Lost & Found, Changes & Diaspora

Bove Island

LOST: Our camera. Soon after the last blog entry, our camera went missing. I searched every jacket, every drawer, every tote bag and backpack, checked every vehicle we've driven and asked at every location where we might have left it. What this means for you is a whole lot less photos in the blog and for us for September...including the glorious autumn colors. I'd always been a New England snob about that region having the quintessential autumn foliage. The leaves are changed in the Yukon and changing here in Skagway and have been stunning. So, I did the next best thing and stole this off of FB of a friend's trip in the Yukon. Sadly, I don't even remember who posted this, but I am grateful they posted it.

One of the things that drivers do when they take a trip to Caribou Crossing is promote the dog cart ride. For their promotional efforts, they earn Caribou Bucks. So Mike has been earning some bucks up in the Yukon and telling me we should go spend them. He got a Yukon trip one day and it happened to be one of my days off. This time, we didn't tell his passengers that his wife was on board. Seems that last time I took the trip and did let some folks know, they felt it was a set-up of some sort. He makes a lot of wife jokes. It doesn't matter if I'm the butt of the jokes. What matters is that his passengers have fun....no matter what. And if they have fun, they may be more inclined to tip. As I've said to him all summer each morning: "Be safe. Have fun. Be charming." Be charming=Make a lot of tips.

Sadly it was raining on and off the day we went up to the Yukon. I wish I had a really good photographer's skill (let alone any camera besides my phone) to capture the vision of that day: Mountainsides cloaked in golds and oranges, reflected in a still lake like "a watercolor in the rain." I actually felt dizzy in the kaleidoscope of the reflection. But it was a fun trip and I enjoyed my shopping trip spending his Caribou Bucks. We're not much on accumulating "stuff," but it was fun to shop for a few mementos of the summer both for ourselves and mostly for family.

CHANGES: Since Sales & Service closed, I've been driving the sprinter:The Sprinter

Some days have been cold and dismal. Some days have been unbelievably spectacular with some record highs in the high 60's. There have been a lot of shuttles up to Jewell Gardens, an occasional trip up to Fraser (27.7 miles north to Canadian Customs) and one tour. The tour was a charter tour of about 10 people plus their tour guide from Thailand. A word to the wise: If you are traveling abroad, make sure you have the proper visa for ALL the countries you are visiting.

I picked this tour up...not at the dock, but at the airport. None of them had the proper visa to be in Canada, so they could only fly into the U.S. and then board the Norwegian Star here in Skagway for the rest of its journey down to Seattle with stops only in the U.S. I picked the people ...and all of their luggage up and loaded them into the sprinter. Now I'm not exactly the most spatially gifted person in the world. Somehow, I managed to get ALL of their luggage into the back of the sprinter. I deserved a medal just for that.

Their tour guide spoke some English, the rest of the folks: none. Picture this: Here I was touring this disgruntled group who have missed have their cruise. It was raining. It was buggy. They could care less about what I had to say about the town of the Gold Rush of 1898 and didn't want to be outside in the rain to take photographs. Their tour guide just kept saying, "It's a nightmare! A nightmare!"

Finally it was time to just call it all short at the Gold Dredge where they had no interest in panning for gold. They just wanted to be warm and on their ship. I radio'ed to dispatch about whether or not the ship knew that these folks were arriving with all of their luggage. The response was to check with the shore excursion manager from the ship when I arrived at the dock. I was met with a blank stare by shore-ex and he called the ship. The answer was "10 minutes and an escort with trolleys for the luggage would arrive." 10 minutes later and then again 30 minutes later, Goki (the tour guide) and I were checking with shore-ex for an update. ("A nightmare! A nightmare!") Meantime, these 10 passengers are looking more and more glum. Eventually, the trolley and escorts arrived and happily the escorts unloaded all the luggage. My first official tour was definitely not enjoyable for me although the people weren't angry or nasty to me....or if they were, I don't speak Thai so I was happily oblivious to any grumbles or insults. And I did get a $20 tip!

But driving the sprinter keeps me employed and earning some money and that can't be a bad thing. One of the fun things about having the morning employee shuttle was the chance to send off the drivers with the same good will wish that I've given to Mike all summer: "Be safe. Have fun. Be Charming. Make lots of tips."

I am looking forward to hopefully being a driver guide next year driving the big bus rather than the short bus. Since it was so extraordinarily beautiful this past week, more people than ever had left the ship to explore Skagway making it more and more like Main Street Disney than ever. It was the busiest day I'd ever seen it. It truly is Darwinism in action as Mike calls it. We've all gotten used to people obliviously crossing the street in front of traffic. This one day there were people walking straight down the middle of the street with vehicles nipping at their heels.

This same day I was about to make a slight right onto the Broadway dock. On the right of the entrance were a couple. The man was taking a photograph of his wife with the ship in the background. No problem. Another couple were crossing the entrance and the man in that couple offered to take a photo of the first couple together...with the ship in the background. No problem. Couple #2's wife just STOPPED. In the MIDDLE of the entrance! There were some tourists who had seen me approaching and stopped to the side of the entrance to allow me to make the turn. They watched this whole scenario. One man pantomimed I should beep my horn. Mostly we try not to beep at the tourists. (If we started beeping once, there would be nothing but a symphony of horns all day long.) So I pantomimed I really couldn't. The tourist pantomimed back that he would gladly push the woman under my wheels. At that I pantomimed no and laughed uproariously. He even came over the window to talk about it! Welcome to Skagway! At least I got a good laugh out of it all.

Mike, as ever, is my hero. And recently he got to be a hero at Liarsville. In addition to the Gold Dredge, you can also pan for gold at Liarsville. Gold was never found in Skagway. It was found 600 miles north in the Klondike gold fields of the Yukon Territory at Bonanza Creek, aka Rabbit Creek. So when you gold pan in Skagway, it's at a vendor's location and the pans are seeded with real gold. You are given a rusty old pan with some gravel that has been seeded. The drivers help pass out the pans and assist the tourists with their panning experience.

One day, a girl who works at Liarsville was carrying the pans. She tripped and several pans went over...into the creek. A couple went upside down immediately and a few more were floating. Mike is a hero. Despite being in his work uniform, he dove to rescue the pans before they lost their gravel and gold. That's just Mike. (It's worth clicking and enlarging this photo to see the pans in the water.)


The Gold Dredge folks gave their employees a party day one non-ship day by hiring our company to drive a busload of their employees up to Whitehorse for a day trip. This excursion included bowling which wasn't candlestick or duckpins, but something completely different. It also included a trip to the hot springs (in the pouring rain) where Mike showed all those young people who's a stud by balancing on his hands.

This party bus was a lot of fun for him, but was a very long day. But he DID get to go to the hot springs.

The biggest change of all so far is moving. Yesterday was a company-wide cleaning day in all of the residences. We encountered many science experiments as we cleaned out the refrigerators. But I have to say that it all looks as clean as it did when we arrived. It was dingy when we arrived, but that was due to age (and the green walls in the kitchen) and not due to filth. Cleaning it all was an adventure. It was enough of an adventure that it makes me want to set some new rules for next year: 1) Everyone should label ALL their food. That way if it's still good, we'll know who to ask if they still want it. 2) Put a sharpie in the kitchen on a string so all food CAN be labeled. 3) Have a major cleaning day halfway through the season so it isn't so dire and there are more people to heft the load.

We've all accumulated as we've been here. Some order stuff online just so that they can get mail. Others took advantage of sales or promotions. Some stuff needed to be purchased 'cause of not knowing what they'd really need. We've accumulated souvenirs for people, a few neat things we needed that we'd purchased at the community garage sale and too much miscellaneous food. We'd arrived here with some food and the idea was to eat down what we had rather than purchasing new stuff. But then as people left we accumulated more of their discarded food stuff.

So packing was an adventure as to what will NEVER come out of the truck until we get home vs what will we need for the next 10 days here and the ride home. There has been a pervasive feeling from many of our co-workers of "I can't wait to get out of here." I never understood that. I have been in NO rush to leave here. But I finally began to get it yesterday morning. This leads to the

DIASPORA. So many people have left that it's just gotten very odd here. The gift and jewelry stores are half empty of their inventories. As people have left, each leaving seems a poignant loss. At the same time, it's like they were a pebble dropped into a pond. The pond swallows them up and the surface has reformed as if they'd never been here. The little groups of friends lose members and then regroup after each departure. And now we've moved.

I understand the need to close up a building, empty the water pipes, and cut costs by turning off the electricity. There really is no need to have a few of us hither, thither and yon. Better to consolidate us. And so we packed up and left our home at the Westmark...with our own bathroom and moved to MP2 aka The Shop House. Now the good thing about the shop house is that it is at the bus yard, so there is no employee shuttle to get people to their buses. Another good thing is a living room/dining room and large bright kitchen. This really makes for far more community than we had at the Westmark. And the people here are great people.

However, the room is smaller. It has two twin beds pushed together with linens that don't exactly fit. The bathroom is out in the hall and consists of three individual bathrooms (on the 2nd floor where we are). Each bathroom has a sink, toilet and shower. I miss my own bathroom already. But it IS only 10 days. There's no desk in our rooms, so to sit and type means going downstairs to blog while all kinds of "community" is going on around me. We don't have our own t.v. And it's no longer a very quick walk to the store. But it's only 10 days.

Today, a few drivers flew to Juneau to help out there. A few more (like Mike) got inventory duty at the shop house. They got to count every belt, nut, bolt, screw, tool, etc., etc., etc. That meant I got to do the move mostly by myself although we were able to move a few things over last night and he helped with the heavy suitcase today. There are 4 more ship days with no more than 2 ships on any given day. The driving on those days should be fairly light which is good since the diaspora will continue even before the final ship day. And then there are two exciting days of washing buses this coming Saturday and Sunday. Next year, remind me to set my end contract date to 2 weeks before the end of the season and avoid division wide cleaning day, inventory and moving.

We've pretty much figured out which route we're planning to take: down the Alaska highway towards Jasper/Banff. This way we'll get to stop at Liard Hot Springs and see Jasper/Banff. We want to be back in the U.S. by mid-day Sunday, the 3rd so Mike can catch the Jets game at a sports bar. We'll head on down through Utah and stop and visit family and friends in Las Vegas before getting back to Peoria.

But in these next 10 days, we'll revel in the cloudless skies as the temperatures range from 30's to 50's instead of 40's to 60's. It is absolutely stunning outside and people are in sleeveless tops and shorts at 54 degrees! We'll enjoy the last of the tourists. And finally Mike is looking forward to participating in the Skagway town tradition of mooning the final ship for the season. I have told him that I do not plan to participate. It just doesn't seem to me an activity that I will regret not having joined in on.

So am I ready to go home? Yes and no. I'm not ready to leave this beautiful place. I am ready to see family and friends. It has been a wonderful summer and I am so glad to have had this experience in "the last frontier." I haven't seen much of Alaska at all, but what I have experienced here and in our travels has been wonderful. And know what else is wonderful?

and FOUND: Our camera was found!!!! Where? In the dumbest place imaginable. Right there in our room. It had fallen down by the desk into the little nest of empty plastic bags we had stashed for use as future garbage bags. Meantime, it turns out that the photos from my phone haven't been half bad. It's a good thing to have a camera for the travels back down south. Thank you for reading. There may be a post-travel blog, or not....but I am grateful that you have been here for me to share this experience with you. I wish I could have brought all my family and friends with me to live as we have lived these past few months.

Mike being charming

The trickle becomes a flood

Seated: Alix, Rex, Ashley, a town friend, Sarah, Mike, Matt, Erin, Christopher

Standing: Liz, Abby, Kayce, Jeremy and Thomas

One by one and two and three by two and three….people are heading back from whence they came. It is now a week and a half since we said good-bye to Sarah. She planned all kinds of hiking and activities for her last couple of days here along with a big spaghetti dinner the night before her departure. A bunch of us gathered in the hallway and provided pieces of the meal. I confess to being lazy and providing the spaghetti and grated cheese. Ok…it WAS freshly grated cheese and not cheapy cheese in a green cylinder!

Sarah

My best memories of Sarah are those that she created in creating community meals for us to break bread together. I don't know how much she can appreciate what a gift that was for all of us. I so appreciate being around someone who wears their faith so comfortably without evangelizing. I will miss her joy, her integrity and her steadiness. She grew so much as a person this summer without ever losing who she had been when she arrived.

Just like we’d all taken Nathan to the airport, so we took Sarah to the airport on Friday, August 20. It was another rainy, cloudy day. Happily for her the weather wasn’t so soupy that we were socked in and her flight left on time. She made all her connections and made it safely back to Orlando. She is so missed, as is Nathan. Our department is like a starfish with two arms lopped off.

We’ve had a pretty set schedule most of the season but with the two members gone, we have shifted to different duties. Sarah had been the one to ride the train twice a week, collecting payment for local excursions from people who are completing their land tour. These folks had just booked excursions through their tour director for their last day on their Cruisetour…here in Skagway…prior to embarking their ship.

Working the train, one needs to be an octopus…carrying a tote bag, a credit card machine, a clipboard, pens, pre-written vouchers, blank vouchers and extra stuff in the bag. It’s a chance to ride the train and if it isn’t too busy, I can actually enjoy the trip. But days like Saturday…no enjoyment...because the tour director didn’t fax in their advance sales. This means having to do all the payment stuff AND also write out vouchers while on the train. I was still writing up tickets and accepting payment 1-1/2 hours later on arrival at the depot here in town! Happily, yesterday was a beautifully sunny day, people were friendly and didn’t bitch at all about their arrival into Skagway and conflicting with their ease of boarding their ship.

In order to keep the desk covered, we’ve had some other creative solutions: like working half days. A little over a week ago, Mike was off and I worked 7 a.m. to noon. As a side note, Mike and I haven’t had a full day off together since our trip to Laughton Glacier back in mid-July! But on this half day off we headed up to International Falls to hike. I. Was. Not. In. The. Mood. Sarah had just left on Friday. Things were changing. Good-byes are hard. So I was in a major crank mood and didn’t even want to be around myself.

We walked around a little bit, but nothing I'd call a hike and that was my fault. Mike built a cairn. It’s a thing up around the U.S./Canadian border for the tourists to build all these random cairns. So Mike made his mark in rocks.

I’m also going to be driving the sprinter when Sales and Service shuts down. I had my DOT physical….and found out just how deaf I am. Then there was 2 hours of training last Monday. It was more about rules, regulations, where to park and pick people up…and driving backwards around traffic cones. I actually drove this past Wednesday, just some transfers around town. It was fun and, oddly, I was a little nervous. Don't know why. I'd done mini-shuttles all summer, so it really wasn't anything much different. Only thing was now I was on the same radio channel as all the other drivers all day. It was rather entertaining because at about 7 a.m. one of the drivers drily reported a naked man bathing in Pullen Pond. Pullen Pond is not a remote area...it is on the pathway between the ships and town. You can't miss it!

The day I drove was a long day because I worked 5:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. driving and then 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the desk. Now it turns out that the clinic didn’t run the drug test when I had the physical so I had to re-pee in a cup yesterday afternoon. Ok. Whatever. At least the clinic person didn't spill my cup over like she did to one of the drivers' cup! (The drivers have random drug testing all summer.)

Weather has been mostly cool and rainy the last couple of weeks. This is the rainy season up here, so we’ve seen more rain with our clouds than we had been seeing. There are some early sales in the stores which I’m hoping will become bigger sales towards the end of the season.

Because of so much working, there have been no other adventures. We went to the Red Onion for pizza the other night. Just as we were leaving, the band was coming in for the evening and it was Adam from Takshanuk 4x4’s band. I was so bummed because I would so like to have heard his band. But no. The Guida’s had lights out by 9:15 p.m. Those early mornings are SO early!

A large pizza runs about $30, so we eat very little of it and hope to keep the rest for at least one more meal, possibly even two more meals. This was not possible because of the pizza thief. Which is not to be confused with the IDIOT WHO KEEPS TAKING FOOD OUT OF THE REFRIGERATOR AND PLACING IT ON TOP OF THE REFRIGERATOR!!!!

But let's not talk about the Westmark kitchen. I like my blood pressure to remain within normal limits. Back to the Red Onion: We had no intention of going out and spending more money. But Deb, who runs trivia, specifically asked us what categories we were interested in because trivia was starting up the very next night. We got a few people together and went over the next night and played trivia...losing by only one point. It was fun, but loud and hard to hear her. It reaclly cuts into the enjoyment struggling so much to hear. We named our team "23 more ship days." By the end of the first round we renamed ourselves: "22 more ship days." Before round two was over we officially became: "21 more ship days."
Sunday evening brought our final, end of the year party for the company. Like the Back Office Party, it was held at Jewell Gardens. Unlike the Back Office Party, the food was grown-up food: appetizers, crab, steak, an excellent dessert, beer and wine. But first...the talent show!

Oh. My. God! How fun was that! Was able to video the entire thing which, happily for you, dear reader, I promise not to post. For one, you don't know the people or the routines upon which many of the jokes were based. Two, each video performance is too long to upload. There were no lame performances at all!!!! And some were wet-your-pants funny. Some of these folks can really sing, too!

Emcee Jo;B-boxing Casey (3rd place), beach ball ballet dancers Jeremy and Manz (2nd place)
Skit and songsters Christopher and Matt with Logan in the middle--added to the skit at the last minute without her knowing she would make the climax of the skit (1st place)

Scoring was done by two bosses and Terry (mentioned below) on a point system. Who won wasn’t necessarily who I would have chosen. Hands down I would have put Manz and Jeremy’s ballet with beach ball as first. Sean seducing all the women with aMarvin Gaye “Let’s Get It On” rendition was a clear second. And ok…I probably would have put Casey’s b-boxing in third place…which is exactly what he won.

In between each act, awards consisting of a certificate and candy bar were handed out for both funny and serious categories. We’d had our monthly meeting a couple days prior where real awards were handed out…the MOOSE pins. I got my level II pin. Someone has to have said good things about you to have gotten MOOSE pins all season in sequence. Mike got a gold pin which is the highest level you can get. (Level IV) As always, I am very proud of him.

The management thanked everyone again and gave out employee of the year to Terry Ashton, head of the wash crew. He so totally deserves it. He is very willing to help everyone out at any opportunity. Employee of the year wins a free cruise anywhere in the world for themselves plus one more person…without having to go by stand-by.

Who would have thought both Mike and Reegis would have on
yellow Hawaiian shirts?!?!?!?

After the talent show and dinner was dancing in the gazebo. Too much fun! It made me miss home and going out with the kids to Margaritaville. Actually it might have been even more fun than Margaritaville because the whole party was composed of people who are my friends up here. You go to a club and you know some of the people. This time we all knew everyone there. Everyone was dancing with everyone else and you saw some of the most unlikely dancing.

Manz has his own unique style. Liz was cutting up and looking good with Jake. Layla and Tom made it their own intimate space. Yours truly sandwiched by two young men. (I know…that’s a visual you’re probably happy to have missed!) Kayce wore make-up and danced for the first time in her life and looked quite the stylin’ clubbin’ girl. Big smiles were all around. We jumped up and shouted, yelled Ghostbusters, stomped with each foot, got tricky and even a moment of Cotton Eyed Joe. No one wanted the party to end. It was going to continue at one of the employee housing spots, but I had to be at the desk at 7 a.m. and it was time for us to NOT continue partying.

Yesterday was our last ship day for Sales & Service and it seemed to be a time of party hopping…not big company-wide parties, just smaller impromptu parties. First off was a beer at the Red Onion with all our department and a few folks who work on the Zuiderdam. They also had pizza, but Mike and I walked over the creek and checked out the last of the spawning salmon. They look pretty sick at this point.

We then traveled on to the Fish Co. for Daisy’s 23^rd birthday. There were a bunch of us and we had a great evening eating, singing happy birthday and watching the ships depart in the early evening darkening sky. Mike ordered and actually ate an entire rack of ribs by himself. That is so unlike him! The highlight was the ride home. A bunch had ridden over and we hassled them on how they had to walk SOOOOO far…and what…did they have reservations that they couldn’t miss? Well, they did have reservations! LOL

We headed home on foot and they pulled up and yelled at us. They were piled into that car like a 1950’s “how many people….” So what were two more? I don’t know who I was lying on top of. I know there were photos taken. What I don’t know is where those photos are now. I also do know that there were ELEVEN of us in this little compact!

Back: Reegis, Liz and Thomas
Center: Rex, Dallin, Jon, Kayce, Bethany and Erin
Front: Kenny and Sean

Once back at the Westmark, it was ice cream impromptu party to say good-bye to Liz. And a lot of fun silliness went down. The trend was for everyone to pick Liz up...starting with Thomas. Hilarity to mask the sadness of the good-byes. It really is a likable bunch of people!

Earlier in the day we’d hugged Matt good-bye. Liz left this morning at 9:25....she is now between Seattle and Chicago, her home. Tonight is Kenny’s last night. Tomorrow night is Sean’s last night. Once the good-bye door is opened, the trickle becomes a flood.

If I had to say that I grew closest to anyone up here, it probably has to be Liz. The mere fact that she was here was a good start to liking her. She didn’t live in the college towns were HAP-AY does its recruiting. She didn’t know anyone. She just went onto coolworks and looked for something away from home. And she has considerable family ties and responsibilities that had to be stretched for her to accomplish this goal.

Did Liz know she'd match the flowers?

She often called herself a nerd. I hope she realizes that every day, every new chapter is an opportunity to be freed from an imposed identity. That identity can be imposed upon you by the world around you, friends, family, co-workers, fellow students, bullies. Or it can be self-imposed. A geographic change is a very good way to reinvent oneself…to grow. And never be quite the same again.

She has definite goals that she is focused on. She has an infectious laugh and it often is used to laugh at herself when the occasion arises. She’s bright, bubbly, and thoughtful. She knows what she wants and what she doesn’t want, but is still able to bend those rules a little to accommodate the little surprises that come along. And then gets back on track.

Kayce, Erin, Rex and I went with her to the airport this morning. We didn’t cry. She didn’t cry. Ok, so I got a little misty-eyed. We stood by the terminal and waved at the plane. Out of the 3 from our department who have left, she is the first to have seen us waving from the ground. I knew that that would be the moment she would probably get teary. And I did receive a text confirming my thoughts. As I texted her back: “Just know our love flies with you and you now have people all over the country that love you…in addition to your family.” From my heart.

Of course, the best part of being a member of Sales and Service were getting to know and work with the 4 other workers and our manager. The good-byes are so very tough. One of the things I did during debarkation was dismiss the groups by group number and say, “Turn around and say good-bye to 1A.” “Turn around and say good-bye to 7B.” And the final group was always 5B. One week someone in 5B asked, “Who is going to wave good-bye to us?” I told them I’ll wave to you! With everyone leaving and us staying until the season’s end, I feel like 5B.

Now it’s the afternoon and it’s another cloudy day in Skagway. And that inner low feeling of saying farewell to a friend is just hanging around my head and within. It’s a day I really miss Arnold who could always just sense a low moment. She’d just lie down right beside me and beg for me to pet her stomach. It always seemed to help.

Since last blog, I have become convinced that 55 year old women with osteopenia should probably not be jumping from cliffs due to the ease in fracturing their coccyx. I’m still glad I did it and am happy to never do it again. We’re fighting off colds…again. This is my third time and Mike’s second. You run into so many people, that many of them are bound to be buggy.

It has been interesting to work in guest services, meeting people and dealing with their problems. The nature of the schedule is that there are a very few busy times and a majority of downtime. So, it would be my preference to return as a driver/guide next year….the work that Mike does. Not only is it more interesting and more varied, the hourly pay and the tips make it more financially rewarding.

Here we’ve had our own little space to live in and Mike and I have been together for several straight months. We only spent 3 nights apart when he went up to Dawson City. How wonderful and different that was from the previous year. We’ve had minimal expenses and been able to save some money. For me, it’s been nice to know what my daily job was. For Mike, it’s nice to know that there’s a seasonal ending to this and he can go on to something else soon. He does like change so!

I try to think what else has made this whole summer such an enjoyable experience and only arrive at just a feeling about it rather than any concrete answers. For one thing, it has been a summer of firsts. First time in Alaska. The salmon run and watching grizzlies run. Walking on a glacier. Cliff jumping. New trails. New history. New routine. Living with a majority of people who are less than half my age. Working with cruise ship passengers. The Northern Lights.

Because of the difference in the people I’m working with, it has a feeling akin to being out on the Appalachian Trail…of forming friendships with people that you might not have become friends with in the ordinary routine of your life at home. Also like the AT, there is a certain percentage of the people who work up here who are true characters…not just wondering who is more of a character between me and Mike…but some really interesting characters. It’s been great to live with people who have a very different perspective on life from a religious point of view and yet many who are similar to me politically.

But what we all share is the belief that leaving home and working at something different and living in a different way is a good thing. For some it is good for a one time experience. And that’s ok. It will allow them to think about this time as a very special time in their lives. It will allow them to remember that there are alternatives. They will be less prone to look at their lives as a rut from which there is no other choice.

For others, it becomes a lifestyle. One of the awards went to Jo for being the person most likely to become a lifetime Skagway seasonal resident. There’s Bruce who came up 20 something years ago and lives here full time. There are several others who have more than 3 seasons coming up to Skagway. Mike very much enjoys doing different things, so it is a challenge to think about returning here next year. But he knows how much I’ve enjoyed it.

I also wonder how different will it be now that I’ve seen the 4th of July in Skagway, seen the seasons change, visited the trails and watched the snow and ice melt, saw the Northern Lights. I wonder how different it will be with different people and maybe different housing. I wonder how different it will be working as a driver guide. And if it is all as wonderful as this year, when would it get boring?

And then there is blogging about living a seasonal lifestyle. It is honest and it is true to my heart. But is it the wisest thing to do when seeking work as a RN? I enjoy the work as a nurse and certainly enjoy the pay. But I also like knowing and living an alternative lifestyle. I like seeing new places and meeting new people…well, not meeting them at parties, of course and having to make inane small talk…but learning their stories. Who are they? What matters to them? What makes them laugh? What are their goals? And as ever, is there anything I can be or do that will make their life a little richer in return?

Nathan: A blog by request

What is there to say about a friend who goes beyond the broad hint that he'd like a blog post specifically dedicated to him? Again, I had to tell him: no problems with ego for you! And, truth be told, I just can't do a WHOLE blog just about Nathan. It's my blog...it needs to be all about me, right? LOL

Nathan IS my sassy gay friend. By the way, if you haven't seen the sassy gay friend videos on You Tube, go for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwnFE_NpMsE . And yet, he is much more than a caricature. He combines energy, intelligence, humor and a zest for new experiences. A city boy at heart, he gave himself over to hiking and even camping and enjoyed it all. Our whole department operated on an internal low feeling yesterday because it was a) Nathan's last day at work, b) the day he was to fly out of Skagway, c) the first in our department to leave and therefore d) a symbol of the season's end.

Even though it was a ship day and we had about 170 guests at the hotel staying overnight that were our Cruisetour folks, we closed the desk down so we could all go to the airport with him...even Abby, our boss, went.

There is about 3 feet of carpet to the counter at the terminal, otherwise, that is the whole terminal in Skagway.

It was overcast and windy when we left for the airport 40 minutes before his flight and we all joked, "ha ha...the weather's going to get bad and you won't be able to get a flight out of here...ha ha." His itinerary was a puddle jumper plane to Juneau where he would spend the night in a hotel. Then the schedule called for a 6 a.m. Alaska Airlines flight to Seattle. From there it was Southwest, connecting in Las Vegas, and arriving in Orlando some time around midnight.

All that "ha ha" stuff became "uh oh" as the clouds thickened and 7 minutes before his plane was to depart, the rain started pouring in! Wings of Alaska flies small planes between here and Juneau. Remember, there is no air traffic control and these are very small planes. The man behind the desk was busy gathering information to make his decision.
All flights for the remainder of the evening were canceled. So it was back to the Westmark for the night. Liz finished out the shift and we all met in the lobby at 8 p.m. for dinner. Well, Liz was down the hall in Abby's office and Nathan...not in uniform...no longer working for the company...was behind the desk and had a crowd of about 8 guests with multiple questions. It wasn't until 8:20 that we were able to make our exit and answer the age old question: where do we go to eat?

Duh! The higher dollar restaurant at the Westmark is right there in our lobby. AND we get a 50% discount. Earlier in the day, a guest who had come off the Zuiderdam had reported they'd left their hearing aid on the ship. The ship doesn't leave until 9 p.m., so we contacted the ship. It had been turned in so we returned it to the guest. They were $20 grateful to us and $10 grateful to their cabin steward. We got the $10 and a note to the ship and kept the $20 to put towards our group dinner. Funny how some things all come together!

(Note giant prints of old Skagway and gold rush photos in the background.)

I think if Nathan had actually flown out last night with all of us waiting to say good-bye en masse, there would have been tears. Yesterday afternoon he gave each of us a Christmas ornament:

On the back of each one he had written:

Sales & Service
Skagway, AK
Much love, Nathan

And that was when I came the closest to crying. All of the folks who have been here before say that we're just experiencing what the good-bye time is really like. It's just pooey.

Since I was due for work at 7 a.m., it was logical to get up just a tad early and get him to the airport for his 5:45 a.m. flight this morning. It went off without a hitch. Although he didn't know to look for me (yes, have had multiple texts already!), I stood in the parking lot at the Lynn Canal end of the runway and waved at the plane. Now how many times do you get the opportunity to wave at a flying airplane and know that the people could actually see you if they looked! It's Skagway!

Yesterday was also my last day on the ships. Because our department is now smaller, our schedules and duties are rearranged and I will be on the railroad the next 4 ship days. And because it was my last day on the ship, I didn't really care about keeping a low profile during disembarkation. I had great fun talking to people, telling stories, getting some facts and info out there. Several people have come up to me here at the hotel and thanked me. I was working this morning when the 160+ people departed on coaches for the train yard at 7:30 a.m. The guests really like seeing a continuity of faces from the ship to the hotel and then to leaving the hotel. Several of them thanked me. One woman added that she could see the teacher in me!

Don't we all just want to make at least one difference in one person's life? Mostly we go about our lives and do what we do and do so without expectation of confirmation that we've had an impact. But oh how nice it is when you do get that confirmation. It's not an ego thing as much as an inner peaceful feeling knowing that someone is happier or more informed or more relaxed because of something you did or said. Just a feel good moment.

That said, one more high point of my week...and it was a very high point...is the phone call from Lauren. I grinned like an idiot at Nathan's good-bye dinner because she called just to say she was proud of me for cliff jumping. It really made my day in a big way. But she is just way too much like her father because the very next statement was: "Now you have to go sky diving!" Apples and oranges, folks, apples and oranges. I still don't like to plummet.

After several brilliantly sunny days, it is back to cold and windy. And that's just how August is supposed to be here....except with even more rain than we've had. I've heard that pretty soon I'll be starting to train on the paperwork and operation of the sprinter...a vehicle larger than the 15 person van, but not a coach. Think glorified short bus without looking like a short bus. Or think nursing home vehicle. That will give you the idea of what it is. It's what I'll be doing in September.

My Phoenix job search continues, but am getting some hints that there may be something available. And that's a good thing. With job security being so much up in the air, taking a cruise is also an unknown. If we do, it will be either round trip of Los Angeles to Hawaii, west coast to Ft. Lauderdale via the Panama Canal or a Caribbean cruise out of Tampa or Ft. Lauderdale. Ideally, I'd love that Mediterranean and Holy Land cruise, but airfaire price for that....yeesh!

"Not my chair....not my problem."
"I can't be bothered."
"Correct."
"You just dumb."
"I miss Disney."

......bye Nathan....and thanks for being one more reason to visit Orlando.

"Today I plummeted...and no...I did not sky dive."

First, my apologies for alarming everyone with the title of this blog which was my Facebook status yesterday. I tell Mike all the time when the subject comes up that I am not interested in sky diving because it involves plummeting...and I don't like to plummet. So thank you all for your concern and love, but it was a plummet of choice and I am mostly fine. More on that later.

You may remember my blog about Safety Week and that Mike's team won. Their grand prize was a pizza party in a private train car on a trip up to the White Pass Summit. It was excellent pizza and a pretty good day for the train. Sadly, only about half of his team either wanted or could go on the trip that day. Happily, I got to go as Mike's "date." Nathan went as a member of the social events committee. And we brought Liz a giant mocha as a thank you for manning the desk so we could clock out and take off.

It was a rowdy group and most had no interest in the narration...which I actually like but have heard a few times. Instead we got an Ipod with music....though music not necessarily of my taste. But fun people and good conversations from time to time. You've seen the train and the mountains before, but perhaps none of it going over a very high wooden trestle and heading into a tunnel. On this trip the tunnels were an important part of our entertainment. On the way up, one of the young 'uns got the idea that while in the tunnel, people should exchange shirts. (It really is pitch black in the middle of the tunnel.) And some of the results were pretty darned funny:Tom, Laila, Liz, Megan and Dallin

We also traveled past the steel cantilever bridge built in 1901. At that time, it was the tallest steel cantilever bridge in the world. It's no longer in use, but is still pointed out as an architectural wonder. In its current decrepit state, we are all very happy that we did not have to traverse it. We traveled on up to the summit where they then moved the engines from one end of the cars to the other end for the descent back into Skagway. Oh yeah, and we had to go back down through the tunnels again for more shirt changing....
...which of course the Guida's had to participate much to the delighted surprise of our young friends!

It was quite a fun afternoon. What hasn't been so fun are the rolling good-byes as more and more people head back to the lower 48 to school, fiancees, work and families. Jesse and Chad, among others, left. Tonight is Nathan's last night and he leaves at 5:30 tomorrow afternoon. Sarah leaves our department on Friday. They attend the same school in Florida and it's time for classes to begin. It's just weird and ucky. Everyone is anxious to get back home as their departure dates approach. At the same time, it's hard for them to say good-bye to the people remaining here for the rest of the season and hard for us all to say good-bye to them. It certainly changes the dynamic.

A few nights later was an impromptu gathering of Keegan, Chelsea, Brian, Jeannine, Mike and me at the Skagway Brew Company (the Brewco)...one of the two microbreweries in Skagway. I first had their IPA which I'm generally not too fond of and it was ok. Next I moved on to their Spruce Tip Ale. This ale is actually made with spruce tree tips which carry a lot of rather fruity. They make a good red beer there, but it wasn't on tap that evening.

And the fun continues. I clocked out an hour early to join Mike for only the second time of the season on one of his tours. Mike, 24 guests and I went up to the Suspension Bridge and to Liarsville for a salmon bake. (A great opportunity to have dinner and neither of us had to cook or clean.) And that dinner is always delicious. I had great fun with the people on his tour and it makes me look forward to possibly being a driver-guide in 2011. A sunny day, genial people, good food and the bugs weren't too bad. In general, the bugs...especially black flies...have been pretty nasty. I look forward to the time when my perfume isn't Eau du Off. We finally got a photo of the two of us at the Welcome to Alaska sign. He is in full uniform and I've removed my name badge, scarf and vest....so am technically in "business casual."


Yesterday morning I saw that Liz had posted a message of having gone cliff jumping up at Lower Dewey Lake. So, of course, I had to pout and say "dislike" because I wasn't there. Immediately after that post, I received the reply that they were returning to jump again at 2:30.

As many know, I am NOT one for group hikes...being short, corpulent, slow and a general couch potato. Now add to that the fact that I'm 30+ years older than any of them, I had reason to be the last person up there from our little group. I was just grateful that they still hadn't jumped by the time I arrived. From previous photos of others jumping, it just didn't seem all that high or all that difficult...and since so many do it without incident, it surely seemed safe.

That was until I looked straight down. There were trees immediately below. There were visible rocks below the water immediately below. If I'm going to jump from a high spot into a lake, then please...I do not want to see rocks below me. The land beneath the water drops off steeply about 6 feet away from the cliff, but still that's 6 feet...out...there! That describes the obstacles.

The next concern was that the land at the top was fine dirt on rocks...like teensy weensy ball bearings. The rock shelf, which is the "platform," is actually two rocks. The first one is about 2'x4' and relatively flat. But then there's a crack of about 2"-4" before the second rock which is about 2'x6' and angled slightly towards the water. Bothy rocks with that fine dirt. Suddenly, this didn't seem like such an easy thing. We posed for a cheesy photo on the outer rock with the slight downward slope:

Sarah, Rex, me, Erin and Liz

We all looked and looked. Rex came along for the hike and to be our official photographer/videographer. Sarah jumped first...and very uncharacteristically for her, she lied. She told us she didn't touch the bottom. Turns out as she told us later that night, as she pushed up to swim to the surface, her foot did touch the lake bottom. Butlying was the right thing to do. If she'd told the truth, none of us who jumped would have done so.

Erin and I, who had never jumped this before, went down to a rock lower down to watch the whole process. Liz was having a hard time with concentrating...looking...backing off...looking some more. It really is pretty daunting from the top. I couldn't watch Liz any longer so Erin and I climbed back up to the top.

In the meantime, a young man had come along who none of us knew. It turns out that he was a passenger on a cruise ship in port for the day...imagine....a cruise passenger who takes their own initiative to go do something like this!!!! Bravo! That probably sounds pretty snooty of me. Plenty of people actually do come off the ships and hike the Dewey trails...it's just that very few would know that this jump was available. The young man's name was Tony and he was from Nashville, training for a marathon and traveling with 29 other family members...none of whom were with him! Of course Rex agreed to photo/video him, too!

Tony jumped. Then it was my turn. I could feel roots of fear beginning to send tendrils up into my feet, freezing me to the spot. My stomach was in a major knot. Someone made the statement to reach out as if you're grabbing a tree 6 feet out from the edge of the rock. That made the most sense to me. Any more dithering and I would not have jumped. I remember stepping backwards and then taking a quick long step, then a second and then launching. I do NOT remember the drop. That was the least of my fears. My largest fear was that I wouldn't clear those trees or rocks. And I remember the landing...what I thought was just a major slap on the back of my thighs. Damn! Did it hurt! But the exhilaration!

Next went Liz who also felt some extreme buttock pain, but has not developed a bruise. After much thought, Erin chose a lower rock and that was an accomplishment. There is no calling ANYONE a wuss for not doing that jump. It's one scary item.

The water was cold, but not excruciatingly so. The water of the ocean in southern Maine is far colder than the spot where we jumped. It was VERY refreshing. We have finally been blessed with several days in a row of sunny, warm days...all topping off in the 70's. Bliss!

We hiked back down and I took a photo of a devil's club plant. These large leaves with a cone of seeds are gorgeous. But underneath those leaves stands a VERY spiky stem. Do not grab it when trying to get your balance...a problem I have not encountered although Mike did in the very early season before anything deciduous had sprouted its 2010 greenery.

Once back in our rooms, we didn't have much time because we needed to shower and get dressed. The company was celebrating the "back office staff." Basically, that meant everyone who isn't a driver/guide: sales and service, dock reps, mechanics, wash crew, luggage crew, payroll, and dispatch.

Sarah, me, Nathan, Kayce, Liz and Abby....in a photo where we all look pretty damned fine

It was a great evening with good food, good beer, trivia and good people. Our trivia team was named Sluggage...and then Slutty Sluggage since it comprised Sales and Service and Sean, from luggage crew. While we felt formidable, we did not win or come in second. However, we did get a point for knowing how much a room at the Westmark costs for guests ($135). And we won a mercy point when Nathan and I did a couple of dance steps to "Bye, Bye, Bye." Thank goodness for The Evolution of Dance and having been the coolest auntie...taking my niece Jess to an 'N Sync concert when they were here favorite band. Sorry to embarass you, Jess. Happily, there was no video in use at the party when we did the steps.

Of course, the saddest part of all this was that a) Mike was working and missed the cliff jump and b) drivers weren't invited to the back office party. It was a great time and I wish I could have shared it with him. He is comforted this evening by the fact that his beloved NY Jets are on Monday Night Football--the preseason....and not overly disturbed over this preseason loss.

Later on into last evening, it began to feel like my tail bone might have been slightly compromised. Sarah's tail bone also hurt and we both are sporting extraordinarily large bruises on buttock and thigh respectively. Could be a slight crack....certainly not the worst coccyx break I've ever had, but nonetheless uncomfortable. And the bruise is warm and swollen. Moving rather delicately today. A sports injury...as I like to say!

And finally tonight is another evening at the Brewco (as mentioned above). It's to say good-bye to Nathan. Boo. That's kind of how I feel when I hear of anyone leaving: Boo. So far I haven't heard of anyone staying right through September 29 besides a driver named Bruce...and he lives here year round. And still...I have no job for the winter. Anyone want to hire me?

Close Encounters of the Animal Kind

Nope...it is NOT Halloween. It's the scourges of old age. What I usually call my Walgreen's glasses...those $10 magnifiers that you can read with...no longer were doing the trick. Time to go to a higher strength Walgreen's glasses. BUT there isn't a Walgreen's for 783 miles...in Wasilla, AK...near Anchorage. So we call them the Skagway Hardware $3.99 glasses....or simply my ugly glasses. I love them. And they allow me to read for more than 10 minutes without eye strain! Life is good!

And while it looks like I'm dressed for summertime...and am...even with capri jeans and bare feet...it continues to be in the high 50's and overcast. We had two VERY sunny days this week and they were very much appreciated...especially that clear night that I went out and saw the lights. That was the only window of opportunity all week. Life is good!

This week has been one of work. Mike is now over his fever and GI upset and back to work. Most of the guests this week have been wonderful and fun and interesting. Some of the people here are beginning to return home and that's rather sad...changing the dynamics of our "family" up here. They will be missed. Last night the mechanics hosted a BBQ for everyone and good times, good people and burgers and brats abounded.

I have to confess we didn't stay long. You see...the salmon are beginning to run. Ok...they haven't sprouted legs or anything like that, but it is called the salmon run...when the salt water salmon swim upstream to spawn. There is limited man-made entertainment here in Skagway. The entertainment that exists are primarily directed at tourists, the occasional local event or getting together with friends. The rest is the call of the wild: hiking, fishing, bird-watching, etc.

Right now it is the pink salmon that are swimming upstream. Their average length is 20-25 inches and they weigh 4-6 pounds. They're still good eating while they're out in the saltwater inlets. But now that they're in the river, their mission is to spawn and die and make for very ucky eating. So we joined many locals and summer people who made the drive out to the flats of the ghost town of Dyea.

You can actually see these fish swimming in the clearer small creeks...flopping or with their dorsal fins sticking up out of the water. It really is fascinating to see the creek so full of salmon! But what is more fascinating is that they are: bear food. And so the people waiting in the flats with binoculars, cameras and the occasional fishing rod are here to mostly watch the bears fish for salmon.

Up here there are two kinds or bears: the black bear and the brown bear. The brown bear is the (to me) misleading and gentle-seeming term for a grizzly bear. We arrived out on the flats and headed out to a foot bridge over the little creek to first take a look at the salmon. A woman nearby warned us: "There are two brown bears that just went into the woods and one of them is very aggressive." "Ok," we said. We were just off to look at the fish.

WHOA! Were those bears closer than I expected when they came bounding out of the woods...the larger adolescent chasing the slightly younger and smaller adolescent. And they move...very...fast! Now...the key video that wasn't captured had the following line: "Shari...face the bear and slowly walk backward." It was the worst possible condition. Mike has always joked that he needn't out run a bear, he just has to out run me. He includes variations on this theme when he is talking about bear safety with his coach passengers. We had arrived at the worst condition.

But being the woods woman that I am, I also recalled from somewhere in some condition you're supposed to raise your arms and look bigger to the bear. I did not recall that you're to do that when the bear is charging AT you....and not merely chasing another bear. I thought Mike was going to wet his pants...he was laughing so hard and said: "I told you to face the bear...not surrender to the bear!"

But we were pretty close to the bears. They ran around the group of cars in our little area. We all calmly, and resolutely, though not too quickly enclosed ourselves within our vehicles...only to get out again when it appeared they were far enough away...or when the bugs were too obnoxious. Usually it was more than sufficient to return to the pick-up truck because of bugs rather than bear threat.

We watched the bears not only fish for salmon, but catch and eat a salmon. It really was just like on Animal Planet!!!! Paying for a movie or a ball game has nothing on watching bears in the wild!




This morning we had another communal breakfast prepared by our wonderful Sarah. It was a very small gathering. And I confess and apologize to Sarah for not helping her clean up. Her roommate Chelsea, it turns out, is an avid reader and soon we were sitting with my computer and her reading list...comparing books and adding more books to our respective wish lists of what we'd like to read. Time flew in a most enjoyable and unexpected manner and I'm glad I got to know this side of her. It only takes time and interest to get to know someone else a little better. I am glad we spent this time together.

I once belonged to a book group for a little while when I worked at Bridgeport Hospital many years ago and it was very enjoyable. Since then I've always been saddened that I haven't found another group in which to participate. I'm a voracious reader and my biggest flaw is that I don't retain as much as I would like to. Never have. Too many times I'm re-reading a book that I read many years ago. The good/bad news is that I recognize that I've read it before...good because I made the recognition and bad that I didn't remember it in the first place. Worse is the good/bad news that I don't recognize it until late in the book. Good because it all seems fresh. Really bad because it took so long to make the recognition. Yeesh.

I'm really grateful that I have so many people that are reading my blog, enjoying it and sending me such nice notes about it. The down side of all this is that it makes me feel as if I have nothing to say....and that feeling has kept me from picking up the telephone. (The good side being that we're not running over our minutes, of course.) But today I called the mothers and am reminded of life back in Arizona and how much I miss everyone.

So, in the interest of actually being more interested in what's going on at home...let me know what y'all are up to in your lives...what books you're reading...what are your hopes for the coming year. Ok, so it isn't January 1 and there are no resolutions involved. What are you working towards in your life?


You have to look quickly, but the above video shows the two bears running across in the distance.

Cherry Popping, Sour Toe and Not My Chair

While cherry popping is a term generally reserved for losing virginity, I've heard it used up here to describe a first experience with any new and enjoyable activity. Based on a quick e-mail from my friend, Gray Goose (trail name!), there was a "coronal mass ejection" from the sun on Sunday. This is a precursor to viewings of the northern lights. Many of the articles online said that these lights might possibly be seen as southerly as the U.S./Canadian border. Skagway is significantly north of that, so many of us got up in the middle of the night...or stayed up 'til the middle of the night when it gets sufficiently dark. Many thanks to Goose for this e-mail!!!!!!!

For the first time in months, I saw stars when I walked out the back door (and no...I didn't get hit over the head). It is finally dark enough at 1:45 a.m. to see stars. Still, on the eastern horizon, there glowed that blue-green-golden light that hints at the coming dawn. The moon was a bright larger crescent with enough light to cause moonshadow. Now Skagway becomes a sleepy town once the cruise ships depart, a time of day we all savor...including those cruise ship passengers who are on a stop from their Cruisetour...those fortunate enough to be around when the town slows down. But at 1:45 a.m., it was pretty funny when I emerged from the driveway onto the street and severely startled two young people walking. It's not often that I am considered scary.

It was a pretty tough moment when my alarm went off at 1:30 a.m. and all thoughts were a groan and a moan. Gravity was dragging me deeper into the mattress. But a coronal mass ejection? The possibility of a viewing success? Ok...I'll go. Mike had just finished a 4 day trip to Dawson City and had an early morning, so he had opted to stay in bed this time and wait for a night later in the season when we're both off the next day. Little did I know that several HAP-AY employees would be awake in various locations to try to catch the spectacle.

My plan was to "drive up the hill" into British Columbia to a spot known as the International Bathrooms...basically a pullout on the road with toilets. It is just beyond International Falls and just before the road opens onto a valley vista. In other words, a place where one could see a lot more sky than what can be seen between the local mountains here in town. On the way I passed four cars. What the heck were they doing driving to Skagway at 2 a.m.? There were 3 RV's parked at pull-outs for the night...not so stealthy boondocking opportunities. Along the avalanche area, the poles at the side of the road indicating snow plow boundary were lit up from my headlights and seemed often as bright as streetlights.

I parked at the International Bathrooms and there was an RV parked there for the night. Hope it wasn't too creepy when they heard my car door opening and closing. There was a light breeze and you could hear the waterfalls. Up in the sky? Nothing. Nada. Well, nothing except snow dotted mountains outlined against a mostly dark sky with a bright crescent moon and smatterings of stars including the big dipper. Jumping in and out of my car, I waited to see what would happen. This was a kind of waiting similar to meteor shower waiting.

In the car, out of the breeze, I noticed a white streak that looked vaguely like the streak those Hollywood premiere spotlights would make...except it wasn't moving fast at all. Getting out of the car, this streak extended in an arc from horizon to horizon directly overhead. It wasn't there moments ago and it almost could have been mistaken for a cloud. That's until another streak appeared nearby. Slowly they morphed into narrower and wider ribons, sometimes coiling. And then strands of light descended with occasional rippling like a curtain. It was never in color, always white, but this was no water cloud.

It really was the Northern Lights, the aurora borealis. Wheeee! Another Bucket List item! On the one hand I wished that someone else was there to see it with me. And on another, I could just be myself without an audience to watch me laugh, clap my hands, grin, repeat "thank you, thank you" and be so grateful that I got this display.

My camera and its current settings which I'm not sure how to alter were insufficient to capture any image. So, I pulled the above picture off the internet. It was the one that most closely resembled my experience....not quite as bright, perhaps, but then the above is only a picture and I now have a memory.

A good night following a day where we awoke to sunshine! This was the first time we've seen sunshine in the morning in weeks. We've had a few sunny afternoons, but not mornings. Now again this morning we have sunshine. This is a very good thing and now that it is 12:16 p.m., I should get out of this room and off of this blog to enjoy the weather.

Following my curmudgeonly blog regarding passenger comments, yesterday was our usual Tuesday aboard the Zuiderdam to again expedite folks onto their Cruisetour. I kid you not. The VERY FIRST passenger I greeted with "Good morning. Do you know what tour you're on" answered "I'm not on a tour. I'm leaving today." I caught Nathan's eye, we graciously seated the passenger and then walked behind a wall to just laugh. Sometimes stereotypes exist for a good reason.

Mike returned from Dawson City after a four day familiarization trip there. Dawson City is the location of Rabbit Creek, now known as Bonanza where the first Klondike gold was discovered in 1896. Mike is now qualified to drive the e-coaches, commonly called the Moosemobiles. Although different coaches have different animals featured, they're just generally called Moosemobiles and his actually did have a moose on it. These are far more luxurious than the local coaches used for shore excursions.
He learned where to take photo and leg stretching stops and a whole passel more about the Klondike Gold Rush. He took a rafting trip, watched a show with can-can girls and, along with a few others on his fam tour...became inducted into the Sour Toe Cocktail Society.

To join this elite group, you must take a shot in which lies a human toe. A real...dead...human...toe. It sits in salt or alcohol when it isn't being part of the initiation rites. You're not "in" unless this blackened item touches your lips. The further it sits in your mouth, the more "respected" you are. He shared the photos, but I'll let him post them on HIS Facebook page. After all, this is my blog and the photos are gross. He and all of his friends took their shot with the toe in it and they held the toe between their lips, removed the glass and had their profile photos taken.

He seems to think I would do this if I was in Dawson with a group of people. The power of peer pressure. Most of the tour directors who travel with their groups through Dawson have done this and I suppose there is nothing contagious or otherwise toxic about it due to all the salt and alcohol. Still....yuck. And people actually put it in their wills that their toes be cut off post-mortem to become part of the toe stock. Apparently, the toe is changed out every month or so. His prize for being in the society? A certificate stating he has passed the initiation rite and a card that entitles him to free Sour Toe Cocktails for life. What a bargain.

Happily, his other photos included the architecture of the town, his rafting trip (which included his guide's dog on the raft), a view of the town from the overlook, a historical gold dredge, and a steamship. I'll help him get his photos up on FB later this evening hopefully.

On the not so happy front, I have updated my resume and begun posting it out again. 6 applications so far to Banner Boswell or Thunderbird in home care and med-surg. So far have received 3 "no's" and 3 without any response yet. An e-mail from management at Serenity says there are no current job openings. Hospice of the Valley...also nothing in the western half of the valley. If I could teach skiing, I'd consider Lake Tahoe in a hearbeat. However, I really would like to do more nursing work and see more of family and friends in Arizona.

LOL...and on a happier note. One of the phrases heard in the Sales & Service Department is: "Not my chair. Not my problem." This, of course, indicates an issue that has come up and we have either finished whatever we can do to resolve it or realized that it isn't something that has to do with our department. It is NEVER said to guests or to others with the issue, but only between ourselves. When we went out to dinner for Liz's birthday, there was a ratty old chair with a torn seat. Someone thought it would be a great photo to illustrate this idea. Too bad the lighting is what it is and we totally lose Abby's most expressive face!


Contrary to what you may think from reading my blogs, most of our guests are NOT difficult. I really enjoy talking with most of them. I don't know if I mentioned back in June, but I seemed to collect people...especially old men...who would like to just hang by the desk early in the morning when I was alone and just talk. There was one frail man who tole me about being on a cruise in 1986 and having hiked to the top of the nearest mountain. I said all the right ooh's and aah's and actually was genuinely interested. After all, a good hiking story is something I'll always appreciate. He kept saying how he had photos at home to prove it (not that I doubted him) and I said I'd love to see them.

Lo...and behold...on Monday I received a large envelope from Wisconsin. I do not know anyone from Wisconsin so was very confused. Inside were scanned photos from his photo album and a copy of that day's journal from his trip in 1986. Also included was a VERY nice note from his wife that included the words:

"Thank you for the interest. It meant a lot to Howard. He enjoyed the climb... and I'm so glad he got to do it in 1986 because he would not have made it in 2010."

This may mean more to me than any M.O.O.S.E. recognition pin...that I made someone's trip memorable. It also underscores the imperative to follow your dreams while you have the health or youth or energy or drive to do so. The other lesson is yet one more reminder that the frail elderly person in front of you was not always so...and may have more to share and teach. All we have to do is listen.

Musings

Random garage in Skagway...the door is painted ala the Alaskan flag.

Several factors could be part of the procrastination to blog. I'm on my second cold of the summer. The first one lasted 2-1/2 weeks, gave me a 1-1/2 week reprieve and blasted me again. I'm about 90% better but it's ending with 4 cold sores on my lip. Having been sick is factor one. Factor two is that we're mid-season and that's chock-a-block full of lots of different feelings, not all of them are positive. Factor three: there hasn't been any activity as momentous as the glacier trip.

So what has been going on? Besides being sick, we've been working. Mike spent about 5 days of being pretty out of it with fever and (to put it delicately) GI problems. He became well enough just in time to leave. He was invited to go on a four day fam (short for familiarization) trip up to Dawson City, location of the Klondike gold fields. This is the second or third fam trip up to Dawson. Partly it's a reward for being a great driver and partly it's to familiarize them with the route since some of our drivers have had to do what is called "highway."

Highway means driving for the cruisetours....being gone for 3-10 days, then picking up a new group and driving back. It's something Mike is considering for next year and he may be asked to do this year. The text I got from him says it was an awesome drive up and that Dawson is a neat little town. We'll have a report on whether he did, indeed, drink the Sour Toe Cocktail. More on that in the next blog.

We had Safety Week two weeks ago. Safety Week is a variety of activities to remind everyone getting lax in mid-summer that safety is a priority. Winning team will get a ride on the train with a pizza party in their own train car. Mike's team won. Part of the activities included a bus rodeo with several "events." Team drivers maneuver the coach through a course set up with orange cones: parallel parking, tight turns, backing up, etc. There was also a sign rolling contest where the heavy metal signs that direct ship passengers to their shore excursions are rolled in a timed race. And then there was the wheel chair course in which the one pushing the chair (me) is blindfolded and is directed by the person in the chair (Daisy) through a coned-course. A good time was had by all on a cold and very windy day.

One Wednesday I went on another shore excursion. It involved taking the fast ferry out to Haines. Haines is 14 nautical miles down the Taiya Inlet of the Lynn Canal. Its population is a little under 2300. There are a few tours based there and I took what is called the Takshanuk 4x4. In this you take the ferry to Haines then board a bus to the base of the Takshanuk mountains. There you board Kawasaki mules and drive up a dirt road to what are supposedly great views. This IS a temperate rain forest and true to form we were pretty fogged in. Still, it was a nice little ride in the forest and I got more blurry pictures of flowers. 1/4 through the ride you stop at the lodge for a hot drink and warm cookies. 3/4 through the ride you return to the same building you got the cookies and have an amazingly good lunch of the best deep fried halibut I've had in Alaska. They do have a lot of animal sightings in this area and there was a bear paw print on the door....but no animals were seen except for distant eagles.

I can't say whether this is a good trip for cruise ship passengers or not. We drive our Jeep in the desert and go on some pretty adventurous little roads, so in terms of 4x4 driving, it wasn't anything real exciting. And we hike, so we've seen the forest here. Therefore, it's difficult for me to judge what a cruise passenger might get out of it. But I rode with Trey, one of the guides and we had a great conversation about his job, the excursion and living the seasonal lifestyle. Thanks to Adam, the excursion's promotion manager for helping me do this tour!

A bunch of us went out for Liz's 20th birthday last night. We went to Olivia's Bistro at the Skagway Inn because one of the guests had said it was really good and that's where Liz chose. Although Erin, who put it all together...including making invitations!...made a reservation, Dennis didn't know that ten of us were coming at 8:30 p.m. Despite that, he gave us our own space, served us with friendliness and made us very, very welcome. It was a fun evening. Only wish Mike could have been there, too. And the food was excellent. We even bought the freshly made carrot cake at an excellent price. Yes, the whole cake. Buying the whole cake was cheaper than if we'd each bought a dessert. It was so fresh that it was still warm from the oven and the icing was melting off the top.

Other than that, it's just been working. And mid-season does show a slump in enthusiasm. The phrase here is that people on cruise vacations leave their brains at home. This is an unkind generalization, but sadly it is very apt for some people. One of the things we do in expediting the cruise ship people going on a land tour is seat them in the ship show lounge in their groups. Here's the conversation that I had about 3 times yesterday:

Me: What tour are you on?
Passenger: I'm not on a tour.
Me: Are you leaving the ship today for the day or for a trip around Alaska and the Yukon.
Passenger: I'm leaving for a trip.
Me: You're on a tour. What color luggage tags did you get?
Passenger: What luggage tags?
Me: Did you get an envelope in your cabin with luggage tags last night?
Passenger: Yes, they were red...or orange...or pink. (we have no red tags) 1A, I think it was.
Me: What is your name?
Passenger: (Smith or Jones or Dwiethzick)
Me: (consulting manifest) You're on tour 7B which is seated on the far left.
Passenger: Thank you!
Me: Good morning. I see you have 9A luggage tags, you sit on the right.
Passenger 2: Could you check my name to make sure?
Me: (we double check the manifest before WE give the ship the luggage tags). Certainly. Yes, you're on tour 9A.
Me: What tour are you on?
Next Passenger: I'm not on a tour. I'm leaving today.

And so it goes. I've learned something about booking shore excursions. When we take our cruise, we will only book what we ABSOLUTELY intend to do no matter the weather or how tired we are. And we will book it in advance. And every time we get off the ship, we'll laugh and goof and make funny faces and allow the photographer to take our photo without being rude to them. And we will remember our passports. And we won't expect the ship to monetarily make up for us stubbing our tour on an excursion we booked in port on our own or for bad weather or for the fact that I missed a flight connection to start my cruise and missed the lobster dinner or that I'm too old to read the information and don't put the luggage tags on my luggage.

So that's the midseason factor...giving my all to people and most of the people are great, but some are just stinkers. This past Tuesday I was the person in the uniform in the line of sight as complaint recipient provided by three different disgruntled people between 6:45 a.m. and 8:15 a.m. The first one actually screamed at me. Ok. So, blogging about mid-season doesn't give that rosy Alaskan picture I've enjoyed sharing so much.

We had our monthly recognition meeting and Mike was upgraded to the next MOOSE pin for having several commendations by co-workers and guests. A couple of people got them because I commended them for their efforts and that made me feel good. And a couple of people got them because I mentioned to the guest that if they were happy they should fill out a form. "Catch the child being good."

Mid-season also means looking forward to 1) having to look for work in the fall, 2) deal with decisions about our house, 3) drive in fast traffic, and 4) live in the Arizona atmosphere of cultural hatred and distrust, bad economy and cookie cutter houses. We've had a few sunny afternoons and one sunny day this month, but I do have to say that I still look around and amazedly announce to myself: "I'm in ALASKA!" Looking forward to seeing everyone back in the Phoenix area. Not looking forward to living there.

Life has gone on in Arizona. And much of what I've heard has been thought-provoking. One young friend is currently gravely ill. Another friend...one who we weren't real close with, but close enough to socialize with occasionally...and whom I'd lost touch with until she recently friended me on FB...one who I will always remember for her beautiful smile and delicious guacamole...committed suicide at the age of 46. Lauren had a losing argument with an X-acto knife. Amber fixed up her house and got a dog and Joe will be home soon. And there are other family issues I'd like to be there to help be a support. And I miss my Arnold.

There have been days when I wanted to just sit and write about my thoughts on friendship, the meaning of friendship or even if it has meaning. Or days I'd like to write about hope or spirituality. One day at work, we had some free time. One of the drivers, Chad came by. He spent time answering our questions and so we I learned more about the LDS church than I'd ever known before. I am grateful for the time he took and am impressed with his passion and joy even with no intention of becoming Mormon myself.

I am grateful to Sarah for continuing to create a space on Sunday mornings for whoever is interested to break bread together.

I am grateful to people who smile and genuinely say thank you.

I am grateful for weather that is cool and scenery that is endlessly beautiful.

I am grateful for a slower pace even for a few months.

I am grateful to see beyond the so-called American dream.

Even the vacant lots are beautiful

There is a part of me that just wants to erase this whole post because my heart is not where I would like it to be. But my heart is just where it is. And that is not only ok. It's a good thing.