Alaskan Adventures

Hello all for my last bog form Alaska.  As I write this I am on the Malaspina, a boat on the Marine High Way.  I am on my way to Juneau to spend a day then start my travels home.  Thursday morning I left on the first flight down to town.  It was at 10 am.  I spent the day in town packing and getting ready to go.  Then this morning, Jenny, one of our ground crew, picked me up at 7:30 am and brought me to the ferry, which I am on now.  Yes they have Internet and cell phone service on the ferry going down the inland water way.  I was surprised at this also.  I am very happy to be going home, yet I do not want this summer to end.  I cannot believe I have been away from home for 4 months.  It just does not seem right.  This last week on the glacier has been… I cannot come up with a word for it.  Lets just say I am glad it is over and I am going home.  Stressful is a word maybe that would work. We have been starting to get shorted staffed.  So it is not so calm.  Almost everyone is doing two jobs.  Well, I am down now.  I will start my traveling home on Saturday afternoon.  I fly to Anchorage at 1:30pm and arrive there at 3pm.  Then at 8:45pm I fly to Minneapolis at arrive on Sunday at 5am.  Mom and Missy are coming to pick me up.  We are going to spend the day in the cities doing things and then Missy and I will go to my house.  Monday I need to go to college and get things ready.  Tuesday I am going to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s and Mom is coming we are going shopping and hanging out.  I start school on Monday the 25th.  Yeah busy…. Well I am goanna go.  Take a nap.  I still have 3 more hours on the ferry.  

7/16/08
Hello from the com hut on the Denver Glacier.  We have been weather cancel all morning.  It is not 10:30 am and our first tour just landed.  It landed down at the snow cat site so it is another 15 mints to get the tourist up here.  I am a photo girl for now again.  I like it better this time.  Cori’s boyfriend came up and he is handling for Joel.  I am not on this tour so I got awhile yet.  Snow cat tour days are very easy for the photo girls.  Since there is less time we do not sell the photos we give them to the musher’s and they sell them in the snow cat on the way back to the helicopter.  So all we have to do it take the pictures and print them, then we wait.  A lot of waiting goes on today.  A dog got lose on sat, 7/12, one from Cori’s lot.  He is still alive.  We can some times see him up on the cliff in front of camp.  And can here him also.  Shawn and Nate climbed up last night and saw his tracks but could not find him.  So they will go up again when it is clearer out.  The clouds have been on the glacier all week and last week also.  We have been canceled and snow catting for the last two week.  We are all getting very tired of it.  We would love to be able to see for more then 20 ft in front of us.  We moved camp back.  It was getting very dangerous where we were.  There was very little snow there so the canvases so it was not safe.  Not a bunch new.  Except for the fact we want to see the sun……Come out where every you are sun…….Later 

Hello, Hello, Hello
I know it has been awhile.  Sorry about that but my days in town have been number and very busy.  At the moment I am on the glacier watching a movie with Noah.  Yes, it is technology.  Well I was support to be in town today but it was a weather day so Karl and I got stuck up here on the glacier.  It was not so bad though we went sledding.  There are only about 11 people here on the glacier today.  Everyone else is still sledding but Noah and I wanted to watch a movie instead.  This past week has been good.  I started handling again.  I was very excited.  The first week I was back after I was out of the sling I was a photo girl cuz I was on light duty and handling is not light duty at all.  So I got one week of taking pictures.  It was fun but I so prefer handling.  My roommate was happy since she was the photo girl but she started handling.  She really likes handling.  I am hopping to go hiking this week in town.  And maybe a bonfire, those are always fun.  I also got sun burned yesterday.  It was so hot yesterday and the day before, so I was hot I was wearing shorts and had my t-shirts sleeves rolled up and I now have a very stupid looking tan/burn, and I can so feel the pain now.  I am also going to try to upload some new pictures.  Thank you all fore the comment.  I love reading them.  Thank you Dinny, Nonnie, and Rosanne for the birthday cards.  I had a wonderful birthday.  We partied. I had a cake with 7 candles on it.  We had meatloaf.  It one of my favorite meals and Karen made it and she did not even know.  Ok, now everyone else is in here.  They are all yelling now also.  

Well in am now in town came down a few hours ago.  I am clean and happy…..Today is a nice day out.  Am going to go walk around town and buy and few things and hopefully go to a bon fire later…

Hello it is Wednesday and I am very, very ready to go back up to the glacier.  I was ready by Saturday.  But oh well.  I go to the doctor tomorrow afternoon.  So I am hoping to go up on Friday morning.  I am also excited to see people again.  They should start coming down tomorrow.  Even though I have been in town in a sling I have been busy.  On Sunday all I did was sleep.  I am serious.  I got up eat and go back and take a nap.  It felt great.  On Monday after everyone left I went into town did a little shopping, thanks to my first paycheck, and got food for the week.  I came back to the trailer and sort of cleaned and picked up the Wildwood since this is were I would be living for the week.  Then I spread out my stuff.  Packed a box to go home and put Jess’s birthday present in it.  Then packed a box for a friend.  Although they are still not mailed, but they are ready to go.  On Tuesday I decided I was not going to stay at the trailers.  So got up early, and started to go for a hike.  When about 500 ft and then came back.  Not easy at all to hike not being able to swing both arms.  So I walked down to work.  And Jenny got my on a Discover Glacier tour.  I was cool.  The tour consisted of a 20 min helicopter ride out and back.    Then we got dropped off on the Mead Glacier.  And spend about an hour there with 4 guilds walking around and looking at Cravious, Mullins, and the debris from the glacier moving.  It was SWEET.  Yes, I am now saying sweet.  Everyone up here says it and so I picked it up.  Well that’s about my week.  I am so looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow. We are also going to party for my birthday. I am going now.  I believe I got a guy coming in a little while……Later

6/12/08

Hello Again……. I came down this morning on the first flight, so got into town at around 8:45 am.  I will be in town for at least 1 week most likely closer to 2 weeks.  Two days ago I felt a sharp pain in my neck down into my arm.  Then I had a bad ach in there after.  So I told the manger about it that night and he said to see how it feels in the morning.  The next morning it still really hurt and so they sent me down this morning to the doctors.  I have a pulled ligament and my shoulder bones are to far apart she said ( not really sure what that means ) so I am in a sling and can not lift more then 15 pounds with my other arm, and that is at least until I go back and see her in  week.  So my boss told me to enjoy Skagway.  I understand why he is keeping me down here, but I so would rather be up on the glacier.  But I will do what I am told, for once huh mom……Joel is not real excited for me to stay down either but oh well.  Cori my roommate was about to go to work in Juano on the glacier by now she gets to stay a while longer to fill in for me as Joel’s handler. Other wise life on the glacier has been pretty boring.  On Monday and Tuesday were weather days so we did latterly nothing on those days but take care of the dogs.  Oh and sleep a lot.  This afternoon Cori and I took the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad to Canada and back.  We never got off the train, but the sights were gorgeous.  That is the way we drove up here and I was amazed at how much it has changed in a month and a half.  We loved it.  It is also very nice to be locals so we get discounts almost everywhere we go.  Like the train ride is normally $130 I believe, but we got to go for free since we work on the glacier.  It sweet.  Well that’s all for now.  I guess I will be writing soon……

6/6/08
Watch out AIE is in town.  Hullo. I made in down this morning at around 9 am this morning.  I flew down this morning on the first dead head.  So I got in early.  I was on the phone for 1 hour before I even got in the shower.  I kept getting told to take a shower by everyone who was down here.  This week was pretty good.  We had 3 half-weather days so it was a slower week.  Got lots of rest in so fell great.  We are watching Wedding Crashers.  Curtis and Katie are going to Juano to the glacier to help out for a few weeks.  There have been so problems there and they are short staffed so they are going to help out.  

6/7/08
I am still in town.  Stuck in more like it.  We are weathered down.  Last night we went to the Skagway Brewing Company “Brew Co”. Got some dinner and the most of then went to the Red Onion “RO” Cori and I went back to the trailer and Chris and Cherease came back soon after.  The weather is rainy and chilly.  My roommates and I laugh at each other almost every morning.  Cuz the first ones in the morning give the weather report to the one who are still in bed.  The report goes like this sometimes.  It is clear to paradise, that is how the helicopters get to us, it is chill, not cold chilly, they is a 5,000 ft ceiling and it is doing all three, meaning raining, snowing, and sleeting. To you that means nothing, to us that means what to expect for the day.  So much happens during the week but this is about all I can think to tell you now.  Talk to you all next week.   

OK.  This is about the 5th time I have sat down to write this and I think I might get it down this time.  We have been really busy this week up on the glacier.  Most musher’s are doing 8-10 tours a day.  Which is good but very tiring.  The most a musher can do in one day is 10.  We are all enjoying it though.  It is nice to be busy for a change.  Another handler came up two days ago to the glacier, Kyle.  He will be the handler for the musher who is coming this week, Olaf.  So then all the musher’s will be up here, but we are still waiting on two more handlers.  We have a full camp.  I came down yesterday at around 12:30 pm.  I was so sick I got to come down early.  I took and shower and slept for 4 hours till every buddy else who just came down waked me up.  Bethany, Kati, Shawn, and I walked around town for a while then walked out to Smugglers Cove and sat on the rock and watch the cruise ships go out and had a fire.  It was very nice.  Oh yeah I fell in the water up to my hips.  It was COLD.  The fire was nice to get sort of dry by.  Then we went back to town.  Stopped by a house that had a bon fire and they played horseshoes.  I came back to the trailer and went to bed.   Just got up a while ago when my phone went off.  I am doing laundry now.  I hate paying to do laundry.  Ok I think that is all for now before I get interrupted again.  Bear and Travis just came in so, will talk to you all next week. 

Hello All, I am in town again for a short 24 hour time off.  Today was really hot up on the glacier.  Today we were half staffed.  So Joel was the manager and he as had to do tours, which he is not supposed to.   I also had to sling. Which is where the helicopter comes in with a 100ft cable below then and we attach a rack to it and they take it to town.  A rack it 3 55gal drums strapped together, our shit barrels.  Noah handled for Joel for most of the day cuz I was doing other things.  Rende, Jake, Cori, Nate, Therease, Pete, and I all went to the fish co for dinner.  We are getting busier.  It is nice.  Yesterday it was raining.  It sucked.  Our new raincoats are nice.  I am still trying to get pictures up here.  But having some troubles with it.  Not going to do much this weekend since I do not have much time.  I did laundry and took a shower already.  So I am going to relax hopefully.  We have two guys in one of our trailer on their way to Juno to work for AIE there.  One of them is here now along with Rende’s friend from back home that just so happened to get a job here.  Our cook has been off so I have been cooking.  Its kind of fun.  Cuz I get out of doing certain chores.  Will that about all for today.  Later all!!!

Hello Everyone.....

My first entry.  I have been in Skagway, AK on the Denver Glacier since May 1st.  I am currently down in town on my day off.  I have been in town only for my second time.  I am was only going to be in town for 24 hours but the weather is bad and so no helicopters can fly up to the glacier and I am in town until they can.  I am a handler.  Joel Kersting is the musher that I am handling for.  I have known Joel for 10 years.  He is the musher that got me into dog sledding.  There are 8 musher’s, 10 handlers, 2 photographers, 1 cook, and our manger.  We are like big family up there.  When we are in town on our day off AIE has 5 RVs they own in a RV park, so we all crash in them together.  Even on out day off we still all hang out together.  I have made a lot of friends up here.  My day consists of getting up at 6 am and scooping poop and feeding dogs.  By 7 am we are all in the kitchen in line waiting for breakfast.  Karen, our cook, makes bacon and eggs every morning; we also have fruit and bagels.  At 7:40 am Peter, our manger, gets on the radio and calls the ground and finds out our tour schedule for the day and rights it on the board.  Our first tour could be at 8 am and the last one at 6 pm.  Once we find that out we usually do our own thing until we, ourselves or musher’s, have a tour. Then we do tours.  Tours consist of a 15 mint ride in a helicopter up to the Denver Glacier, then a 10 mint talk by our manger, then our manger splits them up and lets the musher’s take it from there.  Each musher does their own little thing from there.  They talk about things and the handlers get the dogs ready for the run.  The musher’s then take them out on a 1 miles ride.  After that they show them around camp and show them the puppies.  Then they bring them back and put the on the helicopter and down they go.  Lunch is served from 11 am till 2 pm.  Since you are never quite sure when you get a break to eat.  After tours the handlers go out and walk the trail the dogs have been running all day and scoop poop.  While the handlers are out the musher’s feed, water, and scoop poop.  When the handlers get back they help them out.  Supper is at 7 pm at night.  After that it is your own time.  We all take turns doing dishes and emptying the bathroom buckets.  After that we go to bed and get up the next day and do it all again.  Will that is my life so far.  I am going to go now.  I wrote a lot more then I thought I would have.  Please comment.  Later.

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