Alaska #8

1. Danny is currently mowing the lawn around the hotel, and it's his first time. I don't think Gregg really told him what to do, cause he is kind of just wandering around in circles with the mower, not going in any kind of pattern :). It's kind of entertaining.

2. Jess and I did another 12 hour bus ride through the park. We didn't see very many animals this time, but we could see Mt. McKinley in all her glory for the whole way into the park. The clouds moved in on the way out, but we were just happy to see her at all. We saw a couple bears, but none as close as last time, and like 10 caribou. Their antlers are getting huge! On the way out we passed James and the housekeepers in one of our shuttles (anyone can drive the first 15 miles into the park, but only the park buses and tours go past there.) He was taking them in so they could see the park, since they don't get days off. It was kind of funny.

3. The day after our long bus tour Jess and I went back and took the free bus to Savage River (mile 15 on the park road) and hiked around. There is this big outcropping of rock that we climbed up to, but when we got there she didn't want to climb it. I was so surprised! But I guess not everyone is like our family and see's a rock and needs to climb it.

4. The problem with working front desk is I can't ever go into the park without seeing someone that's staying at our hotel. The first couple of times I didn't know what was happening (they recognized me, but I've seen a lot of people this summer) but now I just figure if someone recognizes me they are staying at the hotel. It's not bad, but it does kind of feel like I can never get away from my job.

5. Favorite quote of the week, "Ashley? You have that thing that will make my pencil sharper? What is it called?" :) It's fun working with the Bulgarians.

6. The other night at Jessie's we were talking about the northern lights and how we watch them. Sarah has a second story room at the Homestead (the gigantic housing for Princess tours) and she takes out her window and sits on the ledge. I either just stand outside and look up or climb the banister to the top of the bathroom trailer and watch from up there. But Jessie wins. In her words, "I think the best place to watch the northern lights will be in my hot tub!" The rest of us just wish she and Keith had come up with this hot tub idea earlier in the season . . .

7. I ran out of bread before our trip into the park, and wanted to bring a sandwich so I decided to just get some in Healy since there wouldn't be a Fairbanks run in time. The cheapest loaf of bread was $8.19.  Yep, I will be glad to get back to normal prices.

8. An Australian guest's reaction to a 40 mph wind day, "Holy Maholy! Your wind is a tad bit crazy!"

9. This morning I got a call on the after hours phone at 7:20 from people complaining that the office wasn't open  yet. So I called Miles (no answer) and then went and knocked on his door. He yelled "Who is it?" groggily, and when I told him he asked "Am I sleeping?" I didn't quite know how to respond to that one, so I just asked him if he was planning on going to work. That had a better effect of getting him over his hangover. I heard him leave 10 minutes later, so he was only an hour and a half late for work. It made me feel better about the one time I was 5 minutes late :).

10. I met this guy that teaches at a college in Northern California that came up here with his friend that works at an asylum. They are just wandering around Alaska, living off of Snickers and going wherever people recommend. They took the free bus to Savage River in the park because they were out of money, and wanted to use their last tank of gas before flying out to go to a little hot springs by Anchorage. You meet all sorts up here.

11. Jess is leaving on Wednesday. Sad day :(.

Alaska # 7

1. Lucy's mom Gina came up for a few days from Wrangell, AK. I didn't get to see her very much since I was working, but I did go to dinner with them at 49th State Brewery. She speaks English very well but still has a strong accent (she and her husband came here from Prague.) She got the shrimp tacos at 49th, and kept  saying "These good, fat, breaded shrimp." I liked her a lot.

2. I went to the Tenana Valley State Fair in Fairbanks with Jessie and her kids, Jess, and this other girl in our branch Tiffany and her kids. It was crazy but fun. Jess and I were on stroller duty while the older kids rode some of the rides. And I had a pretzel for lunch :).

3. Danny and Kiki are going to stop in Paris for a couple of days on their way back to Bulgaria. Kiki, "I have never been there, but already it is my favorite city!" Her goal is to get to the top of the Eiffel tower and scream at the top of her lungs.

4. Sheri and Gregg have a little dog that they named Steve. James keeps getting confused, and whenever he's talking about Gregg he will call him Steve. It cracks the rest of us up :).

5. Snezhana, "In Bulgaria I only drink Vodka. But here. Here I drink everything!" And then she told me I could help myself to any of her liquor, since I'm not old enough to buy it. I was like, um, I'll pass.

6. I got to go canoeing on Otto lake with Kaymbra (the RS president) and Linda (RS 1st counselor) and their kids. It was fun, even though for most of it Kaymbra was trying to get her son Seth to relax whenever the canoe moved at all. We had a picnic lunch on one of the islands in the middle of the lake, and then Linda got me back in time for work.

7. Danny is obsessed with Oreos and Mac'n'cheese. I swear he lives off of those :). We are in the office, and he has one of those packages that have 6 oreos each. He offered me one and I said no thanks (I just barely brushed my teeth :) ) Then he said "Good! I only have two left." Haha

8. The bears are dead. Our branch president killed two of them, Keith killed a third, and another guy in the branch killed the fourth. That's the Mormons, keeping our town safe from crazy bears :).

9. I finally hiked Mt. Healy. It isn't a very long hike, just 6.8 miles round trip, but it goes straight up the side of the mountain and then you come straight back down. According to a hiking book I found, the total elevation change is 11,800 feet (I don't really know what that means, but it sounds impressive :).) The views from the top were worth it though.

10. Sheri and Gregg have been gone the past four days for a trip to Seward, so Mickey has been playing manager. He takes it very seriously. Usually Sheri will only be in the office from 9-12 and then an hour in the afternoon, but he has been coming in at 6 and not leaving until 11 at night. He is definitely dedicated, that's for sure.

Alaska #6

1. There is some unspoken rule up here that every Sunday is super windy. It makes it kind of a pain to walk to church. I should have brought heavy straight skirts instead of flowy ones. It's especially bad for the first part of my walk down the big hill to Healy. I usually end up bunching as much of my skirt as I can into a ball at my side and hold it so I don't end up flashing everyone on the highway.

2. I just tried to get some lotion from the bottle we have at the front desk and it squirted past my hand and onto the paperwork for today. That was fun to clean up.

3. Keith assigned himself as my home teacher. I guess he figured I would be an easy one to check off his list each month since I am over at their house at least once or twice a week. So now he is my home teacher and Jess is my visiting teacher. Works out great :).

4. More housing woes. You have to pull the string for the lights about 50 times hard every time you want to turn them on or off. Even then sometimes it gets stuck halfway and the lights flicker and then you have to pull it another 50 times. It's really annoying when you got to go haha :). Also the toilets make noises like they are going to eat you. I'm not sure what that means.

5. Both Lucy and Miles do these type of jobs year round, just moving from place to place. Miles was in New Zealand and Australia not too long ago, and Lucy is going to spend this winter in Hawaii.

6. We all dread people reserving the train combo special. Not only do we have to get all their information to book at the hotel, but we have to call and make their reservations at the train station. So when we get one of those reservations, it easily takes up the next hour of our time, with a lot of that time spent being on hold with the railroad.

7. We have this guy that came in on the railroad (so we provide his transportation with our shuttle) and is staying here for 10 days. He is from South Africa, and he keeps cancelling his plans because he thinks it's too cold here. So he has ended up spending most of his time loitering around the hotel. I just think that's such a waste.

8. Jess and I went on a 4 wheeler ride last night. It was so fun! She has been going around with Keith and knows all the good places to go. She took me to this lake out in the middle of nowhere that I am definitely going to have to go back to when I have a camera. After that we decided to explore and take a road neither of us had been on before. It would around for a little bit, then went straight up. We ended up by the cemetery, right up the road from the hotel. Who'dve thunk? :)

9. It froze for the first time the night of July 30.

10. Healy has a current infestation of black bears. They have been killing pigs, sheep, and chickens and dragging them off. We are finding scat in places that we would rather not (like right behind our kitchen trailer). A lot of guys in the branch are doing a bear hunting expedition. They are getting a little too close for comfort.