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!