Every day is an adventure!

The cable company just hooked up our internet so I am able to blog again! Its been a busy week. Last Thursday, Kim and I moved into our new apartment. Kim is from Michigan and randomly grew up with one of my sorority sisters (small world). We love our apartment as it is located right across the street from the ocean and is within a few blocks of our office.

We both had the day off on Friday so we called Wendy at Taquan Air to see if we could get a ride on a float plane. Sure enough, they got us on one that morning. Jerry, our pilot, took us to deliver mail to a Native American reservation that is only accessible via boat or float plane. The float plane pilots deliver mail to 17 communities in the area that are only accessible via plane 6 days a week. It was such an amazing experience! It was an overcast day so the ride was pretty bumpy, but they had 'comfort bags' just in case we got sick... luckily, neither of us did.

Saturday involved some work on excel. Once my eyes went cross eyed from staring at the computer I went on the zip lines!.. only in Alaska can you reward yourself for a long days work with a zip line ride.

I had Sunday off as well and the weather was beautiful so I just had to enjoy the outdoors. Craig, a guy from Chicago who came out here to work for a season and has now been here for several years (popular story around here) wanted to show me a local hiking trail. We borrowed a skiff (boat) and rode about 45 minutes to Naha Bay which is only accessible via boat or float plane. During the ride, we saw some sea lions. There was a group of four and they were swimming near our boat because they were very curious as to what we were. The hiking trail was beautiful. It is so interesting being in a rain forest (very different from what I am used to). We hiked for about 3 1/2 hours, then the trail got to be too rough and buried in snow. We kept a look out for whales on the boat ride back, but thought we were out of luck. Once we tied up the skiff and were about to head inside we spotted some humpback whales! There were two groups of them swimming by. It was an amazing sight.

This morning, Kim, Ashley (a tour coordinator that arrived to town this weekend), and I went on the Rainforest Sanctuary tour. It is a walking tour offered by our company which takes you through the rainforest. It is a chance to learn about the different plants and animals living in the environment. During the summer, you often see bears on the trail so I am anxious to do the walking tour again in a few months.

It is so beautiful today (63 degrees and sunny) so I am going for a run along the ocean then a group of us are getting together for a BBQ tonight.


The rain forest at Naha Bay (everything is covered in moss)


Me in the passenger seat on the float plane


Scenic shot from the float plane

More zip lines!

I know I said I'd post a picture of my new apartment, but I'm sad to say that the whale is no longer jutting out of the roof. I am not sure where it has gone or who took it down, but I was really looking forward to saying, "I live in the building with the large whale sticking out of the top of it."

Yesterday we finished prepping the store! It is all cleaned up and ready to go. After work, many of the guides and I played bananagrams. It is a form of scrabble and although I didn't manage to win a single game, it was a lot of fun!

Today is a long day. A FAM group has come to Ketchikan and has meetings lined up with many tour companies in town. The FAM group consists of reps from various cruise ships and the trips' purpose is for them to learn about the different tour companies in the area and what they have to offer their cruise passengers. This morning we had a group at the zip line camp and we served them breakfast and showed them videos educating them about our zip line tours and walking tour. Erica (the girl who interviewed me for this position) is in town. She is my Alaskan twin! After breakfast we got to run the zip line course with the new canopy guides that started training today. The zip cords were wet from rain, which caused us to zip faster. It was even more fun today than the first time! However, for the second half of the course, a few of the guides had me thinking that something was wrong with my harness. I guess that just added to the excitement... (they were only joking of course). We have another FAM group tonight. They are running the zip line course now and then we will have a dinner at Taquan.

Skunk cabbage has begun to grow around the camp. Bears eat a lot of twigs, etc before hibernation to block up their system and then eat skunk cabbage afterwards to clean out their system. There is also word that a few bears have been shot around the area (people are allowed to hunt one bear per person in Alaska). Needless to say, these are the beginning signs of bear season. I am ecstatic to see bears outside of a zoo!

Tomorrow, the first cruise ship arrives. I am anxious to start the season!

Back to work for now...

The rain continues...

The rain has continued, but now that I'm suited up with serious rain gear its not so bad. Actually, I rather enjoy it. Last night we had a bbq at Ward lake. The rain was pouring down causing for a picturesque view. Between that, the smell of the fire, and the bbq, I thought to myself, "life doesn't get any better than this".

There are many new canopy guides (zip line guides) moving in this weekend and lots of empty apartments in need of furniture. So today we rented a U-haul and moved several couches to the apartments. This involved several flights of staircases so I'll go ahead and rate it a '10' on the workout scale.

I think I forgot to mention one small fact about my new apartment. It has a large killer whale sticking out of the roof. I'll post a picture tomorrow.

Here comes the rain...

This morning when I woke up at 6am it wasn't as bright as it usually is at that time. The rain finally came... A girl I met today who has spent the past several summers here compares Ketchikan to the 'produce aisle at the grocery store' due to the constant drizzle of water. As long as you have proper rain gear on, its really not that bad. In fact, the mountains look beautiful with the clouds hanging low over them. Reminds me of Scotland.

No one seems to know the password to the computer in the downtown office (the place that has been vacant since last season) so we have ordered a technician to come out tomorrow to hack into it. Until then, there is not much more work I can do to prep for the season. So this afternoon I headed back out to the zip line camp to help out in the store. It is currently filled from floor to ceiling with boxes of hats, wooden bears, books on Alaska, and the like. I helped fold several boxes of t-shirts and now have a new appreciation for those who work in retail.

Tory found a home for me today! It is a one bedroom apartment (which I will share with one other person) above a little store and is located right across from the docks (aka my workplace). It will be ready for move in next Wednesday. Currently the main entrance to the apartment is through an outside door on the second floor. However, there is no staircase leading to the door, so unless I put a ladder up against the side of the house I am unable to enter. Fingers crossed that they can build a staircase by next week!

First day on the job

Today was my first day of training. Tory really wanted to show me around, introduce me to everyone, and help me get oriented. We headed out first thing to the zip line camp. Our company offers 3 main tours - eagle zip line tour (for the more outgoing people), bear zip line tour (geared towards families with children), and the rain forest sanctuary walking tour. Of course I need to know what product I'm selling to our customers so I strapped on my gear and headed out for the eagle zip line tour. It consists of 7 zip lines ranging from approximately 120 to 350 feet in length and about 150 feet off the ground. Not going to lie, its a little nerve wracking at first. However, once you relax it is so much fun! Once summer rolls around you will see many bears below or even in the trees (last summer there was a bear 120 feet up in a tree by the zip line course!)

Once I returned to the ground I was able to meet many of the employees working at the camp, including Wayne who makes the totem poles. These totem poles are so beautiful and take about a week per foot to carve. There is also an eagle sanctuary which consists of one eagle who has a broken wing and can't fly. They feed him rats, so there were rats laying all over the ground (my nightmare). My company has hired about 80 people (young folks in their 20's from all over the world) to come work the summer in Ketchikan. Everyone is so laid back and as nice as can be. I can see how this town sucks people in.

We then drove into town to check out my office for the next 6 months. No one had been in it since last season so there was plenty of dusting to do. The office is right downtown and over looks the docks (which is where I'll spend most of my time). My days will mainly consist of running from cruise ship to cruise ship. There are 4 berths along the dock and each berth can hold one cruise ship at a time. With the dock being over 1/2 a mile in length, there will be lots of running around.

The search for a permanent home continues, but I will keep you updated as things materialize.

Some photos I took on my run this morning

Absolutely beautiful

I can hardly believe this is going to be my home for the next 6 months. While flying in on the plane, two words came to mind: absolutely beautiful. The sky was sunny and the area is made up of a series of mountains and hills that descend into the ocean. The view alone was enough to make up for the fact that I had just traveled for over 13 hours.

My boss, Tory, and a colleague (Laura) were on my flight from Seattle. Once we landed we took a short ferry to the main island. Even though the sun was out and it was fairly warm, there was still snow on the mountains. We then drove to our company zip line camp, which consists of a general store, a totem pole making shop, a fenced in area with reindeer, and bald eagles perched on every roof top.

This morning I woke up to another sunny day! I don't have a place to live yet, so I'm staying at my boss and his fiance's home in the meantime. I walked the 50 minutes to the main downtown area this morning to meet Laura for some coffee and to explore our new home! Most of the shops are closed and the streets are very quiet this time of year. That will all change in the next month when the cruise ships start coming in. Tory told us the great news that its supposed to be a hot summer, which for any of you who know me is 'music to my ears'.

After a quick trip to the grocery store and taking Tory's dog, Chubs, for a walk, its time to relax. Until next time...