Days Eight and Nine

Hi! I managed to find a connection that is strong enough in my room so I thought I should give you guys an update on yesterday and today.

Yesterday was the soft opening of the store--it looked great after we rushed to finish in the morning. There were a lot of people and we made a lot of sales. We were busy but the register isn't hard to figure out and most of the rest of the job is obvious enough for us (me and my co-workers) to figure out on our own. Katy came and visited me and we went through the Gold exhibit because I hadn't seen it yet--it was ok. I'm not really a gold person. Then she went to go look at the rest of the available exhibits and I went back to work.

After work Katy and I packed my stuff into the car and went to dinner: we had reservations at Simon and Seafort's for 7:30. It was really, really good food--the best of the trip--so it was a nice ending to our journey together. I had the salmon and Katy had chicken dijon and we both got desserts. Afterwards, we went grocery shopping to get me stocked on frozen and perishable food stuffs. Then I unpacked my stuff into my new space and Katy tested out my DishNetwork. Christa is away for the weekend since it's Memorial Day weekend so Katy and I had the place to ourselves. Katy had to leave at 12:45 for her 2:30 flight so we stayed up watching Chocolat. It was a really nice day and a great way to end our trip. I was so sorry to see her go. We had a great time and she was so good to me--I am immensely thankful. I locked every single possible lock in the place and went to bed around 1.

This morning I woke up and stayed in my pajamas, watching TV and calling friends back East. I took a shower and got dressed around 1 and then walked the long (longer than I thought...) walk to WalMart to buy more hangers for my closet. Since it was such a long walk I decided to try taking the bus back (partially). It worked! I figured it out and took a bus more than half of the way back and decided not to go the rest of the way because I didn't want to wait for the transfer to the other line so I just walked. It's a nice little ride and walk if done together. It's too long if one just walks. So I'm pretty proud of myself and it speaks to Tuesday when I have to take the bus downtown to get to the Red Cross.

For the rest of the day I'm just going to hang out here and tomorrow I might go on a hike with my boss from the museum and his dog since I don't have anything to do. Might rain, though.

Anyway, I'm glad to have an Internet connect, even if it's not very good. I hope it stays open so I can keep updating. Katy says she has pictures of yesterday that she's going to send me so I'll post them whenever she sends them to me. I think there are some of the museum.

Talk to you guys later!

Oops!

Hi, guys.

I'm writing this from the front stoop of my new place. There isn't an Internet connection yet--I'm stealing a neighbor's and I have to sit outside by the road to do it...It's kind of awkward.

I won't be updating for a while because of this but I'll try to update periodically (maybe at work) and such. Sorry if I don't respond to your emails or messages--I can't!

I hope to encourage Christa to get a connection soon and then I'll be back on regularly (probably more than regularly--I'm an Internet addict!).

Anyway, sorry about this and I hope to be back soon.

Love!

Day Seven

Hey guys,

Again, not much to say. Today was my first day of work. I went in at 9 and filled out forms up in HR for direct deposit, taxes, etc. Very exciting. Then I went down to the store and was put to work doing odd jobs: emptying boxes, making displays, organizing shelves and other similar things. It was fun work, work I like to do. I like to organize and make things look nice so this was fun. Since the museum isn't open to the public yet (it's been closed for major renovations and opens next week), we're still in crunch time to get the store setup and ready to open. The soft opening is tomorrow and Katy will be coming in to see the store and the whole museum. I go in at 9 and work to get the store completely setup and then I'll work a register until I go home. Once we open, working the register will be my main task.

During lunch I had to go to City Hall to get an ID because security in the museum is really tight since we have the Gold exhibit from the National Museum of Natural History and it's a big deal. The ID was uneventful and then Katy (who picked me up from the museum and dropped be back off after lunch) went to lunch at a nearby sub shop. We got chicken gyros which were delicious. She brought me back to work and I did more of the same.

After work, I walked back to the hotel room since the museum is really close and it was a nice day out. We hung around the room, me chatting online and Katy watching TV and taking a shower. We decided on Japanese for dinner and picked a nearby place that the front desk recommended. We walked since it was so close. It was really good, surprising since it was attached to the Econo Lodge... Despite that though, it was good food and we both enjoyed our dinner. Then we settled in to watch a movie in our room (we would have gone out to see a movie if there was ANYTHING we wanted to see...) and will go to bed early since I have to get up early again tomorrow.

We didn't move in today just because there was no real reason to. I'm closer to the museum here at the hotel so I might as well make use of that while I can. Plus, I got off work around 5:30 and there wasn't a significant amount of time to move in--we'll do it tomorrow after work.

Sorry there's not much to share. After work starts and I settle down there won't be much to report on here and I'll probably only update weekly instead of daily. I hope no one minds.

I'll let everyone know more about the museum once I actually get to see exhibits tomorrow. I'm sure Katy will have stuff to report, too. Plus, I'll have my first real work experience doing what I'll be doing for the rest of the summer and I can report on that. Maybe I'll make funny cash register mistakes or something, who knows.

Anyway, I'm starting to sound boring so I'm going to sign off. Have a good day (I've realized that everyone probably reads these entries the morning after I write them so I've switched from "Goodnight" to "Have a good day.")

Day Six

Sorry guys, today we just relaxed around the room and around town. I watched TV for most of the day and Katy worked and did other stuff.

We left the room around 2:30 to go to lunch at this horrible restaurant called Gwennie's. It's hard to explain the awfulness. We should have known, reading the Google Maps reviews... We sat under YELLOW fluorescent lights and there was a stuffed bear and a stuffed arctic fox in the least cool way. I would have taken a picture but we were seated by the kitchen and the waitresses could look over to us. Katy and I both had gigantic BLT sandwiches.

After lunch we went and window shopped in a strip mall that had two outdoor stores, two coffee shops, and a book store. The book store was really cool because most of the inventory (huge store!) was used and really cheap. Then we went back to the hotel and changed to go walking on the Coastal Trail which was lovely but a little chilly. Nice walk, though. After walking we went to Coldstone Creamery to round out our balanced meal (singular--we didn't even want to eat) of the day.

Tomorrow I'm going in to work at the museum at 9 and working probably until 6ish. Katy will do who-knows-what to fill her day. She's talked about bringing the computer to a cafe and working there. So yeah. I'll let you guys know about that tomorrow. It will mostly be last-minute crunch time for setting up the store: stocking, cleaning, organizing--you know, stuff I love to do!

So stay tuned tomorrow and I'll tell you how my first day was. I hope it's terrific and telling of how my summer will be. Wish me luck!

Day Five

Hey guys! Today was a LONG day... There isn't all that much to say because a lot of it is best translated in pictures so I included quite a few. We got up early and drove down to Seward, a port city in a bay on the Pacific Ocean. Along the way we stopped at a bakery in Girdwood and I got a ham and cheese croissant which was delicious but horrible for me and Katy got a triple berry scone which also looked delicious. In Seward we got on a 6-hour cruise tour and saw lots of wildlife.

Boats in the harbor in Seward.

Watching for whales!

We saw all kinds of wildlife, mainly whales, but we also saw bears, dall sheep, and sea lions. Lots of birds, too. Whales are really hard to catch well on a camera so I stopped taking pictures to just watch them. We saw porpoises, orcas, and humpbacks. It was really, really cool. There were TONS of them, usually swimming together.

Orca!

Black bear

Glacier.

Katy and I in front of the glacier.

On the last part of our trip we had to stop and "take on some new passengers" from a charter boat that had lost an engine. That was kind of dramatic. We had to slowly sidle up to the small boat and then lash it to us so the passengers could board.

The boarding.

Like I said, we saw a lot of wildlife. On the way back, we saw fewer whales and more sea lions and dall sheep. The sheep were my favorite part--no idea why. The sea lions were pretty cool, too. There was one bull in particular who was regally poised on the top of a high rock, his snout in the air, not moving a muscle as we noisily drove past in our boat.

Lazy sea lions.

Dall sheep!

After our long, but enjoyable cruise, we headed back up the beautiful (it really was) highway to Girdwood and ate pizza at the pizza place next to the bakery where we had breakfast. The pizza was really good, greasy, and cheesy. After dinner I treated Katy to ice cream because a) she rocks and b) we had both wanted ice cream for a while.

Driving back into town, we stopped at WalMart to get stuff that I'll need when I move in Friday night (we moved it because I'm going to be working all day Friday and Saturday (soft opening for the museum on Saturday). That was quite an adventure in and of itself. The people here are, as I have mentioned, peculiar. We saw quite a few characters. Katy saw one that had only rubbing alcohol, ketchup, and plastic bags. I saw two ladies in full-length floral dresses from Dress Barn and we both met a guy looking for nail polish "that won't come off" to mark his arrows with. Shopping in the food aisle, we came across this lovely scene of deliciousness: canned meats galore (see below)!

This picture doesn't do the scene justice.

After WalMart we were wiped out and headed back to crash in the hotel room where I am now writing this. Tomorrow we have nothing planned. We might go bike riding but I really have no idea. I want to try to find a bike, but we'll see. I would be perfectly fine if we didn't end up doing anything except hang around here. We're both drained from the perpetual activity.

Anyway, have a good night and I'll be back tomorrow.

P.S. Facebook album update tonight because we took so many pictures!

Day Four

Hello everyone. Today was, again, beautiful weather: 60's and sunny. Everyone is really happy with the weather and we can't argue. We had a late morning today. I watched TV and hung out and Katy got to go for a run. Around 11:45 we left to drive to Fort Richardson for the horseback-riding trip. We had to check in on the base and it was sort of an (unexpectedly) complex process. We still got to the meeting place on time and met Steve, our guide and the owner of the business Horse Trekkin' which does trail rides in and around Anchorage. He told us he and his clients before us had seen a bear and we were pretty excited to see one, too.

Me and Steve in front of the horse I rode, Duke.

We didn't see a bear, but we did see a bald eagle and A MOOSE! I spotted it. It crossed the road right in front of us and Steve's dogs froze and then started barking at it. Steve said it was a bull and the bull just stared us down, eventually running off into the woods with the dogs chasing it.

Can you see the moose? Right-hand side by the treeline.

We rode to a high area where it opened up and we could look out and see the valley below where Anchorage is. Steve pointed out Mt. McKinley and Sleeping Lady to us, ranges that people had been talking about.

Katy and I! She's on Rusty.

We came to a part of the base where clearly operations had been done before since there were burned spots and rubble around. It was open, though, and Steve told me to get on Rusty and have a go at running around. It wasn't a very good area for it, though, because the ground was uneven and Rusty wanted to stay with the rest of the horses anyway. It was pretty fun, though. On the way back we waded through a rushing stream. It was really cool. I led because Rusty is Steve's horse and knew the way and is usually the lead horse. He just got in the water and walked right through--he knew the way. I could feel the water pulling him back, though, so the current was really strong but we were fine.

Steve and I, after the ride.

After the ride, we drove up to Eagle River again. We had missed the whole town yesterday (we got off the highway too early) and so we wanted to revisit it. We got lost in a community but when we pulled up alongside to ask a mother where the town was, she offered to let us follow there after giving us an extensive list and description of all the restaurants. People here are BEYOND nice. Also, there apparently were three bears roaming the community. It's intense out here. Anyway, we followed her to the downtown area and eventually settled on Johann's Cottage Cooking and Catering. It was very "homemade" food and DELICIOUS. Best meal yet. We had taco salads each, and shared sweet potato fries, corn fritters (with devilishly delicious honey butter) and peach cobbler. It was so good.

Katy with the interior of Johann's behind her.

After dinner we drove to Thunderbird Falls, something I had read about in our guide books. It was a one-mile hike, but there were quite a few hills to walk up and down and, with a full stomach, I quickly felt ill. We got to the falls and they were sort of underwhelming but it was still a good photo op.

We went back to the hotel room and I took a nap while Katy read. Now we're hanging around the room, getting ready to go to bed for our busy, long day tomorrow. We're going to drive down the Seward highway, one of the top ten most beautiful drives in the country, and go to Seward for a whale-watching/glacier cruise tour. It's a 6-hour tour and we will see whales, other wildlife, and glaciers! I want to see a glacier before they're extinct so I'm looking forward to this next trip.

Tune in for gorgeous picture on the ride down to Seward and (hopefully) pictures of whales and other fun wildlife!

Goodnight, guys!

P.S. Facebook upload tonight!

Day Three

Hi guys! Today was less exciting, but still (oddly enough) exhausting. It started off with me being awoken by the sounds of the city outside my open window...(Katy insists on it being open for the fresh air) and her type-type-typing on the computer, industriously working remotely ON HER VACATION. I disapprove even though I've done it myself. But in this case, it was getting in the way of my sleep. Anyway, she continued to work until around 11:30 when we left and went to the bank to withdraw money so I could pay Christa for the deposit and first month's rent. We also went to the post office so I could mail some post cards.

At 1:00, I had a meeting at the Anchorage Museum with Mark, my future boss to be shown around and make a tentative schedule. The museum is amazing and the store is huge. It's going to be really cool to see it all come together in the next couple of days (the soft opening is this Saturday and the public opening is next Saturday).

After that meeting we went to Humpey's, a bar and grille nearby and sat outside, basking in the sun and eating nachos and fries. We talked about my meeting and about what we wanted to do tomorrow. We decided on horseback-riding and made the appropriate calls. 12:30 tomorrow on the Army base. Apparently the parks around here aren't open yet for horses so we have to ride on the base which will be pretty cool.

We went back to the hotel so I could change shoes because the ones I was wearing were giving me blisters after my ridiculous trek yesterday. After changing shoes I found a promising bike on Craigslist and followed up--going to go look at it tomorrow after riding. Then we drove over to Christa's to give her the money and see all the changes she had made around the house in just two days! She had put in a new TV, a bed with bedding in my future room, and put up new lights. She will have new doors (with locks, though I don't really feel the need for one) by the time I move in Saturday. I'm so excited!

My future room.

Katy in the living room.

Diamond, my new pseudo dog!

Roomies! =P

After seeing Christa, Katy and I went adventuring up to Eagle River where we climbed steep residential streets, looking for great views--we found them. As we drove up, we came around a corner and saw spectacular views of the valley and shore. There were even parasailers who had jumped from the peaks above us and were sailing down to the valley floor below. It was pretty awesome.

Case and point for beautiful.

After our adventuring we went to go find dinner; naturally, in the most obtuse way possible. We eventually settled for Boston's, an Applebee's-esque Canadian chain not to be confused with Boston Market. It was interesting and we got to see interesting people (see below).

The angelic couple.

After dinner we promptly went back to the room where Katy immediately started working again and I watched TV, my stomache starting to feel worse and worse. As I write this, it hurts but not enough that I feel confident that I might throw up. I think it will remain a dull discomfort, a definite reminder of my quality meal. Katy feels similarly. Oh well!

Now it's time for bed. Katy will work again in the morning and we'll go horseback-riding (!!!) and then go look at the prospective bike. Horses! Yay!

Tune in next time!

Goodnight, guys.

P.S. The commenting feature of the blog should be working now--let me know if it isn't.

Day Two

Hey guys! Today was amazing.

We started it off by having Life cereal in the hotel room. We went grocery shopping yesterday and got cereal and milk for the hotel room so we wouldn't have to eat out every morning.

Then we walked to the Anchorage Festival and Market down the street. It's a market that springs up every weekend of the summer. It's really cool and has lots of vendors with clothing, jewelry, and (since we're in Alaska) fur. I bought a ring that has a bead of garnet (my birthstone) in the center--lots of rocks and gems up here, even a gold rush!

Katy thought the Philly Cheese Steak vendor was ironic.

After the market we walked back to the room to get ready for our trek up a mountain! We had decided yesterday to climb the Flat Top Mountain trail. We drove there today, easily enough, despite the rental car's protestations.

The mountain from an overlook at the bottom of the trailhead.

The trail started off pretty easy with a dirt trail, but there was still snow on the ground and the melting made it icy and slick. We had to trudge through it on narrow paths smoothed by footsteps before us. It was kind of harrowing. There was definitely one part that was terrifying.

Katy in awe of the task ahead of us.

We rested often on the way up. The way down was much easier, even if it was more dangerous.

We reached a point where the trek was noticeably more dangerous and strenuous. It was pretty scary looking but I was determined. Katy decided to hang back and wait, but I went up, literally climbing rocks to the top.

Zoomed in view of the last part of the climb up.

When I made it to the top, I was so relieved and tried not to think of the climb back down which would be really scary since there was a snow bank right between the top and the first part of the rock. Slipping down that would be easy and very dangerous. I called my mom (yes, we had cell phone service!) and told her I loved her--just in case--and because I wanted to tell her I was on top of a mountain and had cell phone reception. I ended up sliding down the snowy part in the most controlled way I could. Apparently, according to a local, other locals climb up and SLIDE ALL THE WAY DOWN on the snow but it was a little too thin today to do that. Imagine.

The view was gorgeous and mind-boggling. I'm afraid of heights but my fears couldn't even register because the heights were so amazing and probably because of my stubborn determination to make it to the top. You could see so far--even across the bay to the other side-- mountains in the distance, of course. Did I mention that three-year olds and dogs climbed this? Yeah, I don't know how, but they did. I even saw a guy in flip flops.

View from the top: my trip down.

After the climb and subsequent climb down, we drove back towards the hotel. We stopped by DQ on the way back because we were in dire need of ice cream. When we made it back to the room I passed out for a much-needed nap and Katy did, well, I don't know what she did because I was asleep. I think she read.

We went to Snow Goose's for dinner and it was pretty good, despite not having a preparation of salmon that I wanted. I was looking forward to salmon but there will be many more opportunities. We came back to the room and now I'm writing!

Tune in next time to hear about my meeting with Mark, the manager of the Anchorage Museum Store where I'll be working this summer. I'll be scheduling with him and probably get a little tour of the museum which hasn't opened yet from its renovations. I'm also going to go to the bank and get out money to pay my deposit and first month's rent on the house and then bring it to Christa to lock in the room so no one takes it out from under me!

Anyway, goodnight guys!

P.S. I'm going to try to upload an album on Facebook with lots of other pictures. Katy has to work, though, so I might fall asleep before she's finished and just post the album tomorrow.

Day One

This first entry will include the flight and the first full day in Anchorage.

Some basic info. about the trip for everyone:
-My aunt Katy is with me for the first 10 days to help me get settled and to tour around with me.
-I will be working at the Red Cross office up here doing event promotion and at the Anchorage Museum in the Museum Store.
-I arrived May 15th and I will be leaving August 20th.

Waiting in the airport.

First off, the flight was WAY long. It was the longest flight I've ever been on and it definitely felt that way. Luckily, there was TV for most of the longest leg.

Taken from the plane.

We landed in Anchorage around 10ish Alaska time and 2 in the morning our time so by the time we rented the car and got to the hotel (Days Inn), it was 12 (4 our time) and Katy and I promptly passed out.

Today, we got up at 9 in the morning (1 in the afternoon our time!) and went to breakfast across the street at the Country Kitchen. It was pretty good. Reindeer sausage was available for an additional $1.19. We did not partake. It's really strange walking around Anchorage because one second it looks like a normal city and the next, you see snow-topped mountains in the distance.

After breakfast we went to meet a prospective roommate. She is REALLY nice and it looks like it will work out, though it's not set in stone. It's a cute house with a nice backyard, close to biking trails and the bus stop. I'm pretty excited and hope to move in Saturday.

After meeting Christa (the roommate) we went to the Alaska Zoo. It has a lot of indigenous animals from Alaska but is pretty sad and doesn't seem to receive much financing, despite being the state zoo... There were moose (HUGE!), polar bears, tigers, wolves, arctic foxes (adorable!)


After the zoo we went to find this trail riding place I found in one of our information books. Turns out, it's a vendor that does the rides out of an equestrian center and there was a little festival going on with demonstrations and pony rides. We stuck around for a bit and watched a cutting demonstration (where a horse and rider "cut" a cow from the herd and herd it around in specific patterns).

Then we headed back up north, to see a Salmon Viewing Platform, stopping at the 5th Ave. Mall because I needed khakis and we did a little shopping. When we got to the Salmon Viewing Platform it turned out that it's not the right season for salmon quite yet because we didn't see a single fish, despite the clear water.

After not quite viewing salmon, we went to find dinner. We decided to go to Moose Tooth's, a place we had heard a lot about from tourists and locals alike. It's a pizza place and bar that makes their own Ranch dressing, brews their own beer, and is known for their breadsticks. I can account for two of the three being as delicious as we heard--the breadsticks were fantastic.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped by a Fred Meyer (like a Super Target or Super Walmart that has food and clothes, etc.) and got food and cutlery and stuff. The people here are very easy to people-watch. Katy likens it to Dayton, Ohio.

Now we're in our hotel, exhausted, even though we really didn't do anything very strenuous. Oh well, we found me a place to live and that was the most important thing to do. Now we can do fun stuff! Still need to find me a bike, though.

Our hotel room.

Tune in next time to hear about any new developments. Tomorrow we go hiking on the Flat Top Mountain trail aka. up a mountain! Pictures, of course, will follow. For those of you on Facebook, there will be more pictures (more than on the blog, I mean) available when I post the whole week's collection this weekend. The blog will only feature highlights.

Goodnight, guys!

P.S. The sun is just setting now and it's 11:00pm.