Miscellany

It's been a fairly quiet week here in Alaska. Last Sunday, Mike and I went fishing up in Fraser. To be more precise, Mike went fishing and I went on the walk with him along the train tracks. He caught a few grayling and a lake trout. My excitement continues to be the scenery and the abundant flowers. Oh yeah, and moose and bear print, as well as scat for each animal. I'm easily amused. It was a sunny, blustery day and most enjoyable. My friend Liz says I should just make an album of all the different flowers that are up here. She's probably right, because I always have the camera pointed at a new bloom.


On our way back to Skagway, we stopped at Bridal Veil Falls to take a few photos. This particular parking spot is one that the coaches are not allowed to stop at, so it was great for Mike that we were able to stop for the photo ops: Mike against the Sawtooth Mountains, me next to the part of the falls above the road. The better view of the falls is from the train, below the highway. But that's not where we were. It also didn't hurt our day that we did a little geocaching.

Monday through Wednesday were work days. I'm usually off on Wednesdays, but Nathan's dad and sister were in town on Wednesday, so I worked his 11 a.m.-8 p.m. shift. Generally, I work 7 a.m.-4 p.m. So this was already unusual. We'd had a week of dark cloudy, drizzly, rainy days and Wednesday was the gloomiest day of all.

Not all people choose to cruise. Some just fly in for the land tour. On Wednesday we were to pick up two incoming passengers and drop 6 of them off at the airport to fly out. Not happening. The clouds were low and impenetrable for most of the day. This group of six was divided into 4 traveling together and another couple. The couple was delightful, as were 3 of the 4 traveling together. The last woman we code named Elvira Gulch. But enough bytes have already been wasted on HER just in this paragraph.

The couple were wonderful, trying to stay calm as we spent the day brainstorming on how to get them to Juneau before 6 a.m. the following day to catch their next flight. If they'd been fogged-in out of Juneau, they wouldn't have had much to worry about because Alaska Airlines works hand in hand with American Airlines...their carrier back to Kansas. But Wings of Alaska? Nope...American Airlines wouldn't hear any of it. It would cost them $150 transfer fee and around $1,000 to purchase the difference on the new ticket to fly out. Per person. $2300? No. We tried everything including calling Princess Cruises to see if a ship in port that would be arriving at 5 a.m. in Juneau the next day would take them. Nope. But....eventually the fog cleared enough for them to fly out of Skagway at 6:30 p.m. Bon voyage, nice couple! Actually, it was good to have a problem to solve and something to do. Wednesdays and Thursdays are generally very Very VERY quiet days.

The next day was off for me and Liz and I drove to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. As I've mentioned, that's the nearest "big" town. We packed up the used paper to take to the recycling station and headed out. Liz is somewhat intense about recycling. We've tried to explain that if there isn't a local facility, that sometimes the cost to the ecosystem is more in the use of fuel to transport the recycling. However, since we were already going, it made sense to bring all that paper.

Our first stop was to say hi to Mike and a couple of other drivers on our way. They were stopped at the "Welcome to Alaska" sign for photo ops with their passengers. We took a couple more orders for things to buy in Whitehorse that people needed. We probably did a little shopping for 4 other people besides ourselves.

Then off we went to the Yukon Suspension Bridge over the Tutshi River. This attraction is a building with gift shop and coffee shop and some displays of historical information.
We got a few goofy pictures: a picture of Liz with her Canadian Mountie peeps, me with the same peeps, her writing a postcard in the skeleton of a boat and Liz with her bear brothers.

During the Gold Rush, after trudging about 70 miles up the Chilkoot Pass or the White Pass, the miners would arrive at Lake Bennett, the headwaters of the Yukon River. There they would have to build a boat, including logging the trees for the lumber, to float the few hundred miles to Dawson City. I got in the way of the saw. The men may be cardboard, but the saw was real!

Along the South Klondike Hwy., I continued to photograph the flowers and we took several pictures of the gorge, river and suspension bridge. Of course, on the way, I had to introduce Liz to geocaching!

We found one cache together, then didn't find one together and then I found two in Whitehorse while she shopped. In Whitehorse, we hit the camping outfitter, the Salvation Army thrift store and the ever-important Canadian Super Store (for groceries). For lunch, we went to....McDonald's. This is an event, since there are no fast food places in Skagway. Still, it was just McDonald's and pricier than ever (as everything is up here).

The Canadian Super Store has a pretty good selection of groceries...far more than the local Fairway Market. We have to be careful to only bring produce back that was grown in Canada or the U.S. However, neither Customs station asked us about produce this trip! The thing about shopping at the Canadian Super Store is bags. Grocery bags. I'd forgotten the two canvas bags I own. When I got to the register, the lady asked if I needed bags. She asked how many and I said "lots!" And then she pulled out a bunch of bags. Having lived in Arizona for 12 years, it feels like an affront to have to bag my own groceries. But that's how it is done here.

So I'm heading to the front of the store with my bagged groceries and Liz is shocked: "Where did you get the bags?"
Shari: "The lady at the register gave them to me."
Liz: "You know they're 20 cents a bag?"
Shari: (recovering from shock and running back to the register to grab the 4 bags i didn't use and had left at the register) "WHAT?!?!?!? Are you kidding?!?!?!?"
Liz: "I didn't get any bags!"
Shari: "She asked how many I needed. I didn't know you had to pay for them!"
Liz: "My guy didn't even ask me if I needed bags!" (You would never have known she'd already paid since nothing in her cart was in a bag.)
Shari: "Here...take these 4 that I didn't need."
Liz: "I'll pay you."
Shari: "What? 80 cents? Forget about it!"

Yeesh. Turns out that looking at my receipt, they were only 5 cents. Still, I will remember to bring my two canvas bags and any empty grocery bags I have lying around. Filling up the gas tank for the day was $64. Yeesh. Groceries: $164. Outfitter store $32. Yeesh. A day with my friend on the road...priceless.

And then on Friday, I started getting a scratchy throat that has progressively gotten worse. This meant I did NOT go watch Mike's softball game. :-( (By the way, he broke the fingertip on his right ring finger sliding into second. 57 going on 18, one more time. And yes, he was safe on base.) I also didn't go to the company's Capture the Flag night out in Dyea. This I didn't mind so much except for missing the bonfire and s'mores. I would have been first to be sequestered in jail as I'm built for comfort, not speed. And then today, Mike went fishing. Today is the first sunny day in about 1-1/2 weeks. Still, it's lovely to sit on my bed, blog and look at the mountain outside my window.

But having a sore throat gave my co-worker Nathan a chance to be my hero. As I was whining at work yesterday about having passed up the echinacea tea in Whitehorse, he asked how it was spelled. 3 hours later he was calling me from the health food store in town asking how much I wanted of the bulk tea (and a tea strainer). LOL...he comes back with this zip-log of dried green plant material. And it was VERY yummy echinacea tea. I'll be on the mend in no time!

Today is about food. My co-worker, Sarah, decided it would be great to have a communal meal. She borrowed some dishes and appliances from her church and posted a notice for breakfast $5 per person. We'd pay and she would do all the shopping, cooking and cleaning. I left my room this morning with our ugly orange plastic plates and mismatched silverware. There in the middle of the hallway were two tables all set up with pitchers of water and juice and platters of eggs, bacon, pancakes and blueberry pancakes. It was so nice to eat with some of the folks on our floor. Sarah and her friend Ashley did an amazing job!


A couple of the boys went fishing in the canal from the shoreline and caught a king salmon! Huge sucker! Barbeque tonight! We'll contribute pasta with pesto in exchange for some salmon. Yum!

Lots of other stuff to look forward to:
6/28 Hour long geocaching Meet and Greet at 7:45 a.m. with a group of cachers who attended GeoWoodstock in Washington state before embarking on a cruise.
7/3 Company BBQ and decorating our company float for the 4th of July parade.
7/4 4th of July parade and another Meet & Greet geocaching event.
7/9 A third Meet and Greet geocaching event. For a town that has NEVER had a geocaching event...they're sure making up for it all within a 2 weeks time period.
7/12 Mike and I are taking a two night backpacking trip out to one of the glaciers. The thing about going to either Laughton or Denver glacier is that the trailheads are accessed by riding the railroad. Yup....the railroad that is really just a scenic railroad actually has a hiker transportation ticket!

So, I'd just best drink my echinacea tea and get better quickly so I can do a couple of day hikes before this trek to the glaciers. The mileage isn't much, but it will be with a pack....so..........(to be continued at a later date)