1. Starting today I have eight straight days of 6:00 in the morning shifts. Maybe I will actually get used to waking up that early now :).
2. I'm pretty sure I sprained my peroneus brevis tendon when I twisted my ankle hard the other day. Since then it has survived a 4 mile round trip to the bank, a whole day of shopping in Fairbanks, and another 3 mile trip to the post office and then Jessie's house. I should probably stop going places for a while.
3. There are 5o million caterpillars living in the plants outside our kitchen. They are everywhere! If you don't watch where you put your feet when you walk you will probably squish one every other step. I'm not even exaggerating that much.
4. The standing joke up here is that wood frogs make the best pets. All you have to do when you go on vacation is throw them in the freezer :).
5. Jess and I have babysat for Jessie and Keith twice now. It's the easiest babysitting I've ever done. Cecy and Lance are super shy and want nothing to do with me, so Jess takes care of them and I hold Mitchell. Also Jessie and Keith always make sure they are home in time to put the kids to bed. I get the feeling they don't leave their kids much.
6. The other night after Keith and Jessie came home and put the kids to bed we all played Hand and Foot, talked, and listened to the kids music album that the Bare Naked Ladies did because Jessie said it was hilarious (and it was :). Keith insisted that that band had been on Sesame Street, but Jessie didn't believe him so he decided to look it up and pulled out his phone. Then he exclaimed, "Bare Naked Ladies probably isn't the best Google search, huh?" So he handed the phone to Jessie and she looked it up, just in case :). (In case you were wondering, they have done a song on Sesame Street but it wasn't the one Keith was thinking of. So they were both right).
7. It was actually warm and sunny enough that I got a little bit of a sunburn the other day. I never knew a sunburn could feel so good :).
8. Some interesting last names from the tour group we got in today: Speshynskiy, Zaikovskiene, Abdurakhmanov, and Puluikiene, among others. I'm not sure where they were from, but I'm glad I didn't have to try to pronounce their names.
9. We sell Jimmie Dean breakfast sandwiches in our office, and I am getting addicted to the sausage and egg croissant ones. They are pretty much amazing.
10. The last time I checked my PO Box the topmost piece of mail was a catalog addressed to Keith Clark. I happened to be going to their house after that, so I just brought it with me. Apparently I have his parents' old box. Random.
11. There are probably 8 or 9 different companies that do flightseeing around here, so we have about as many planes flying overhead as if we lived next to an international airport (at least one of the ones in Alaska). There is also an Air Force base in Fairbanks, and they have been doing fighter plane training the past few weeks. When they fly over the ground shakes and it's as loud as it is at Stadium of Fire when they do the National Anthem flyover.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Monday, July 23, 2012
Alaska #4
1. I finally was able to go flightseeing! Normally a flight will cost $350 but we went for $25. Awesome! The flight started at the company's little private airport south of the Park entrance. We flew to and all the way around Mt. McKinley and then back to the airport. It was kind of hazy, but there was a lot more sunshine than there usually is so the view was amazing! Definitely worth the $25 :).
2. I get to go to Skagway when I'm done with my season up here! I discovered it was cheaper to buy round trip tickets to Juneau so that I can still use my original ticket to get home, so I'm going to fly to Juneau and then Skagway on September 21, spend almost a week there with Chrissi, then we are going to take the ferry back to Juneau on September 27 and she is going to fly home via Seattle and I am going to fly back to Anchorage and then fly home via Phoenix. We will both get home on the 28 within a few hours of each other. It worked out perfect.
3. I found out that the state of Alaska recognizes "Denali" as the official name of the mountain (it means "high one" in Koyukon Athabaskan) but the United States government still goes with Mt. McKinley. I also found out that it is the tallest mountain on land. Everest and Aconcagua have higher elevations, but they also start at higher elevations.
4. I had my very own Princess Diaries moment. I was brushing my hair and the handle broke off my brush. At least it was a dollar store one and not a fancy one with a wooden handle like in the show. Gotta love curly hair haha.
5. I am extremely glad I brought up two filtered water bottles. I have been using them the whole time, and I have to scrub them out good every week or so because they get this filmy residue inside. I am just hoping that the filter does a good enough job and I am not drinking that the whole time.
6. I finally get to go to Fairbanks this week. Miles is disappointed since he can't have me buy his liquor (and I am hoping he just has James do all of his shopping so I only have to worry about mine and Lucy's). It should be fun, but it's going to be a long day. They usually leave at about 7 am and get back at about 5:30.
7. Finally it was better to have Verizon than the Alaskan favorite AT&T, since their tower went down and most of the state didn't have AT&T coverage the whole weekend. I was grateful for my random sporadic coverage then :).
8. We have discovered that it's easiest to blame Alaska when all of the guests call multiple times complaining about the wireless. Our now standard answer is "This is Alaska. Sometimes it just doesn't work." Too bad that doesn't usually help. It's crazy how people just can't live without their internet.
9. The walls between our bedrooms are super thin. You can hear basically everything the person in the next room does or says. That fact makes me grateful that I am on an end, and that I am on the opposite end from Miles' room and his one night stands. Ya. And Lucy said she can always tell when I take a shower because she can smell my hair products through the wall.
10. I still have yet to see darkness since getting here. I thought that it would get dark faster after summer solstice, but still when I can't sleep and decide to make myself useful and do laundry at 2 in the morning I don't even need a flashlight to go around outside. I never thought I would miss darkness, but it would make it a whole lot easier to sleep at night.
11. There is about an inch gap between the floor and the bottom of my bedroom door, so I get a lot more bugs in my room than I would like. The other morning I woke up and there was a spider on my pillow. Ya, that was a little freak out session. Mosquitoes also like to get in through that gap, and they are so big up here that their buzzing is super loud and annoying, especially when you are trying to sleep at night.
12. I went with Lucy down to The Canyon and to the Thai food trailer (it reminds me of Giavanni's) and we both got Pad Thai because that's her favorite. It was so good! It wasn't even too expensive. Only $10, which is kind of amazing for up here. Now I will have a hard decision between Thai food and Subway when I'm down there.
2. I get to go to Skagway when I'm done with my season up here! I discovered it was cheaper to buy round trip tickets to Juneau so that I can still use my original ticket to get home, so I'm going to fly to Juneau and then Skagway on September 21, spend almost a week there with Chrissi, then we are going to take the ferry back to Juneau on September 27 and she is going to fly home via Seattle and I am going to fly back to Anchorage and then fly home via Phoenix. We will both get home on the 28 within a few hours of each other. It worked out perfect.
3. I found out that the state of Alaska recognizes "Denali" as the official name of the mountain (it means "high one" in Koyukon Athabaskan) but the United States government still goes with Mt. McKinley. I also found out that it is the tallest mountain on land. Everest and Aconcagua have higher elevations, but they also start at higher elevations.
4. I had my very own Princess Diaries moment. I was brushing my hair and the handle broke off my brush. At least it was a dollar store one and not a fancy one with a wooden handle like in the show. Gotta love curly hair haha.
5. I am extremely glad I brought up two filtered water bottles. I have been using them the whole time, and I have to scrub them out good every week or so because they get this filmy residue inside. I am just hoping that the filter does a good enough job and I am not drinking that the whole time.
6. I finally get to go to Fairbanks this week. Miles is disappointed since he can't have me buy his liquor (and I am hoping he just has James do all of his shopping so I only have to worry about mine and Lucy's). It should be fun, but it's going to be a long day. They usually leave at about 7 am and get back at about 5:30.
7. Finally it was better to have Verizon than the Alaskan favorite AT&T, since their tower went down and most of the state didn't have AT&T coverage the whole weekend. I was grateful for my random sporadic coverage then :).
8. We have discovered that it's easiest to blame Alaska when all of the guests call multiple times complaining about the wireless. Our now standard answer is "This is Alaska. Sometimes it just doesn't work." Too bad that doesn't usually help. It's crazy how people just can't live without their internet.
9. The walls between our bedrooms are super thin. You can hear basically everything the person in the next room does or says. That fact makes me grateful that I am on an end, and that I am on the opposite end from Miles' room and his one night stands. Ya. And Lucy said she can always tell when I take a shower because she can smell my hair products through the wall.
10. I still have yet to see darkness since getting here. I thought that it would get dark faster after summer solstice, but still when I can't sleep and decide to make myself useful and do laundry at 2 in the morning I don't even need a flashlight to go around outside. I never thought I would miss darkness, but it would make it a whole lot easier to sleep at night.
11. There is about an inch gap between the floor and the bottom of my bedroom door, so I get a lot more bugs in my room than I would like. The other morning I woke up and there was a spider on my pillow. Ya, that was a little freak out session. Mosquitoes also like to get in through that gap, and they are so big up here that their buzzing is super loud and annoying, especially when you are trying to sleep at night.
12. I went with Lucy down to The Canyon and to the Thai food trailer (it reminds me of Giavanni's) and we both got Pad Thai because that's her favorite. It was so good! It wasn't even too expensive. Only $10, which is kind of amazing for up here. Now I will have a hard decision between Thai food and Subway when I'm down there.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Alaska #3
1. Denali National Park is amazing! I took the 12 hour bus tour that goes all the way into the park as far as the road goes. We saw7 bears, caribou, a red fox, and moose. We were even in the 30% of tourists that got to see Mt. McKinley. (Which entitles me to a shirt from one of the gift shops, even though about 90% of tourists by those shirts :) ) One of the bears we saw was eating right on the side of the road, so the bus driver stopped and we all took pictures and watched it for a while. Another one we saw was wandering around outside the visitors center while we were there. The park rangers had their work cut out for them trying to keep all the tourists a safe distance away from the bear. And then he ended up tearing down the hill, right towards a family of hikers. Don't worry, the park rangers saved the day and got the hikers to safety.
2. Coffee (and the people who drink it) is insane. Every morning when I come in to work at 6 I make a 12 cup pot. You'd think that would last a while, but some days it's gone by 6:30. Some guests will come in for 7 or 8 cups, then get mad at me when I don't have the next pot ready in time. They just stand there, tapping their feet or drumming their fingers on the counter until it's done. And then these kids came in today, got coffee, and put 15 packets of sugar each in their cups. I would not like to be their parents later.
3. Alaska is definitely not a desert. It has rained, at least a little, every day for the past month. And then because of the permafrost layer, the water can't drain. So my 4-wheeler ride the other day (it's completely illegal to drive them on paved roads, so I was on sketchy 4-wheeler trails the whole time) resulted in muddy water being splashed all over my clothes and my new skater shoes. Note to self; don't ever wear shoes I care about when I go to Jessie's, I never know when I might end up on a 4-wheeler.
4. Up here, when someone says "I'm going into town," they mean they are driving 2 hours to go to Fairbanks.
5. The Bulgarians all bought phones on the last Fairbanks trip. Only they went with the cheap provider, and didn't find out until they got back that they get absolutely no service whatsoever here. Needless to say, they were not very happy about that. And speaking of cell service, which even with Verizon is sketchy at best, it makes it a pain in the neck when guests are calling from the road. You can always tell when someone is calling from a cell phone while driving in Alaska, because the conversation will take place in 2-3 sessions.
6. There is a work camper couple that get a place to park their RV for the summer in exchange for doing odd jobs and being the official shuttle drivers. Their names are James and Brigitta. Brigitta is from Holland originally, and she is super funny and cute. I like her a lot. They have a black retriever named Sadie who comes and visits me in the office sometimes.
7. Basically every time I go down to Denali (which at most is once a week) I get Chrissi's and my signature sandwich at Subway. I usually end up at the ice cream shop too, and get a single scoop. 6 inch sandwich = $6.25 and one scoop of ice cream = $3.75, so my meal ends up being $10 even. I figure it's a heck of a lot cheaper than dinner and dessert at any of the other restaurants (though I really do need to try something new eventually)
8. Jessie has a book collection that almost rivals Jared's. (As a result of Keith bribing her to stay in Alaska she gets a monthly book fund, and I'm pretty sure she could single handedly keep Amazon in business) So her house has also become my summer library.
2. Coffee (and the people who drink it) is insane. Every morning when I come in to work at 6 I make a 12 cup pot. You'd think that would last a while, but some days it's gone by 6:30. Some guests will come in for 7 or 8 cups, then get mad at me when I don't have the next pot ready in time. They just stand there, tapping their feet or drumming their fingers on the counter until it's done. And then these kids came in today, got coffee, and put 15 packets of sugar each in their cups. I would not like to be their parents later.
3. Alaska is definitely not a desert. It has rained, at least a little, every day for the past month. And then because of the permafrost layer, the water can't drain. So my 4-wheeler ride the other day (it's completely illegal to drive them on paved roads, so I was on sketchy 4-wheeler trails the whole time) resulted in muddy water being splashed all over my clothes and my new skater shoes. Note to self; don't ever wear shoes I care about when I go to Jessie's, I never know when I might end up on a 4-wheeler.
4. Up here, when someone says "I'm going into town," they mean they are driving 2 hours to go to Fairbanks.
5. The Bulgarians all bought phones on the last Fairbanks trip. Only they went with the cheap provider, and didn't find out until they got back that they get absolutely no service whatsoever here. Needless to say, they were not very happy about that. And speaking of cell service, which even with Verizon is sketchy at best, it makes it a pain in the neck when guests are calling from the road. You can always tell when someone is calling from a cell phone while driving in Alaska, because the conversation will take place in 2-3 sessions.
6. There is a work camper couple that get a place to park their RV for the summer in exchange for doing odd jobs and being the official shuttle drivers. Their names are James and Brigitta. Brigitta is from Holland originally, and she is super funny and cute. I like her a lot. They have a black retriever named Sadie who comes and visits me in the office sometimes.
7. Basically every time I go down to Denali (which at most is once a week) I get Chrissi's and my signature sandwich at Subway. I usually end up at the ice cream shop too, and get a single scoop. 6 inch sandwich = $6.25 and one scoop of ice cream = $3.75, so my meal ends up being $10 even. I figure it's a heck of a lot cheaper than dinner and dessert at any of the other restaurants (though I really do need to try something new eventually)
8. Jessie has a book collection that almost rivals Jared's. (As a result of Keith bribing her to stay in Alaska she gets a monthly book fund, and I'm pretty sure she could single handedly keep Amazon in business) So her house has also become my summer library.
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