough. Tomorrow I embark to Bellingham, to move in with my host family, see friends, and get set up again. On Wednesday, the larger, and I dare to say, greater, adventure begins. Here I go!

The end is near/here.

Nuf said.

Posted from the Juneau airport, where the internet isn't quite fast enough to motivate me to post more stories. So many stories!

Falling and Frozen Water

What a crazy last few days. I'm starting to notice how much I've been trying to cram in in my last few days here.
A few mornings ago, Zach gave me a call to see if I wanted to go to Haines with him and Tessa. We tried to catch the 12:00 ferry, but there isn't one, so we waited and caught the 2pm ferry. Tessa wasn't feeling so well, so she didn't end up going. Instead, we were joined by Juan Pedro, an awesome guy that just moved in a few days ago. He just happened to be riding the same ferry to a tour, so we enjoyed the ride over together. Zach and I had our bikes and rain stuff, so we were prepared for anything.

Without really a plan of what to do, we toured the city on our bikes, then rode out the highway to find the river. Unfortunately, we realized that we were never going to see the river, and the highway is long. We turned back and found a golf course with a driving range. I haven't golfed for a while, but it sounded fun, so we went in to try it out. It had rained too hard though, and the range was closed, so they managed to con us into playing four holes of golf. Now usually, I don't spend much money, and I wasn't really in a spending mood... but, she explained to us that we'd be paying $10 each, and then eventually charged us for a set of clubs, a lot of balls a piece, and a few other things. Anyway, the total was higher than $20. Stupid Golf.

The course was a flooded, but we played on. Eventually, the owner of the course noticed us struggling and came out and gave us some free quick swing lessons. Awesome. We still weren't good. We started with six balls, found 10 in the woods, and ended with one each. Dang. Good thing it was only four holes!

Yesterday, to continue our proud tradition of vising glaciers on our day off, Brooke and I went on a Temsco helicopter flight up to the Mead Glacier. Absolutely awesome. They land right on the glacier and have guides show you around and explain the 350 feet of glacier ice that you're standing on.

We looked down some crevases, glacial cracks, that are terrifying. Avoid falling in one at all costs. I feel like this summer has educated me quite well on glacial ice. The picture to the right is actually me mid-drink on the glacier. We scooped a bunch of glacial runoff and drank it. Really crazy, really cold. The most pure thing ever though.

On a health note, I visited the clinic after our flight and got my ankles checked out. They gave me some more of the same antibiotics, but didn't really have anything to say. I would imagine it'll never happen again after I leave here. I'm satisfied with that!


Well, probably only one or so more posts from alaska! Woo hoo!

Fat Ankles!

Terrible! Either I'm allergic to something here in Alaska, or I've been bit by another spider. Ghetto. I'm not sure when or where it happened, but its making it really hard to walk, drive, and do anything fun here for my last week.

See if you can spot the normal bones in my feet in the picture. I can't. Really the only things visible in this picture are my poor swollen ankles and my impressive sock tan line. Yeeaah.

I'm not driving today, so that's good. I've got an appointment at the health clinic on monday afternoon.

In other news, I had an awesome day last monday. Brooke and I went around and did a few cool tours in Skagway. I'm really glad we got them in before I leave next sunday.

Our first adventure started at 9am on a ProMech glacier flightseeing tour. They had a few extra seats, so we jumped in on an absolutely beautiful day. Clear skies for the most part, and it was awesome to get out of Skagway for a bit, even if we didn't set foot on any other ground. We saw tons of glaciers everywhere. So cool. Possibly the best part of the flight, besides the views, is that they pump some inspirational music to you on a set of headphones that make the whole thing pretty cool. I mean, it was cool anyway, but with the music it was pretty sweet. Everyone told me it was going to be really cheesy, but I didn't think it was too bad.

After we got back, we figured adventures for the day couldn't quite be over yet, so we visited Glaical smoothies for Turkey bacon bagel sandwiches. Really good. After a little bit of pondering, we played a few games of Sequence(and taught an old tourist to play!). I won best out of three games, with my final game earning three sequences, instead of the two that you need to win. It was awesome.

Eventually, we got a call saying there was room on the Chillkat guide's Glacier point tour. This is probably one of the most talked about tours in Skagway. It starts out with a 45 minute ride through the lynn canal on a high-speed catamaran, landing just a little outside of Haines. After that, a quick drive in a four wheel drive bus to an equiptment shack where we got boots and coats, followed by a brief hike. Only 10 minutes later, we got in 11 person canoes and paddled right up to the glacier.

What a day! All in all, I think between the two of us we consumed $1000 of tours. Awesome. Even more awesome, is that it didn't cost us anything except for what we tipped the guides!

Every day As a Driver

I roll out of bed to the sound of a subtle beeping of my phone. Careful to disable the alarm before it wakes andrew and the rest of the house, I stumble out of bed and gather my things that were set out last night for today. As I wander in the hall, I start to hear other alarm clocks all down the hall sounding out and letting everyone know that 5:45 has come. The hall ways are fully lit, and in some way sit feels like night never came. In some ways, it never did. Six hours ago I layed my head on my pillow and closed my eyes against the broad daylight. This morning I'm greeted by the same light.

The bathrooms are busy, and the swish of our soft shells are the only noises to fill the hallway. We squeeze into the bathroom and straighten our hair quickly. There's no time to shower. I stumble down the rest of the stairs to find a dark kitchen table. The room is filled with only a long table and couches, and of course the sound of my grumbling about both having to eat oatmeal again, but also having 3 more pounds to eat before the end of the season. The warmth of the quickly microwaved oatmeal warms my face. I wait for it to cool by flipping through the house copy of the tour logistics, trying to understand where I'll be taking people today. The logistics lead me to think about what picture stops we'll be taking, what beautiful views I'll be allowing my passengers, as well as which pullouts we'll blow by as I tell stories to distract them from my attempt to maintain our timing.

After the outmeal is consumed, some granola bars find their way into my driving bags. Until now, I've dreaded the day, thinking that I'm too tired to drive or mentally exhausted from putting in the 80 maximum hours this week. Stepping onto the porch, all that slips away as I'm greeted by the cold, misty alaskan air.

The clear skies expose Mt. Harding, standing high across the lynn canal above the shop. I wander throught the yard to the driver room, gathering last minute paperwork, and the inspection report for the motorcoach I've been assigned. Looks good, except the air conditioner is weak. Typical. I review the rest of the notes as I hunt down my bus. The yard is bright with daylight, but also the flashing of hazard lights and red brake lights. The loud hum of diesel engines surround me as I arrive at my bus. I make a quick look over the exterior, throw on my gloves, and begin the lengthy engine and coach pre-trip check. After thirty minutes of checks and tests, I get my first chance to relax in the driver seat. I wait for the crackle of the radio, the long awaited invitation to come down to the dock. Eventually it comes and I leave the yard. I depart the yard, and get another view at the enormous glacially carved valley that surrounds everything I know. My bus excellerates roughly against the cold and I smile. Here begins my Alaskan Adventure.

Goodbyes

It's getting a little sad around this place. We're starting to see people leave all over the place. Yesterday I had my last(actually first too!) meal with the Browns at liarsville. They were great, I'm sad to see them go. Last night we all gathered around a fire out at the point to say goodbye to Nick. Nick's been a great guy to have up here as well. We'll all miss him and his radio voice.

The picture doesn't relate to goodbyes, except that it includes a lot of the people I'll be saying goodbye to in the next few weeks. The picture itself is a little weird though. We're all sitting around staring at the back of my bus because it exploded while we were evac-ing it, aka dumping it. A little gross, but clearly entertaining enough because in this picture there are 4 drivers, two mechanics, and a manager around the corner. Rediculous. Anything makes good entertainment up here. Especially while you're on the clock.

While it'll be sad to say goodbye in a bit here, I'm also extremely excited and ready to begin the internship. So far, this summer has been just what I needed to get ready. I've gotten away from it for a bit, read a bit, relaxed. All good things.

Woo hoo, 19 or so days til I set sail on the intern-ship! After than I won't have to think about anything Carnival, NCL, Holland America, or Princess for a while!

Good weather, bad weather, and a little Improv

We'll get the depressing out of the way first, Skagway had some nasty weather a few days ago. The picture is my bus lined up on the dock, and you can barely see into town. Nasty. Not only does it suck to drive in weather like that, on a 140 mile Yukon tour, but it sucks for the passengers because the way up the pass is the most scenic part of the the trip. Oh well, we don't guarantee the weather. Thank goodness. It did get nicer when we got to the YT though, so that was good. We even ended up using our air conditioner.


Last night, Liarsville had a few of us out to their hippodrome for an improv comedy night. It was fun, but I was expecting to watch some improv. To my surprise, we were the scheduled entertainers for the evening. Everyone participated. It was a great time. My favorite part by far us three of us drivers trying to perform the liarsville poetry show. I was the narrator, and Ty and Justin the background actors. Beeing narrator usually meant standing in front awkwardly. The whole night was pretty hilarious, and it was good to see all the liarsville people when they weren't trying to do a show.

Today though. Oh today! No more bad weather. The valley is beautiful, the day is wonderful. Melissa, Brooke and I went on a hike up to upper Reid falls. Beautiful water fall, and a great day to be up in the woods. The hike was either 3.5 or 7 miles, we're not sure if the posted miles were round trip. It didn't feel like we walked 7, but it could have been.

Oh man, finally it happened. Riley, one of the newer drivers finished his tour, had time to evac his bus(empty the toilet), fill it with gas, and park. Later on after he had gone to the driver room to do some paper work, he walked out to find some confused woman walking around the bus yard and our house. Oh man. I guess she had fallen asleep hard on the last part of his tour and slept right through the dropoff, and everything else. Now, that's funny by itself, but lets be honest, most people go on our tours with friends or family. What sick family members thought that would be a funny joke not to wake her? Haha. Oh man, what a life!

Swimming in the Yukon + Other Adventures

What a crazy last couple of weeks! My parents visited, we've had bears at our house, and I've swam in a section of lake bennett. Awesome.

My parents made the 1800 mile trek up from Seattle, taking it easy and stopping to see a little of everything. While in Skagway, we did a little everything. They spent a lot of time walking around town and exploring town, but on Saturday we went to the famous "Days of 98 Show". I had heard it was a little ridiculous before, but its actually pretty good. I was surprised. My parents liked it.

The next day, I drove a best of skagway and they got to come along and ride the train and all that. The best of skagway is a fantastic tour, that includes a train ride up the White Pass and Yukon Route railroad, a bus tour back down the pass, salmon lunch, show, and gold panning at liarsville. After all of that, we take them out to the Red Onion brothel museum. Interesting place.

I think my parents enjoyed liarsville the most. I don't blame them. It was awesome. Not only that, but Betsy arranged to have my dad called up for a part of the gold panning demonstration. It was pretty funny.

A few days ago, while we were sitting at Carcross waiting for everyone to see all there was to see in the little city, I pointed out to another driver that Seth and Casey were swimming around and had a few of their passengers join them. I regret joking about that with her, because she immediately thought it would be a good idea if we did the same thing for our passengers. I ended up doing it, even though I had no change of clothes. The passengers loved it. I ended up liking it quite a bit too, because it was a hot day, and my coach didn't have very good air conditioning. I was almost dry by the time I got back to Skagway! Also, by far my best yukon tip day!

We've seen quite a few bears in the last few days. Actually, a mom and three cubs were wandering around our deck a few nights ago, and eventually the police had to come out because they got into our trash. The night before that, some friends invited me to go bear watching in Dyea. It was a great time, and we saw one hanging out, walking through the river bed.

This picture doesn't have a story really. But I suppose it represents that I got my Ultimate Yukon tour passengers to the train a little late today. The picture is andrew running to his bus, but enough people get us mixed up that I figured I could use it as my own!

Parents Visit!

My parents arrived yesterday after a long trip up of about 1800 miles from Maple Valley. Hopefully later today we'll be adventuring somewhere around the canal. Pictures later!

Whitehorse, Yukon!

The last few days have been awesome. More time spent with great people, watching great scenery and traveling to great places! If you would have told me two months ago that I would be traveling to the yukon with some people that I didn't know previously, I would have been confused. Really confused.

The days off started with a lazy morning a few days ago. While sitting around and not doing too much, another driver letting me know that we had a bear kicking it out in bus yard. A few of us investigated, with a fire extinguisher in hand, just in case(but who are we kidding, bear vs. small fire extinguisher: Winner - Bear, loser - whoever runs slowest out of all of us). It was a cool sight, the little black bear was just wandering around, relaxed and happy with setting up camp in our area. Later that day, M + B were coming over to pick me up for our adventure to Whitehorse, YT in Canada, and its the first time I've been able to end a text messaging conversation with "Oh hey, when you get here, watch out for the bear". Alaska is good adventure!

We took off for the Yukon and took a picture at the Yukon sign, just to be funny tourists. I'm scratching my head and we both look confused because we couldn't figure out if the camera was adequately propped on the van for picture taking. Haha.... turns out it was.

Later that night we had a dinner at Earls. It was a good place. We met up with Marcus and Justin, two highway drivers, and a few more friends that were up from skagway. The 8 of us gathered to celebrate Marcus' brother's birthday. I don't know much about his brother, but he passed away a while back. Since then, Marcus' family celebrates every birthday to celebrate the time they got to spend with him. I think that's awesome.

After dinner, we headed out in our van to the top something that looked like a forest service road(or the equivalent in Canada). From there we had an awesome view of whitehorse, the cliffsides and the sunset. We ran around there for a bit and watched the colors change. Great view, great people to watch it with.

We camped that night in a weird little campground that had almost all walk in spots. We got our tents set up by midnight or so, which is good, because it started getting dark right about then. I enjoyed a bit of sleep, but then woke up when the daylight hit again at about 3:30 am. Whitehorse doesn't have the surrounding mountains that Skagway does to block light and give the slight appearance of night. Jeez.

After a little more sleep, we regathered with Marcus for breakfast, shopping at a grocery store with decent prices and selections, and concluded with a beautiful nap in the park by the river. The sun was out, it was warm and amazing. To top off our visit to "civilization", we even made a trip to starbucks and enjoyed those in the lawn again. It may have been the first day my summer has felt like summer.

"The worst winter of my life was spent working in Alaska last summer" - Anon. Good one!