Holiday snowfall -- more photos

Hi again,

I thought I'd take a moment during a break from shoveling to post some additional photos from later in the day as the dig-out continues. (As noted in the earlier post below, Maine received 1-2 feet of snow during a Nor'easter last night).

Kenman and Sammie near the gate in our side yard

As I write this in our living room, I can hear the scrapes of shovels and the rumble of snow blowers from every direction. It will probably take a day or so before most of us get both cars accessible again. Fortunately we're expecting a break for a day or so before the next "wintry mix" comes in on Wednesday, but I don't think much accumulation is predicted in that one (at least not yet). Typically the plows will come through again after the first pass, which means there's another pile of snow from that blocking your driveway after you clear it the first time -- so typically for a storm this size, shoveling your driveway once is not enough.

Sam loves licking snow, and stays nearby at the street as I shovel our driveway (photo taken from the road looking toward the car).

So far I've dug a path in the front of our house from the porch to the street, and out back (our driveway is actually behind our house and accessed from another little street) I've dug a single-file narrow path from the house to that street and started on the pile of snow left by the city plows in front of our driveway. That pile is going to take a while, so I won't be driving anywhere anytime soon (thank goodness for our local bus system).

I'm not a good enough photographer to really show what it looks like with the naked eye, but perhaps the photos can give you an idea the amount of snow that needs to be moved. The pile of snow between the front of the car in order to reach the street (made much larger when the plows came through) is about 10 feet by 10 feet square and comes up to my chest (I guess that's about 4.5 feet or something).

Fortunately this snowfall was a mostly dry one so it's not so heavy -- except for the parts that have drifted which get sort of packed into place, and what was thrown by the plows which tends to feel like boulder-sized chunks of concrete. So far I've dug out about1/4 of the area needed to get the car out - I'm attacking that pile a bit from each direction a little at a time. As they say, one step at a time. When there's this much snow, the biggest challenge is finding somewhere to throw it!

All the snow on the left needs to be moved to get our car out of our driveway. It's times like this I'm glad our driveway is pretty short!

The dogs took me on an unexpected adventure this morning when they decided to explore the neighborhood without me. The snow was so deep I had let them out of the gate without leashes earlier today, and they simply followed behind me as I shoveled my way up toward the car.

Silly me thought once I broke through to the road they'd continue to stay close while I shoveled, and our lead dog, Samantha did do just that. But not so for Jasmine. For a dog that moves so slowly when we're in a hurry, she can sure move quickly when she feels like it (especially when she knows she's supposed to turn around). As soon as she made her way through the "tunnel" I had dug to the street, she simply pointed her head down the street and kept right on going. Didn't turn around once, despite seeing her ears perk up when I called her (she ignored me). Oops.

Kennedy soon realized that if Jaz was going for an adventure then he wanted to go too -- so off he went behind her. So then Samantha watches them trot away, looks back at me standing their still poised with my shovel and my mouth open in surprise, looks again at Jaz and Ken's backsides as they trotted off happily down the street, and then took off after them. Oops. Oops. Oops. (One for each dog).

I couldn't really fault Sam for taking off after them when she realized they were on their own. She's turned into quite the moma dog lately and has proven herself by staying near them when we go for "intentional" off-leash walks on the beach or to a park or trail where that is allowed. During those outings, when Jaz or Ken wanders ahead out of eyesight for few minutes, Sammie stays with them until I catch up, and very often will "go find them" for me if I'm not sure where to look. This was not one of those "intentional" off leash times however and Sam knew that. But what's a lead dog to do when the pack takes off without it's leaders? Suddenly the leaders became the followers. Hmmm.

Sam followed them, with me in tow trying without success to catch up, and she stayed with them until Jaz and Ken decided to go in different directions. I could almost hear the "uhoh" from her as she looked first one way and then the other -- as I watched this from about 50 yards behind. But she watched over them quietly, never making a big ruckus about it. She reminded me of those people in life who take care of everyone around them, but do so without promoting themselves or making a big deal out of the work they do. Some of the most hard-working people I know seldom even mention all the good works they do for others--they just move through life with graceful, quiet purpose. I admire and respect that selfless way of giving back to the world. I wonder if they learned to do that by watching their dogs?

As I followed the three of them trying to catch up (my two legs just weren't a match for their 12), I could see Sam make the choice to stay with Jazz, apparently recognizing her (rightly so) as the weaker of the two. Dogs are so smart. We poor humans are lucky to maintain even a fraction of that kind of instinctual wisdom and insight.

As I followed their trail along the snow-covered streets (I could see them ahead), this meant I had to make a choice too, so I decided to corral Jaz first (knowing Sam would return via voice control), and then come back for Kennedy later. However Jaz was on a mission and made it all the way to the beach (three streets away) before I caught her and herded her back home. Without leashes the trip back was a challenge sometimes when her exploring nose turned her in a direction other than toward home when she caught an interesting scent or sight.

But as tends to happen when we use a little persistance and patience to get a job done, we made it back to the homestead eventually. Then I grabbed Sam's leash and took her with me to find Kennedy, who was fortunately on his way back home and simply taking his time to sniff and pee everywhere and on everything along the way. Male dogs never cease to amaze me at the amount of water they can generate in order to mark something. Kennedy is like a machine at that when he goes for a walk -- I simply don't know where he stores it all in that little 60-pound body of his.

Anyway, eventually we all arrived back home safe and sound, and since Sam had earned the right to be trusted off leash yet again, she was allowed to go out with me later to shovel -- sans leash. She lived up to the faith I put in her by simply sitting nearby as I shoveled, and then followed me back to the house during my next break. Obviously I realize if something just too interesting had come along she might have been tempted to check it out (she is a dog after all), but fortunately our street is pretty safe -- especially in this kind of weather when the few cars around move slowly, so it semed minimal risk in this case to give her a bit of freedom. I was very proud of how she lived up to the trust I placed in her today. After all, she had earned it when it really counted. She's amazing. It's true what they say that we can learn a lot from dogs.

It was a funny story to tell Tim later. As I mentioned Tim is on the road just now -- actually he's in the Grenadines working on some maintenance issues for our charter boat business as we prepare to move it to another location for a few months (more on that in later blog). Originally I was planning to join him there for a few days, but the earlier ice storm changed things when Red Cross opened shelters for those without power (I've been training to be a Red Cross Disaster Action Team member and this storm was the first time I've been called out in Maine). It was a very cool experience.

So we've flip-flopped plans and Tim is coming home early instead. The pups and I will take a road-trip to Boston Logan soon to pick Tim up at the airport. Sometimes life is strange like that. Wasn't it Steinbeck who said "the best laid plans of mice and men"?

But what can we do except adapt to whatever comes with a smile and get on with it? And hey, those "unexpected events" will sometimes lead to unexpected fun too -- if I keep a positive attitude and choose to look at life's twists and turns as just another part of life. To me, how things turn out in life is directly related to how willing I am to just "deal with it" with a positive spirit when things happen -- especially unexpected things. After all, wouldn't life be pretty boring if there were no unexpected twists and turns?

However, sometimes I lose my equilibrium and indulge in some self pity for a while. What can I say? I'm human with all the weaknesses therein, and have my low points just like anyone else. To me, though, the secret of life is not letting that "self pity party" become a way of life! Life's much too short for that, even for those of us who don't measure our time on earth in very short dog years. :>) And there are many small joys in everyday life too, and a positive side to most every thing that happens -- if I'm just willing to open my eyes to see and appreciate them.

It's time to get back out there and move some more snow. (My muscles are getting such a great workout I feel like Popeye except without the spinach!). So as Tigger would say TTFN!

Best, Carla

Happy Holidays!

As posted earlier I've been taking a hiatus from blogging lately, but I wanted to take a few minutes today and post a few photos of the results of Maine's latest Nor'easter.

The snow storms have been rolling in one after another lately, mostly leaving a few inches at a time -- until yesterday that is! A day-long Nor'easter dropped 1-2 feet in local areas, with winds 40-50mph which drifted the snow up to 3 or 4 feet in those concrete-heavy piles that make shoveling serious weight lifting work.

As you can see the piles in our yard are higher than the dog's backs (they are about hip high). Tim is away just now so I'm getting a good workout shoveling alone -- so far I've only made it to the gate and getting our dogs an area in our yard where they can actually get out to go to the bathroom. They were real troopers last night as they plowed their little bodies through snow higher than their head in some cases trying to circle around out there during the height of the storm.

Once little Jazzie got sort of stuck in a drift out there, and when she came inside her head was covered in snow like a snow beagle. I had been watching her from the window and was about to pull on my boots and go after her when she managed to twist herself around out of the drift and work her way back to the deck. Even at 13, she's a real trooper! I have pictures of Sammie and Jaz this morning, but none of Kennedy so far because he's still curled up in a ball upstairs in his bed sound asleep. I'm not sure he likes the cold that much and being out in it tends to wear him out.

If you've been following the news you may be aware that New England has been in the grip of winter weather several days before the official start -- beginning with a major ice storm almost 2 weeks ago that left hundreds of thousands without power and/or water for almost a week in some cases.

Red Cross opened shelters everywhere and since I've been training to be a Red Cross DAT (Disaster Action Team) member for over a year now, I was called out to work in a shelter first in South Portland, then later I lived and worked in a shelter in South Berwick (near NH border) for about 4 days. We finally closed the last Maine shelter on Wednesday or Thursday of last week I believe, but given this latest storm we may be opening some again -- the winds gusted 40-50 miles during the height of the storm and they were expecting power outages again. Of course now the problem some people might have is getting out of their houses and driveways. I'm not looking forward to seeing how high the pile is blocking our driveway from when the city plowed our street. That's always fun.

Time to go now and move some more snow. In addition to shoveling the back to get our car out, we also shovel the front porch down to the street so the postman can safely deliver our mail (in our neighborhood the mailboxes are located on the front porch and the mail carriers mostly walk from house to house -- very common in Maine towns). I'm not sure how he manages if people aren't home to shovel before he gets there, although I have seen him wading through deep snow on someone's steps to reach a mailbox before, so I'm guessing he does a lot of that when needed. Talk about troopers!

I really respect the hardiness of people in places like Maine and Montana where the weather sometimes adds another challenging aspect to everyday things like getting to your car. I learn a lot from watching the way people here just deal with whatever comes with that "let's make the best of it with a smile on our face" kind of "can do" attitude. It's inspiring....and contagious!

Stay warm all and Happy Holidays!
Best, cy

On hiatus

Greetings all,

Thanks for taking the time to check in and see what's new on the blog. As you see I have not posted anything new in several days (until now of course). That's because I've returned to Maine and right now I'm just enjoying being home!

I will likely take a hiatus for a while from blogging as I catch up on things here. It's great to be back but it also feels a little strange too. Sort of like having one foot in one world and the other in a completely different world, because Portland and Skagway are certainly different places. For example, compared to Skagway, Portland is a pretty big and "bustling" kind of place. Interesting that I didn't see it that way before spending almost 5 months in Skagway. I see what they mean now by that saying "everything is relative." But Portland is a great town and I look forward to getting re-acquainted with life in Maine!

So until a bit later......cheers to all!

Note: Photos on this posting were taken at the new Mercy Hospital campus with our doodles and the memorial paving stone we donated in honor of Sandy and his pet therapy work at the hospital. The paving stone is near Samantha's nose in the photo above.

[Note to Allison in Skagway - If you're reading this I wanted you to know that the photo of me and "the snoops" above is dedicated to you. As you can see I followed your advice and hugged my dogs when I got back (kind of a lot actually, but you know me....Tim and our guys are pretty used to getting squeezed by me pretty often!) Please hug Talie for me too okay? Cheers! cy]

What’s Next?

[Revised 9/15/08]

That’s a happy question that a family member asked me the other day via email, and that is a GREAT question. This seasonal employment thing is a very different kind of lifestyle, but I think I could get used to it. Obviously that “unknown” component of seasonal work can be stressful (perhaps more for some people than others) – but to me it’s not that different than people who are self-employed contractors or who own their own businesses.

Glacier Point Wilderness Safari near Haines

Those entrepreneurs also don’t always know for sure when that next job is coming or where it might come from – so in both cases it’s a matter of “doing your homework” to plan what you can, and then rolling with the unknowns until things come together. And it helps if we can simplify our lives and pare down our belongings and expenses, because then that waiting process is perhaps a bit more financially and emotionally tenable. As with most things in life, it’s all about my choices and how I deal with whatever consequences comes from them.

In thinking about what is next for me, I’ve learned a lot from talking with and listening to friends and acquaintances of all ages and backgrounds who have been doing this kind of work for a while. And co-workers are also often terrific sources for ideas and leads for what to do next as well. And right now, the “what’s next” question is one that we are all asking each other as we wind up our final days at our current position and go our separate ways in the world – at least until next May when some of us will meet here in Alaska again.

Davidson Glacier near Haines

And the answers are as varied and interesting as the people giving them. Some people, like me, are going home to family who were unable to be here this time around. So they are returning home – perhaps to school to finish undergrad work in college or to pursue an advanced degree, or perhaps to another seasonal job where they live and work the rest of the year. Some are teachers who do this in the summer vacation months from school or other jobs that are not year round. Others are returning to wherever they’ve stored their belongings while in Alaska, and once the next job is lined up they will move those belongings there for seven months until it’s time to store them again for another season in Alaska or somewhere similar.

I guess to some people this vagabond sort of life may seem strange. But when I think of this I am often reminded of a quote by writer and adventurer Tom Neale, who along with his wife lived aboard and raised two daughters on the Chez Nous (French for “our house”) sailboat, I believe including home schooling their children as they traveled. I read in Tom’s book, “All in the Same Boat”, about a question he received from someone once when they asked: “Why do you live on a boat?” And his answer was a simple but yet profound, “Why do you live in a house?” That pretty much says it all.

Chilkat Mountains near Haines

Our choices in life may be different than someone else’s, but that doesn’t make one “better/worse” or “more normal/stranger” than the other. Granted there are probably more people who choose the “typical” path, and that’s cool. But I’m reminded of a friend and co-worker from Skagway who--upon telling friends “back home” what she and her husband do in the summer--received the response “Gee, I wish I could do that.” And her question to them was simply “Why can’t you?” It’s amazing how we can be taught (or conditioned) by society to think we “can’t” (or "shouldn't") do things if they are out of the ordinary. Hmmmm…..I guess it mainly depends on whether or not we want to be ordinary. For me, if someone decides to follow the more traditional path for their life, then that's cool -- many amazing people do exactly that, and do it very well. But if someone else decides to follow a different path from mine, then if I expect other people to respect my choices about my life and support me in that, then shouldn't I be just as willing to accept and support someone else's choices for theirs?

Jewel Gardens and restaurant on the north end of Skagway

One advantage of moving around in life is that it sort of opens our eyes and minds to other "ways of thinking" or "ways of being" that we might not have even known existed before. And sometimes it also allows us to discover just how narrow our own minds were before the experience, when we perhaps associated only with those who were"more like us." Funny, how doing that now sounds kind of boring to me. If I open my mind to other lifestyles, religions, careers and types of families with an accepting and non-judgemental heart, then that "black and white" life changes to a beautiful kaleidoscope of color that I might have missed (or not appreciated) before. And if I'm lucky, I might even begin to think about options that I never even knew existed before back when I had that much narrower scope.

There are lots of different ways of living, both personally and professionally. And there are always potential "extraordinary" opportunities out there if we’re motivated enough to seek them out and make them work - which of course means accepting and dealing with whatever "downsides" that come with that choice. Sort of a yen and yang thing. And of course we can sometimes stumble onto things too – especially if we’re open to the possibilities and paying enough attention to be aware of it when one presents itself.

So as to what's next for me, I don't know yet, but it's interesting to look at the possibilities. One gentleman I work with here mentioned they need drivers in Vail Village for the winter and he seemed to think I was a good fit with the types of employees they recruit. And while I might enjoy doing that if Tim and I could relocate there as our “home base” for a while with our dogs and rent our house in the meantime, I doubt that’s in the cards this year for very pragmatic reasons.

There are also potentials in the Caribbean near St. Vincent that have cropped up since my extended time there earlier this year – so it’s likely that I’ll return there for at least part of the winter to continue paving the way for what we hope is a more permanent fixture in a few years. As an LL Bean seasonal employee last year, I recently received a letter inviting me to apply again for the holiday season, and given how physically fit I felt after working there for a few months, that has a certain appeal. Or perhaps I'll look for something more "in my field" and go back to that for a while -- who knows? And of course, my volunteer work in Maine with the Coast Guard Auxiliary, Mercy Hospital and hopefully the incredible PopTech conference in Camden are probably highest on my priority list for next steps. So again, who knows?

So in answer to that question about “what is next” for me – I’m afraid I’ll have to get back to you on that. And to me, the process of figuring it out from the “potentials” and putting the pieces together to make it all work is half the fun. If you follow this blog, then I’ll keep you posted. So as they say….please stay tuned….

Best, Carla

Life in a 4 x 22 block town ..... four months later

[New photos added 8/24/08]

Our Sales and Service team with some of the Ryndam crew at a farewell end-of-season dinner on board ship. Our crew were guests of the ship for dinner in the main dining room for a spectacular meal prepared by the renowned Holland America Line (HAL) chefs and served by an incredibly attentive staff. It was a very special treat.

Greetings all, and I hope this entry finds you all well and enjoying a great summer.

Those of us spending the summer in Skagway, Alaska can't really say we've seen much summer yet -- although we have had brief glimpses of what right now seems like a mythical creature (summer). We did actually string together two -- count them -- TWO days of sunshine and temps that inched finally into the 70's a few days ago. But alas, we are now back to our staple of cool and rainy. Again.

The luggage crew maneuvers massive amounts of luggage between ship, coach and hotel every day.

As I think I mentioned earlier, the season is starting to wind down now, although it doesn't officially end until the last cruise ship (Celebrity's Millennium) arrives and departs on Saturday, September 27. But the town's season actually begins to shut down gradually in early September, and of course we've already lost some employees who are college students and are returning home for fall semester.

At the Sales and Service desk we have four "ship days" left -- even though ships arrive every day, there are only two ships that we "turn around" between land and sea tours on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and that finishes in early September. After that it's just working the dock and daily shore excursion tours for the remaining ships of the season, so things should slow down considerably on most days.

I spent my 46th birthday in Alaska this year,and Dorseitta and I shared this dessert after my birthday dinner at the Stowaway Cafe. It's one of the nicest restaurants in Skagway and I had never been there before, so they helped me celebrate my birthday with a group dinner there. This dessert was bananas and cheesecake stuffed into these pastry shells and drizzled with chocolate. Decadent.

As I think I mentioned in an earlier posting, I've dropped two of my three part-time jobs and am down to just one now -- which is a welcome break after 3 months juggling all three (this is not unusual during the Alaska season -- many of us have more than one job). My sales and service position entails working most of the time at the desk in the Westmark Hotel. I like the job and especially the people I work with -- there are six of us "girls" that work the desk (myself, Helen from Michigan, Alyssa from Florida, Dorseitta from North Carolina, and Beka and Gina from California). We all work for Robin who is most recently from Seattle, and we also work with the hotel staff, dock reps, tour directors, coach drivers, luggage crew, and of course other tour operators from all over the US and Canada (and a few other countries as well).

Our Sales and Service manager, Robin (center) ponders the many menu choices during dinner onboard the Ryndam with David (right, ship's hotel manager) and the guest services manager.

What I like most about the job is the sense of team spirit that I find here -- because you don't find that everywhere. Our desk crew is very supportive of each other -- rather than being competitive with each other. We pull together to get the job done with humor and shared effort. It's great when it works, and from what I've seen, it works at our desk or wherever our team is located. And judging from the feedback we get from tour directors and most guests, it seems others notice that too. It's amazing how many good things can happen when people work together -- it's a great environment and I'm glad to be there.

Our team on the docks by the Ryndam after dinner on a cool and rainy summer night in Skagway.

The lobby is a very busy place on ship days. These passengers have just finished land tours, have stayed in the hotel overnight and are waiting to board their coaches which will take them to their cruise ship for the next part of their land-sea tour.

The work is not hard but it can be a bit chaotic, especially on ship days when we are turning around 500-600 passengers in a few hours. On any given "ship day" there are typically two of us at the desk, two people on the train and two on the ship -- with Robin shuttling to wherever she is needed to problem-solve those unexpected things which seem to happen most every day. Missing luggage, missing passengers, people who miss their tours, people who get on the wrong tour accidentally, canceled flights and cancelled tours, and of course the more serious things like illness (Norwalk tends to plague the cruise industry) and injury -- you name it, it's probably happened in Skagway too.

Our job also involves occassionally shuttling people to and from the airport or the dock, or going onboard the Ryndam or the Statendam to register guests as they embark on the ship, or to collect belongings for them left behind when they departed. For example, the other day two gentlemen approached me at the sales desk because one of them thought he had left his wallet and hat in his cabin on the ship (it was either there or in his checked luggage, he couldn't remember which -- and his luggage was already on a coach headed for his upcoming hotel in another town). And they were supposed to board the train bound north in less than 30 minutes. Tourists are so funny (and I say that because I TOO am a tourist sometimes). But in this case, here is why I was reminded of this again:

Part of our crew at the desk (from left, Beka, Dorseitta and Gina catching a nap on D's shoulder. I'm hiding in back there talking to someone and not paying attention when this was taken. Imagine that!).

We called the ship to see if they could locate his items left behind as they were cleaning the rooms for embarking guests, and while waiting for their response I wanted to find out how to reach them in case it was found before his train left. After all, there would be literally hundreds of people getting on that train, so I needed to have some idea of how to find him in the throngs of people -- most helpful would be which train car he'd be in since groups are placed in assigned cars, so I needed to know which tour group he was joining (they had met their tour directors earlier in the day).

When guests embark on escorted land tours they are in a tour group which has a unique number (usually 1-9), and a tour director who accompanies them the entire route. (As a side note, the tour director position is the one I'm most interested in next year, but that's a story for another time). Anyway, I asked him what his tour number was. Don't know. No problem I said, who is your tour director and I can find it that way. One guy looked at the other and the other guy shrugged his shoulders and they both looked blankly back at me. Okie dokey. How about an itinerary -- do you have that? One looks kind of sheepish and the other just sort of scratches his head -- same blank look from both. All righty then. Where are you going next? Ummmm...I think Canada somewhere. Very helpful.

This was becoming one of those defining moments where we learn about ourselves and how patient we can be toward another person who perhaps isn't at the top of their game at that moment (and after all, whom of us hasn't been there?). My response was to contine to smile at him and act like this was the most natural predicament in the world (and indeed, it DOES happen), we just needed to work together to get ourselves out of it.

Expediting coaches - guests who have completed their land tours and are embarking on the ship leave the hotel on coaches which drive them to the docks for boarding and registration on board.

At this piont it became a process of elimination using what I knew of the tours and some basic detective skills. Cool, I get to play Nancy Drew.....or perhaps Jessica Fletcher is closer to the mark in this case. Anyone on an even-numbered tour would have been embarking (getting on) the ship instead of disembarking, so that meant he was on an odd-numbered tour. Now we're getting somewhere. Some of the tours going north visit similar cities, and given their confusion over their itinerary I didn't think this would be a likely way to determine his tour -- so I grabbed the list of tour directors from the odd-numbered tours and starting naming names, hoping for the best. Eureka -- they both recognized one. We have lift-off. Tour identified, I now could probably find him at the train depot later by asking dispatch which train car his group was assigned to. The problem is this process took some time, and the train is departing in about 20 minutes, and we havn't heard back from the ship yet.

Bekah asssisting guests at the sales and service desk.

No problem, I ushered them on their way with the reassurance that even if we can't get it to them before the train leaves, we can send it up on the next coach and get it to him that way. Or at least that's what I HOPE we can do (I've never actually done this before). I'm finding that working in the travel industry has so many unknowns everyday that sometimes the job entails about 60% actual knowledge, 30% bluffing your way though things you aren't sure about, and the remainder is dumb luck -- or when luck is not with you -- pure creativity and resourcefulness in trying to pull something together that works. It can be stressful, but it's also kind of a rush.

The ship calls a few minutes after the two men leave for the train and yes they found something in the cabin, so off Carla goes to grab our van and zip over to the ship a few blocks away. But of course it's a Tuesday (4 ships in port), and all three streets leading to the ships are crowded with pedestrians from the ships. Basic van driving training is pretty easy without passengers -- lights on, seatbelts on, honk horn twice before backing up, watch VERY carefully for pedestrians and the many coaches we have in town, and stop at ALL railroad crossings (little Skagway has about four I think, two of which I needed to cross between the hotel and ship). Piece of cake.

Dorseitta during our group dinner at the Stowaway Cafe.

As I left the hotel I stopped and patiently waited for the guy taking a picture of his wife in front of the hotel (they were both standing in the middle of the road). This took about two full minutes. No I'm not kidding or exaggerating. Then as I approached the intersection I waited for the coaches who were also waiting for the tourists standing in the middle of the intersection taking photos of the ship or the boardwalks along broadway or the Red Onion Saloon or each other or perhaps the trashcans (again, not kidding here, our trashcans are "bear proof" so they are a novelty to some people).

After another 4 our 5 minutes waiting to turn left at one intersection, I inch my way through the throngs of people crossing the street in that unending stream one sees on Skagway on any given weekday, especially Tuesday or Wednesday. Then as I inch along past people crossing the street anywhere and everywhere, then pause for the people walking in the middle of the road toward their cruise ship at the end of Broadway -- leaving the perfectly good sidewalks on either side very lonely -- I finally make it to the ship less than 500 yards away from the hotel about 10 minutes later. Are you getting the idea here? Skagay in the summertime is nothing if not a reinforcement of that "patience is a virtue" thing.

One day I surrepticiously snapped this one of Robin through the open window at the desk when she was busy expediting buses.

I finally get to the ship and park the van in the coach lot, grab my dock pass and sprint the 100 yards along the long pier to the gangway, flashing my ID at port security, then wait again for the people coming down the gangway who take up both sides and don't seem to realize it's not one-way traffic, and up I sprint along the steep metal steps (it's steepest at low tide and they often have to move the gangways during the day with our 10-15 foot tidal changes). So up the ramp I go, waiting my turn in line as the passengers stop at the boarding area to have their badges scanned before boarding, and finally I'm at the makeshift boarding desk. I flashed my badge again (I was also in the Holland America land-based uniform), I gave the cabin number and they handed me the items.

Now what I expected was a man's wallet and baseball cap. What I got was a lady's black dress handbag and beige scrarf. Hmmmmmm. Curious. I asked again if this was from the right cabin, and sure enough there was a sticky note on the items with the right cabin number. I was confused, but what to do except take it and go? Back down the ramp, along the pier, and into the van--drumming my fingers while waiting for more people in the road and stopping at both train crossings--not for the train because it isn't across the tracks, but for people there too.

Finally I pull up to the train depot, hurredly park the van and sprint another 30 yards to the train boarding area. Now the fun begins. The place is a zoo with people getting off buses and onto trains and the reverse, and I don't typically work at the train depot so I don't really know the process here and I can't find the dispatch person. So I start asking anyone I see in uniform if they know which car this group is in. No one does. A few cars have our tour number signs on them so that helps, but finally I just start checking with the tour director at each car. Fortunately I luck out and find the group, so I'm scanning the people as they climb aboard the metal train steps looking for these two guys, hoping I remember what they looked like.

Casual life in small-town-USA. This is a typical scene in Skagway - -a truck with a big dog in the back, and conversations held at intersections or in the middle of the street when traffic is light and no one is waiting.

I look into the train and -- luck is really shining on me today -- because there they both are in the front seat of the train car. Yes! I slide into line, up the steps and walk into the train car and they reconize me too and look at me expectantly. So I pull out the items and indicate this is what the stewards found -- the guy looks at little confused, but looks back at his wife a few seats back and asks her if this looks familiar and she says "Oh yes, that's mine." Wow. Too bad they don't have a valet or something to help them keep track of things. He had mentioned something about being out late the night before, but one wonders HOW late. I wonder what their kids are like -- or if they know where they are. (Just kidding......well, mostly anyway).

"T and D" (Dorseitta - right - is often called "D", and I know our dock rep only by "T" because I've never heard her called anything else).

I'm being a bit punchy perhaps after four months of stories just like this one -- because this story is pretty typical of the kinds of things we see every day. For a very small town it has lots of people passing through it in the summertime, so it makes things interesting sometimes.

I mentioned earlier that next year I'd like to look for something that gets me out of Skagway more often. It's not that I don't like Skagway -- it's a dramatically beautiful spot with stunning scenery and great outdoor opportunities, so I certainly like that; and the people who live here are friendly and resourceful people. But I'm not much of a shopper, so the "shopping mall" atmosphere is not really that appealing to me personally -- and for a town this size, I personally think 2 or 3 jewelry stores would be plenty -- rather than the 18 0r 20 that line the main street. I gather the cruise ships own most of them, and they ship staff and merchandise between here in the summer and the Caribbean in the winter. It's a life.

But the town can feel a bit claustrophobic after a while. Remember it's bound on the south by the sea and the north by the White Pass which narrows quickly to a single highway width in less than two miles from the sea, and it's bordered both east and west by steep and rocky mountains. There's only one road out of town and that's the highway north through that pass (also called the Klondike Highway) -- and the next town of any real size is Whitehorse in Canada about 130 miles north. And the next town south is Haines which is 30 minutes by "fast ferry" (cost about $30 roundtrip even for most locals).

Can you imagine that every day for weeks or even months these were the bounds of where you typically traveled? Twenty-two blocks north to south, and four blocks east to west (and those four blocks don't run the full length of town). Skagway gives an entirely new meaning to the term "small world."

Left - expediting coaches which take passengers to their cruise ships.

Right - Fairway Market - Skagways' sole grocery/pharmacy/pet supplies/party store. (I'm kidding - the "pharmacy" is simply part of an aisle where they sell over-the-counter meds and such -- there is no "pharmacist" or pharmacy counter. And the same is true for pet and party supplies -- it's just a section of an aisle where they have a few things in that line). The market carries basic staples only -- so there is no deli, no bakery, no butcher department (just a couple shelves w/meat), no card department (just one turning rack), no roasted chickens or other pre-prepared foods (unless you count Lunchables). Pretty basic fare. Not exactly your typical Safeway or Winn Dixie.

As I mentioned in earlier blogs, we have one market, one bank, one post office, and one electronics store (Radio Shack, in a building about the size of a small convenience store and crammed full of several "mini-stores" -- it also functions as the video rental place, the photo-print place, and upstairs is the tanning salon and some other little corner store which I forget right now). Our "pharmacy" is the one aisle of the market (about 15-20 feet long) which contains a few brands of shampoos, baby products, personal hygiene products, and vitamins and over-the-counter items. I believe all medicines are shipped in except the few that can be dispensed at our clinic -- but there isn't a doctor there (only EMT's and I believe a physicians assistant), so even that is limited.

We also have only one radio station, but I'm pretty impressed with the people who run it, because they simply rotate their programming between different kinds of music and talk radio so that there is something for everyone -- perhaps not all the time of course, but sooner or later. I might turn it off during the times scheduled for the twang of country-western music or the gardening talk show because those are not really my things, but I tune in when they have Car Talk or What I Believe on NPR or when it's time for the jazz or pop rock music. I think it's pretty cool how they do it -- you just learn when to tune in and when to do something else if you aren't into what's playing -- the result is everyone probably gets a turn at listening to what they like. Very nice.

One of our dock reps, "T", and one of the tour directors at the desk working out passenger transport logistics on a ship day.

We also have one hardware store who's motto is "if we don't have it then you don't need it". It's amazing what you learn to do without when that saying "you can't get that here" is real life. Now of course you can get it eventually if you order it and have it shipped, and pay the sometimes very high shipping fees (I ordered some electronic gear over the Internet and paid $20 to ship it here, then paid even more later to ship it back when it wasn't compatible. And since there is no FedEx or UPS or postal pickup, that meant I boxed it up myself and lugged it to the post office and waited in line to ship it -- mail is "self service" here for the most part). And I was lucky, after ordering it arrived in only 4 days ("overnight" to Skagway takes 2 days minimum). The planes flew every day during that time -- sometimes they don't if the weather is bad and we're socked in by clouds or fog -- and when that happens the mail sometimes doesn't arrive for days unless they can get it on a ferry or barge. You really do learn to do without sometimes -- you don't always have much choice.

Bekah -- always fun but never one to be shy -- clowns around with her ribs during our group dinner at the Stowaway.

Perhaps that is why I have so much admiration for people who live here year round --- after all, that can't be easy. This town, with all it's quaint appeal and beautiful scenery, is not for the spoiled or faint of heart. I can do this for 4 or 5 months, but I admit I'm already making a list of all the things I want to see, smell and eat when I return to Maine in a few weeks. While of course being at home with Tim and the pups and other loved ones is of course the most important thing -- I never realized it was possible to miss what is most places every day things so much -- like even fast food! A McDonald's Big and Tasty and large fry is sounding awfully good right now. And let's not forget sushi......and going to a movie.....and driving through a drive-up window (yes I even miss that)....and even waiting at a stoplight.....and I wouldn't really mind going an entire day without seeing a single cruise ship. I'll bet the Skagwayan's have a big party after that last ship leaves (along with all of we summer workers), and they get their town back after 5 long months. And if they do -- I don't blame them.

Until next time, cheers! Carla

Ghosts and Good Time Girls Walking Tour of Skagway

This Sunday morning dawned yet another cloudy and rather gray day in Skagway, but since it was my day off I decided to try and go stand-by on another one of the tours I sell at the Sales and Service desk. Obviously we can inform our guests better about the tour if we’ve taken the tour ourselves and have first-hand experience, so even though I take the tours on my own time I consider it a great perk of the job.

Our "madam" tour guide, "Landa Mandalay"

Today’s tour was the Ghost and Good Time Girls Walking Tour, led by a lovely young “madam” in full 1898 “red light district” costume. Our guide for today’s tour was the petite Madam Landa Mandalay, originally from Wyoming but a recent graduate of college in Utah.

Lessons in street walking and learning how to "stop traffic"

The tour begins at the building which currently houses both the Skagway City Museum and City Hall, but which previously was a women’s college. From there the tour saunters through the streets and ‘back alleys” of Skagway, touching on the historic buildings and other landmark with of course a special emphasis on the good time girls who worked in brothels throughout the region and were an important part of the gold rush era.

The tour takes a light-hearted look at the occupational aspects and hazards of what life was like in the late 1800’s for a madam or “good time” girl, so it’s a good idea to bring your sense of humor and get into the spirit of the experience. Although the tour does touch on some of the realities of the occupation with the mention of bouncers which were a fixture in most brothels and bordellos for obvious reasons, and there is also a brief reminder that while prostitution may be illegal in most places today, real life sexual slavery does still exist today – and the US is no exception to this harsh reality.

The upstairs brothel tour

But that educational reminder aside, the remainder of the tour is simply aimed at a fun look at perhaps the brasher side of the Klondike’s history, including the chance to learn how to “walk the streets” with style and how to “stop traffic,” and also touching on some of Skagway’s local ghost stories.

The tour ends at the famous (or perhaps infamous) Red Onion Saloon and fomerly brothel. There is still a brothel upstairs, but now guests only get a tour! Photo at right shows Madam Mandalay finishing the "stopping traffic" walk with her typical stylish flourish!

The finale is an upstairs tour of the historic Red Onion Saloon and Brothel, an actual former brothel where the upstairs still gives visitors a delightful (but legal) twist on the “$5 for 15 minutes” visit!

Floating the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve in Haines

Greetings again readers!

Now that the season is beginning to wind down, I'm trying to take full advantage of my remaining time in Alaska by squeezing in as many tours as possible on my days off. Most people don't make a lot of money as seasonal employees since the hourly wage is not very high, but the "free tour sharing" offered here as a courtesy from one vendor to another is one of the great perks of working in the industry since the cost of many of these excursions can be high. These types of opportunities are why most of us are here.

Floating the Chilkat River in the bald eagle preserve.

Last week I enjoyed floating through the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve in Haines, where in the fall thousands of eagles converge in their natural habitat. This time of year the number of eagles in the preserve is much lower than that peak gathering, but even so the chances of seeing them in groups is pretty good.

Helen and others in our group cross a small portion of the river after donning our loaner wading boots to access the put-in spots for our rafts.

The trip started with a 30-minute ride on the fast ferry to Haines via the Lynn Canal fjords, followed by another 20 minutes or so via bus from the Haines docks to the preserve and put-in area for the floats. Since I have different days off from my co-workers, we often end up taking these tours alone since we most often do them on our days off, but this trip I was lucky that a friend and co-worker, Helen from the Holland America Sales desk, was able to go on the same day as me. So far our days at the desk on "ship days" have been so busy that I simply haven't had time to take any photos at that workplace -- but I'll try to do that if time allows before the season ends.

A marker just ahead of glacier-filled valley

After arriving at the Chilkat River, our group donned the loaner wading boots from the guide company and crossed a section of the river to where our rafts waited at the put-in spot. We first enjoyed a great picnic lunch along the river, and then after gearing up in our life jackets we climbed into the rafts and our guides paddled us into the river "flats."

Helen and I shared the aft section of the raft, just behind our guide.


Given our....ahem.....tempestuous weather in southern Alaska this summer, we really lucked out with a partly cloudy day with mild winds and even some sunny breaks. I found this float trip incredibly beautiful with awesome views up the valleys of glaciers and mountain passes in the distance, and beautiful rocky river shores and soaring eagles all along the route.

We saw eagles sitting up in trees watching for salmon and other prey in the river, eagles soaring high overhead like silent sentinels watching and waiting, and eagles sitting on driftwood along the riverbanks. They were everywhere, and were pretty easy to spot --that white "golf ball" like head stands out quite well among the green leaves of a tree or the grey river rock.

Eagles along the riverbank during our float of the "flats."

Our river guide, Carl, and the other guides worked hard and really earned their tips as they muscled the heavy rafts through the shallows and steered us along the way. My favorite part of the considerable skills they exhibited was when they needed to stop the raft along the way -- with one solo guide per raft - to watch them take a huge leap from raft to the closest bank as we floated by in the fast water with a rope attached to them -- their body acting as our "anchor." Once they had man-handled the raft to a stop (or woman-handled in some cases, because there were women guides too), they'd scope out the water ahead or wait for the rafts behind to keep our armada of 6 rafts together along the several-mile float. It was an awesome site to watch.

As we approached the lower section of the river the guide paddled us over to the take-out spot. We were in the lead raft so we were the first to arrive at the post-raft snacks waiting for us in a shady spot along the shore: homemade chocolate chip cookies, hot chocolate and lemonade. Yum.


Helen and I at the take-out spot at the end of the float. Ours was the lead raft and our group is waiting for the remaining rafts to arrive.

As we enjoyed our snacks we watched the rafts which had followed us along the river arrive one-by-one at the take-out spot to unload their passengers. This is my kind of public transport!

Our talented guide, Carl, setting up the snack table after the after the float. Naturalist, river guide, lunch and snack server -- these guys do it all!

After removing our life jackets and leaving them on the tarp to dry, we enjoyed our snacks and then switched back from wading boots to our shoes which the support team had brought along to the put-out spot. Then we re-boarded the bus and headed back to Haines and our 30-minute return ferry trip back to Skagway. This is another great Alaska trip for anyone who loves the outdoors, wildlife and the water!

Until next time, cheers! cy