It's almost September already????

I can't believe this summer is already over. The wierd thing is that even though it went by so fast, I also feel like it has lasted forever. Of course, my summer was not as "summery" as most, seeing as I spent the entire summer in a sweatshirt. brrrr.

I have 4 more days of work here in Copper Center. Then my roommate, Christy, and I are going to check out the other Princess lodges for a few days and head to Denali to help close them down for the end of season. Then, on September 17, I'm off to Gram's to recoup. Not sure where the next adventure will be.

Since I last posted here, the only thing I've really been doing is knitting...I know right? One of the girls here wore a hat on the bus out here that I absolutely adored. When I found out she knitted it herself, I freaked. When she suggested that I could possibly knit one, I thought she was crazy. Then I attended knitting night at Sarah's house a few months ago, and I pretty much haven't stopped. It's been a wonderful skill to keep me busy during my downtime. Of course, as with anything in my life, there's a story.

Unlike most people who start a new craft, I decided to make my first project a little difficult. I didn't want to start with a scarf...no, that's boring. I wanted to start with a hat (not the hat that inspired all this, that was TOO difficult). So I got some free yarn from the common area here, had a few people show me some basics and off I went. I was so excited that I had picked it up so well, that I started two at the same time. I was making such progress so early on. I ran over to Sarah's for her to write down how to finish these two caps, and ran back home to finish my first knitting projects ever. Instead of describing the outcome, I will show you a picture of Samantha holding them for you.

Samantha modeling my ITTY BITTY winter caps

As you can see, they finished a little small...

Just to reiterate the size

This has become an ongoing joke here. Everything is compared to my itty bitty baby caps. They became decorations in my room.

I tried again and made (what I like to refer to as) the adolescent size hat. Noooot quite big enough. Finally, after 3 or 4 tries, I made an aaaalmost perfect adult size cap (except I ran out of yarn and couldn't make it quite long enough). Here's a pic of Kendra modeling a few of them at once.

Kendra, you look like an icecream cone

After finally accomplishing the hat...I moved onto fingerless gloves, wrist bands and finally the hat that inspired this new obsession. I don't have a full pictures of them, but here are some examples

My sarcasm and dirty look deflecters

Kendra sporting my matching set

Megan wearing my fingerless gloves and me in my favorite hat

Needless to say, i still have not made a scarf.

So, other than that, I've been working and going on a few short trips. I went to Fairbanks for the day with some other employees the other day. (Which by the way, Fairbanks should never be a day trip). But we had a really great time and got to see 6 moose along the way.

I'm going to be sad to leave Alaska. I made some great friends here and had such an adventure. The only thing that I didn't really like was the amount of absolutely unhealthy food for the employees at the lodge and the fact that I've got about 15 extra pounds to try and lose when I leave here. But it was worth it.

I hope the summer has treated everyone well, and I will be back in EST shortly.

Love-Reebs

Made in China

So here's a little thing I've been noticing and just need to comment on...

Why is it that some Americans, when on vacation, are so conscious of whether or not their little knick-knacky gifts are made in America? And not only in America...but locally.

I had a woman, from Texas, in the gift shop the other day looking at the wall of stereotypically tourist gifts. She picked up a stuffed Moose with the word "Alaska" embroidered on it's antler, and quickly checked the tag to see where it was made. She became irrate when she saw "Made in China" and LOUDLY stated that if she wanted something "Made in China", she'd visit China. I couldn't help myself and casually mentioned that she should start looking at labels at home...

She's not the only one though. Every day, all day I deal with guests who are appalled by how many of the cheap items are made in China and how expensive the handmade, made in America, local items are. And when they buy the expensive, handmade, made in America, local items, they want to know everything about the craftsman. Where they live, how they got into this business, how long they've lived here, etc... Aren't these things that should be happening everywhere? Why do we feel compelled to support local artists & businesses when on vacation? Why not at home?

Now I know this is a broad generalization. I know that there are millions of conscious souls out there supporting their local businesses, craftsman and artists, but I also know there are millions who are not. It's one thing to know that you may not be paying as close attention as you should be (I'm talking to myself now), it's another to be completely ignorant in thinking that the Tourism industry has single handedly kept the chinese sweatshops in business.

My Wildlife curse is broken!!!!

EVERYDAY is an adventure! I can't even believe how much I love Alaska and how many adventures I've been able to go on. I haven't been able to update because I was waiting on various pictures to be able to post.

In the last few weeks I have gone whitewater rafting down the Klutina River, sea kayaking in Prince William Sound, walked a 5k on Fourth of July, walked 14 miles with my roommate last week and went to Kennicot-McCarthy (my future home). Some of my little adventures include learning how to knit and making a diamond willow walking stick.

Whitewater rafting with Megan, Melissa, Nicole and Sean from River Wrangellers

 Sea Kayaking in Prince William Sound, Columbia Glacier. There are 11 miles of glacial ice, we kayaked through maybe a mile of it. We lunched on the bank next to the Glacier where we saw Mom and baby black oystercatchers (birds) and my favorite bird of the day was the Arctic Tern. What a beautiful bird. We also had a Harbor Seal follow us around a little. The icebergs were fantastic though.

Me in front of Worthington Glacier after a day of kayaking with coffee in hand

The pics of the 5K and my other pics of sea kayaking are on a disposable camera that may never be developed. We'll see. But the 5K was fun. It was nice to get to know some locals and be involved in a local event. Christy and I walked it and still got prizes. It was a nice way to celebrate the fourth!

I will put pics of my knitting in another post. Right now I want to tell you about the most amazing place I think I've ever been. And I've been around...

Kennicot-McCarthy!!!

This is Kennicot from the air

Kennicot is an old Copper mill that was in operation from 1911-1938. It is in the middle of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park (which is 13.2 million acres). The town of McCarthy was created for the mill/mine workers. Both were unbelievable.

There are only two ways to get to Kennicot-McCarthy. By air, or by a 60 mile road that takes 3 hours to get down. It's so bumpy that all rental car agreements have that road off limits to drive on. I heard that 1 in 10 cars ends up with a flat. So, as much as I was not in a hurry to get on another baby planelet, I chose the flight. And man was it amazing! AND I didn't get sick this time. The most amazing were the Kennicot and Root Glaciers from the air.

Root Glacier (it was rainy, but gorgeous still)

Our first stop was the adorable little historic town of McCarthy which I can't even describe to you. What was once filled with miners families, is now filled with hikers, backpackers, ice climbers and bush pilots. And most importantly was the roadside restaurant called "The Potato"...Heaven.

 

"The Potato" used to be a hot food truck, and they built walls and a little screen porch around it. Can you see all of the Mr. Potato heads in through the door? LOVE IT!!!

Believe it or not, I got my Almond Soy latte and was on my way. (I say believe it or not for two reasons...1. That I did not order anything potato, and 2. because I'm in the middle of a National Park, in the middle of Alaska, in a historic (almost Ghost)town and I can still get a latte)

After exploring the town...

I headed over to Kennicot to take the Historic mill tour. I have no idea if the pictures say anything, but the mill is 14 stories of an abandoned mill with all tools that were last used there still there. The story is...in 1938, when it was decided that they were not making a profit on the copper anymore, the mill would be closed down. The workers and their families were told that there were two trains leaving that afternoon, and if they weren't on them, they'd have to find their own way home. When the abandoned mill and ghost town of McCarthy were stumbled upon 30 or 40 years later, there were still pies in some of the ovens and tables made.

I'm gonna just post the pics and save the stories for later.

After the tour, it's back on the baby planelet and out of the park.

The people I was driving with on this tour wanted to see the town of Chitina which is where we flew into. So I decided to indulge them....On the way is when my wildlife curse was lifted! I saw my first Alaskan Moose. It's official! They do exist. She was just having an afternoon snack in the lake on the side of the road. I'll attach a photo, but I kind of was too excited to even figure out the camera. So my pics make the Moose seem really far away and you can barely see her.

Between Kennicot and the Moose, my Alaska experience is complete...not really but I'm a happy camper. Below is a picture of Chitina which is situated in such a gorgeous area, but the town is something out of an old movie. It was home from there and the end of another adventure filled day. 

Love and miss you all-Reebs

 

Wild Adventures...and a funny story

So...I had a classic Martzy moment...or I should say, a few.

My managers worked it out that I'd be able to go on this Prince William Sound Cruise if I would drive the guests down there with me. (Driving the guests to the tour sites is one of my many hats) Awesome. I hadn't driven any of the tours yet so I was really excited. Not to mention, I was finally getting to go on one of the tours. One problem...I didn't know where to go.

Now, you think that this is an easy fix. Just ask for directions you say? Alas, I did. Many times, to many people. And the answer was always the same. "Oh, it's SO easy. You just take the road straight through town to the docks.". Ok?!? The docks are in a little lovely town called Valdez. You may remember it from the headlines back in the 80's of "Exxon-Valdez oil spill". The town is 2 hours away on one of the two roads out here. So I knew you only took the ONE road all the way there, but shouldn't you have to turn at some point?

There was another employee, Megan, going as well, but not only had she never been there either, but we were driving 2 vans (due to the many guests going) and she already claimed the "following" van because I "knew what I was doing"...huh? Who said that?!?! So, ok. We load 14 paying guests into two vans and we're on our way, with me in the lead. Everyone says this is easy, so I'll just go with it. It must be well signed down there. (you see where this is going don't you).

The drive to Valdez is gorgeous! We go by the Worthington Glacier, over the Chugach mountain range, across Thompson pass, and through Keystone Canyon (which is one of my favorite places here) with it's many waterfalls. GORGEOUS! We make it to Valdez (which I am absolutely in love with) with plenty of time to spare. I follow everyone's advice and keep driving straight through town...until the road ends...and there's no Cruise. So here I am sitting, sitting at a stop sign at the end of the road. I can go left, towards the water (which is obviously where we want to be, but I can tell this is not the right place) or right, further into town. I sit there. My palms sweaty, my heart beating, embarassment creaping up to my cheeks. Finally, I admit to the guests that I'm lost and decide to pull across the street into a parking lot and go back to converse with Megan...this should be good. She was so funny. I walk back towards her van and she rolls her window down only 2 or 3 inches. I can see the fear in her face as well. I try to quietly ask if she knew where we should go, but because she wouldn't roll the window down, I had to be kind of loud, and I can hear a heavy sigh come from inside her van...ugh. She just shakes her head "no" and pretends to not even know me as she rolls the window back up...with ME STILL STANDING THERE! Just because you don't want this to be happening, doesn't mean it's going to go away. I lip the words "You're dead to me" and go back to my van.

We take the turn towards the water and I PRAY we happen upon the cruise ship. No such luck. We end up at the Ferry landing which has a huge sign in the window "CLOSED". Yahoo! I swing through the parking lot and take a left by the Ferry terminal trying to think fast. Meanwhile the guests are all asking me questions like "What time does the cruise leave? Are we going to make it in time? Why didn't anyone give me clear directions?". I see a man getting into a truck behind me. I beep my horn and back up...I roll down my window...he comes over to the van and I start with "Excuse me sir...Can you tell me where the Stan Stephens dock is"...mental gulp. Luckily he does, although I can see his utter disgust in me as the worst tour driver ever. Phew! We know where we're going. And we're close. I turn to give Megan the thumbs up of relief behind me, and she's not there. Gulp!

I do a quick sweep and see her across the way in the parking lot...parked...letting all of her guests out of the van. Everyone's putting their backpacks on for the day, stretching their legs, looking relieved that we made it. But we hadn't yet. My heart sinks and I throw up a little in my mouth. I casually drive across the street and pull into a parking spot next to her, trying to make a non panicky face at her while I park. Although, I find out later that my whole van of guests were shaking there heads no and swinging their arms at her, so, so much for being subtle. She gives a lighthearted "just kidding" to her guests, shoots me a look of utter terror, and climbs back in the van.

With the help of the guests that took notes on the directions (we like to give the guests a fully interactive experience), we make it to the dock. Whoohoo! Now what? Do we check all the guests in? I guess. It would help if Megan hadn't forgotten the manifest in her van. One of the guests asks me where we load for the cruise and I ask if they really want to keep following us. The one guest named us "right" and "left" because of the ferry dock when I went left and Megan went right into the parking lot. We get everyone checked in and Megan tells them that they have a whole 7 minutes to walk around town...double smirk.

The rest of the day was utterly amazing. We rode the boat around the Prince William Sound with Humpback whales, Minke whales, Otters, Porpoise, Puffins, Sea Lions, Harbor Seals, Bald Eagles and icebergs. It was phenomenal!!!!! I love living in Alaska!!!

The trip home was uneventful and luckily the guests all had good humors about the days events.

Megan and I

I still haven't seen any Moose...ugh.

Have had many more adventures, but will write about them later.

Instructions on slideshow viewing

Ok! Here's the deal-I have spent waaaaay too long trying to upload these pictures. All I have to say is, you'd think Google would have these programs worked out a little more user friendly.

Soooo...the itty bitty slideshow that you see off on the side is apparently not really supposed to be visible on this blog. If so, I believe it'd be a HAIR larger. If you click on the slideshow, it'll bring you to the Picasa Web album page and you can view all of the pictures.

...Now the web album page cuts the pics off on the bottom, so you want to hit the fullscreen button in the upper left corner and then hit the F11 key to bring them full screen.

Love It!

Good luck and Goodnight

Happy Wednesday

Believe it or not, I'm starting to get used to the isolation...I can't believe I'm even saying that. Last week I was going absolutely stir crazy because I couldn't go ANYWHERE!!! But this week...not so much. Wierd! It's amazing how you improvise or go without when you have to.

I'm loving the guests at the lodge. Dealing with vacationers is so easy. And I love how much of a mystery Alaska is to everyone. The other day I overheard a guest talking to his friend about the price of something and said "you wouldn't get this for that price in the States"...I wanted to politely clear my throat and saunter over to quietly point out that alas, "you ARE in the States!".

But seriously, it is amazing here. Everyday I look out over the mountains and the treetops and just can't believe I'm here. Although, I have yet to see a Moose. In fact, up until yesterday, I had yet to see more than a Robin, a Seagull and a Raven. The big joke was that I hadn't even seen an Alaskan squirrel. My roommate, Christy, said she thinks she saw a squirrel, but it was so small she thought it was a chipmunk. I thought that was crazy because EVERYTHING is HUGE in Alaska. But two days ago, I saw an Alaskan squirrel. And man was it tiny. That was my first Alaska wildlife on this trip, can you believe it? Then, while hiking in my backyard :), a Bald Eagle flew right up in front of me. It was wonderful. Christy and I take midnight hikes during twilight to stalk Moose. So far nothing. There are Bears around too, but I'm not in too much of a hurry to see one of those up close. Maybe from a distance...in a vehicle would be nice.

Today we took an employee trip to a State Park called Liberty Falls. It was beautiful. Every turn on the road, every mountain, every tree is fascinating here. Unfortunately it is an average of at least an hour to get anywhere here...awesome. But it is always worth it.

I think that's about it for now. I'm hoping I will be able to attach a picture album to this blog so you can see more than just one or two pics. Have a happy Wednesday!-Reebs

24 hours of light!

It has been rather interesting getting used to 24 hours of light, but it's also kind of fun. I'm not sure what it'll be like to go back to darkness after this. It's been causing havoc on my sleeping, but I already had sleep issues, so no big deal. But when guests at the lodge think that they can't go on a tour at 9 or 10 pm because they won't get to see anything, it's fun to remind them that there wouldn't be a time they wouldn't be able to see. They forget about the constant light. I went on a doglsed ride yesterday and the musher made a joke of "Mom says we need to be home by dark...so we don't have to be home until at least September"... The pics of the dogsled and the Lodge were taken at 10pm last night. As you can see, the sun is still very high in the sky. It's awesome.

The jobs are going well. It's been a rough start due to my scattered training. I didn't quite feel like I knew enough of anything to work at either job, but luckily, working with people who are on vacation, lends me a bit more patience and kindness. So I've been able to catch up.

I'm a little (ok...a lot) more isolated than I'd like to be, but I'm sure that will take time to get used to as well. My roommate and I talk about what it'll be like to see a Town and stores again in September. We sit and fantasize about being able to "run down to the store to pick something up". It's funny. She actually went into "town" yesterday with a few of our coworkers and had QUITE the experience. The town, Glen Allen, consists of a gas station "The Hub", that has a mobile Thai restaurant in the parking lot. We refer to it as the Thai-mobile. A Grocery store where everything is outrageously expensive and a Radio Shack, where apparently you can get anything from batteries, to guns and ammo, to jelly belly jellybeans and halloween costumes...huh? And oh yea, we can't forget about the espresso shack...A little (and I mean little) coffee hut in the grocery store parking lot where you can get your caramel macchiato... we Americans sure have our priorities.

In about an hour, I go for my driver training so I can escort up to 15 guests to the various tour locations. I'm not sure they were planning on Van training me, but I've basically badgered my manager to do it because I am dying to get off property and to drive SOMETHING! The guests are in for a treat.

That's about all for now. Gotta go get ready for work. Hope everyone is well. Love-Reebs

Onward and Upward

Well, I'm reviving the 'ole blog. As most of you know, I'm off to Alaska to work at a Wilderness Lodge for Princess cruise lines. I left Ohio on Wednesday May 19 and came to Seattle to visit Miriam and her family for a week. I got to meet Cooper Michael (Mir's 9 month old) for the first time, and we fell in love immediately.

My flights were uneventlful to say the least. I know, sorry-no crazy stories. Except for the fact that I left from Pittsburgh and had a layover in none other than Cleveland...huh? Didn't quite think that one through I guess. The funny thing is that it was actually cheaper to fly from Pitt than Cle. again...huh?

So far my days in Seattle are filled with playing with Coop, listening to sarcastic banter between Mir's husband and his 15 year old son, Casey, and drinking coffee.(It's Seattle-that's what they do here). We're gonna take a Yoga class monday night and head downtown to Pikes place market for an adventure. I've attached a few pics of Cooper, Miriam, Casey and Me.