Peace ...

... Skagway!! Yeah, I'm getting on a the ferry tonight and should be in Bellingham by Friday. I am so excited about coming home. Now I have to face the task of figuring out how I'm going to get all my stuff home. I haven't really acquired that much stuff but I did bring a lot with me including two tennis rackets, a yoga mat, a tripod and a fishing pole (wtf?). In addition to all my clothes and bedding, I know have a bike in tow. I hate moving!

I'm totally excited about the ferry. I've already met several people in Skagway who are making the long journey with me. After I get my stuff packed up I'm going to get some food and booze and get ready for a week long party boat. Watch out.

If for any reason I don't make it back to Bellingham it's because I froze to death. I couldn't afford a room on the ferry so I will be camping on top of the boat. One of the things I didn't bring up here was a tent, now that would come in handy right now. I'll figure it out. See you next week.

PIC: BBQ at the Sockeye House on the last sunny day in Skagway. Those are vegetarian kabobs, yum.

Thanksgiving in September

... Don't have much to report from the hippie front. Things are winding down, people are leaving, I'm leading less tours, going away parties galore. One exciting thing going on in my little life is that Metro Parks Tacoma has offered me a position to help coordinate their outdoor program, the official title is "Associate Recreation Program Specialist." The Sparx outdoor program seems pretty cool so I'm pretty excited. I wasn't exactly planning on staying in Tacoma through the school year but I might have to rethink my plans. The job is only part-time so I think in addition to it I will get another part-time job. If anybody has any leads please let me know.

So one of my last post incorrectly stated that I would be home in 9 days. I think that I must have had a brain freeze from riding my bike in an sub-arctic climate zone because as of today I leave Skagway in 7 days and won't be home until October 3. I apologize to all of my followers for any confusion.

I only have one more thing to do before I leave here.... some people in town have "Alaska for Obama" campaign signs, I have to get one, my Alaska experience won't be complete with out it.

Peace to All! I can't wait to be back in T-Town and see everybody, especially the newest edition to the Tarno Dynasty.

PIC: Our last family photo, Erich left yesterday. That leaves us with three people living in the house, four employees total. Isn't it funny that all the girls are on the bottom?? We had a really nice Thanksgiving dinner to celebrate the end of the season and to new beginnings...

Planes, Trains, and Helicopters

Last Saturday I had a great opportunity to ride in a helicopter. All I had to do was hike as fast as I could for three miles up to Upper Dewey Lake. A place I've hiked several times and pretty much swore off after the last time I hiked it. Now, three miles isn't much but you do gain a little over 3,000 feet in elevation, so it's a hike. The reason that I didn't want to hike it again was because coming down is really hard on my knees, so when presented with the idea of hiking up there and then taking a helicopter down, I couldn't resist, even though it was cold and kind of raining.

Any who, one of my housemates got wind of this race called, "Block of Rocks," I don't know where the name came from. Basically it was started 15 years ago by some locals and they've been doing every since. Once we got to the top we were greeted by the organizers of the event with a cold beer and a warm cabin to sit in and wait for our helicopter ride. Apparently when they first started the race the helicopter ride was free, not it costs $30, a steal if you ask me for a helicopter ride.

Overall, it was totally rad. The hike provided some much needed exercise, the wait for the ride gave me a chance to mingle with some of the locals and the helicopter ride was really fun. Just look at how happy Erich is waiting for his ride. The other picture is of some guy who ran the whole thing with body paint on. He put on his clothes once he got to the top because it was cold!!!!

9 more days in Skagway!! 8 more days of riding bikes in the cold, rain, wind and snow!!!

I lead a tour in Haines yesterday...

... This is pretty exciting new considering Haines is one of my favorite places. It was really sweet, in the morning I took a short ferry ride to Haines, which I didn't get paid for, but I didn't have to pay to get to Haines which is sweet.

The scene in Haines is so different from Skagway. Much more laid back. The fact that I only did one tour was really nice. The tour was really short and easy. Just a ten mile ride to the Chilkat Lake state park. We rode for a little over two hours, but managed to see probably ten bald eagles and three grizzly bears!! I would definitely consider coming back to Haines to lead bicycle tours.

I'm going to try to get off of work early on Thursday to get back out to Glacier Point. Maybe stay the weekend, convince one of the dudes out there to marry me so that I can live out there as well. Just kidding, all I need to do to live out there is get a job with Chilkat Guides, maybe next summer. If I do make it out there, I'll take lots of pictures, try to capture the awesomeness.

In other news, the town is shrinking again. We're down to six employees at Sockeye (Skagway unit), with only four of them (including myself) living in the house. It's actually really nice after a really busy summer. I'm also back to being the only girl who works for the company in Skagway, which is fine, all the guys I live with are clean and more importantly, they eat well. Most of them can cook and 75% of them are vegetarian. Last night we took one of the spare bedrooms and made it into a "study" now we have a quiet place to read and check our email.

UPDATE: I bought my ferry ticket home. If all goes as planned I should get on a boat on Monday, September 29 and be home Friday, October 3. I'm totally excited about the ferry ride, should be a blast.

PIC: Gordon and Jacob with the tall bike. Doesn't Jacob look classy with the 40? I was able to get on the bike, but fell trying to dismount.

I love Glaciers!

I had the most amazing weekend. On Friday, I went glacier flight seeing where I viewed the Mead Glacier from a small plane. Kind of crazy and not something that I would recommend if you are the least bit hung over. Unfortunately, my camera was dead so I don't have any photos from that adventure, which is really sad because there were some spectacular views. No worries, my camera was all charged up for my Saturday excursion to Glacier Point.

Glacier Point is South East of Haines, I believe. Basically, I took the fast ferry to Haines and then went and viewed the Davidson Glacier. Once at Glacier Point, we took a short bus ride, then short hike, and then a short canoe ride to the glacier. It was soooo rad. We go to get out of the canoes and actually walk on glacier ice!!

Glacier Point is hands down the coolest place I've been all summer. The people who work out there pretty much have the coolest job in the world. There's just 11 of them; living completely off the grid, subsistence living in an amazingly beautiful place. I think I want to live here. Words and pictures can not begin to describe how incredible this place really is.

PIC: I love Glacier Ice!

The rest of the pictures are tagged: GP