Sarah Heath Palin

So I realize that my first post about John McCains running mate was a little harsh. I've done a little more research on her now (this is important because I live in AK and lead tours, people need to know this stuff) and I dislike her even more than before. She's pretty much the poster child for the new age conservative party. I can't speak about her foreign policy because she has absolutely no experience, but this is what we know about her domestic policy:



Advocate of the Alaska pipeline/drilling in ANWR = solution to all of our energy woes

- side note: her husband works a production operator on the North slope (how convenient)

Believes in global warming but doesn't think it's caused by humans

Pro-Life / Opposes abortion

Evangelical Christian (I was hoping we could get a few more in Federal office, this can only help our foreign policy)

Favors the Death Penalty (we can attribute this to her religious beliefs)

Opposes same-sex marriage

Life long member of the NRA



Other Fun Facts:

First woman and youngest Governor of AK (she's only the 11th)

Mayor and City Councilwoman of Wasilla prior to becoming Governor

International Travel: Kuwait, Germany and Ireland (who wants to talk about inexperience now?)



By and far most Alaskans are excited.



In a related story.... I had some clearly conservative tourist on my tour today. There political views have nothing to do with the story, I'm just throwing this out there. Anyways, we were riding in the rain forest when the woman asked me, "Uh, um.. I have to be the parent here, when do you think that you're going to get a real job? Join the real world? I mean, what do your parents think of this lifestyle?" I don't think that she was trying to be rude but she was totally f-ing rude. I said, "Um.. probably never." Then we kept riding. It was kind of amusing.

OMG - WTF ??

Sarah Palin named VP for John McCain. Did you know that Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska is the hottest of all the governors? She used to be a beauty queen. She's originally from Skagway (where I'm currently living/working). She's only been governor for two years, adamantly opposes abortion, support gun rights, supports drilling in ANWR and also a cold bitch. Yeah John McCain!!


I wonder what it must feel like to know that she only got the nomination because she's woman?


In a related note, Ted Stevens is totally going to get re-elected despite the fact that he's being indicted and will probably be found guilty.

Yeah Alaska! Yeah America! We are in for it.

Devil's Punch Bowl

Sunday I went hiking with Ruth and Adira up to Devil's Punch Bowl. The weather kind of sucked but the hike was great. I got some nice photos (tagged: dpb, hike and skagway).

I know some people who have been reading my blog are convinced that I just party and play all day. The truth is that during the week I work my ass off. I work anywhere from 8 to 11 hours a day. My job is pretty exhausting for several reasons. For starters, I'm riding a bike all day, but that's not really what is so tiring. In addition to biking, I also have to unload and load trailers of bikes, but even this is not what really takes it out of me. The hardest part of my job is entertaining retarded tourist all day. It's a full-time job. I usually do three tours a day with about 12 people per tour. I have to spiel for about 25 minutes on every tour that I lead. Like last summer I have to act like an expert on Skagway, Alaska, glaciers, native history, natural history, you name it. I'm also responsible for the safety of a lot of people. I like to think that I'm pretty good at it, but it is hard work.

So yes, I do party on the weekends but I think that I deserve it. I would lose my mind otherwise. Also, for the most part, I don't report the everyday bad stuff.

I'm never drinking White Russians Again

Need I say more?

PS. I mean it this time.

more pictures tagged: anythingbutclothes

Party Train

My boss and the women who own the cupcake shop next door hosted a party train on Saturday. In a word: debauchery. It was basically a whole car with a whole bunch of booze (beer, margaritas, you name it), a little bit of food and some water. We rode the train to the White Pass Summit and then turned around and came back. We went through a total of four tunnels where everybody had to trade shirts with person standing next to you. About four hours total. Needless to say, we were all pretty f-ed by the time we got off the train at 4 O'clock in the afternoon. That's when the fun really started.

We decided the best thing to do in our state was to ride bikes around Skagway and swing. We went to one of the local parks in town to practice back flips off the swing. Me and Meg (furthest right in the picture above) decided to try out the teeter-totter. To make a long story short, we broke it. The cable that was holding it to the grown just snapped (I fell right on my face) We walked away but the cops found us. And when I say the cops found us, I mean the cops showed up, asked who broke the swing and I stood up and said (and pointed) Meg did it. At the time this seemed like a good idea since she was the only sober person in the group. We told him what happened, he took our names, took some pictures and then told us to expect something in the mail. Great...more trouble with the law. Meg and I already decided that if we get fined were going to have a fund-raising party. Meg is the sweetest girl in the world, and I, well I already have fine from the city of Skagway.

After the cops came we got back on our bikes and rode around for hours looking for berries and other treasures. All in all, a great night.

PIC: bike gang..... yeah, I'm in a bike gang.

Look for more pictures, tagged: partytrain

I fought the law...

....you guessed it, the law won. I went to court today to fight my speeding ticket. It was pretty comical. I clearly wasn't the first person to contest a speeding ticket in Skagway. The cop was there with pictures of the sign that has the speed limit posted and a maintenance log proving that he checks his radar daily. Evidently he's certified to train other people on how exactly to use radar. So there was really no denying that I was going 51 MPH.

I realized as soon as I got there that I wasn't going to win this battle. The entire 20 minutes that I was in there I was trying not to laugh so then when it was time to plead my case I could hardly keep my thoughts straight. It was stupid. The judge (a lady) told me that they hold drivers with CDL's to a higher standard and that it was just a damn good thing that I got stopped by a cop and that I didn't hit a small child or a bear. She refused to drop the fine too, even though I'm a poor post-grad trying to pay off my student loans.

The rest of the day was awesome though! I picked wild raspberries with some of my friends and then when we had enough berries we had a berry fight (basically just threw berries at each other). Really fun.

Pic: Me and Sheldon at her going away party. She's a mountain guide and is on her way to Africa to lead trips on Kilimanjaro.

Busted..

This is the only word I can find to describe how I feel after last weekend. Friday night I stayed up all night partying because it was August 8, 2008 (8/8/2008). I know, Skagway is so demanding. Then I left early Saturday morning (2am) with my friend Grover. We headed to Whitehorse, capital of the Yukon Territory (CA). We needed to take his brother and sister to the airport there and planned on a fun day in the city (population 20,000 people). We had a pretty good time. We did a bunch of thrift shopping, he saw the new Batman movie, I also went grocery shopping in a real grocery store! At night we went out, looking for the party scene. Didn't find much. The legal drinking age in the Yukon is 18, so we felt pretty old everywhere we went. That was Saturday. The reason my entire body is sore is because of my activities on Sunday.

Sunday I decided to hike up to AB Mountain. As per usual, I couldn't find anybody to go with me so I went by myself. I wasn't planning on going all the way (about 11 miles round trip with 5,000 feet of elevation gain) but it was such a nice day that I decided to go for it. This hike takes you up to a mountain in the Sawtooth Mountain Range and gives you a panoramic view of the valley that Skagway sits in.

At times it seemed never ending. Every time I summited a hill, another one would come into view (Moe, this was very similar to when we hiked the continental divide in Glacier NP). Unfortunately by the time I finally made it up there the clouds had rolled in. I waited around on the summit, hoping to get the panoramic view that I had invested hours of my time for, to no avail. The clouds only got worse. Then I had to head back to Skagway.

This is what jacked me up. I was so tired from climbing (the last mile was basically a rock scramble) that my legs just kept giving out underneath me. This happens just about every time I hike, but it was especially bad on this hike because it was really steep and very muddy. I fell at least five times really hard, mostly on my bum but at least once on my side. Once I got to the tree line my feet really started hurting (I didn't have my hiking shoes on because I didn't think I was going to summit) and I was sick of falling so I decided to run the rest of the way because I just wanted to be finished (I think this was probably the worst mistake). Long story short, every muscle in my body hurts. I feel like I have whip-lash from falling and jerking my body and I can barely walk down the stairs because my knees are so sore (I assume from running down hill). The best part about it is that I had to guide two trips today. I imagine it had to be amusing for our passengers, seeing their bike guide extremely stiff and clearly in pain. With all that said, I'm really glad that I did the hike because it was rewarding and I got some awesome photos.

Update: my court date for my speeding ticket is Friday. Wish me luck!

More photos on my flickr site, tagged: AB

Tripple Adventure

This weekend I had the opportunity to ride the train from Skagway to Fraser, BC. I went with five other guides. Our plan was to take our bikes to Fraser, then bike up to the summit (3,292 ft), possibly hike up to an old silver mine and then bike as fast as we could down the pass back to Skagway. This would have been enough fun for one day, but when we were boarding the train we met up with our neighbors/friends the Alaskan Mountain Guides (AMG). They too were on their way to Fraser. They were going on a company retreat which consisted of taking the train to Fraser, sea kayaking, BBQing and partying. They invited us to join their party; so instead of just riding the train there and biking back, we partied all they way up to Fraser (about an hour and half ride), kayaked a little, ate their food, drank their beer and then rode back to Skagway. It was perfect timing on our part.

Look at that sexy bike. This is a picture of me biking up to the summit. That's Fraser behind me. More pictures on my flickr site.