Epic Alaska, Part 4

More from the Ridge in Salcha

Saying Goodbye

After the furious shenanigans of camp, it was back to the relative quiet of Salcha. I love Salcha, the beauty of the place is startling. I would be leaving in a few days and my heart was not ready. I savored each day. I spent the majority of my time outside, drinking in the landscape with the urgency only the knowledge of fleeting time can impart.

(Trust me, I'm good.)

Twister and I at an old trapper's cabin we found while out fourwheeling. It looked like someone may have been staying there recently.
A wonderful little stream just tucked away beneath the undergrowth.
The literal "end" to a good day in the outdoors.
Kayaking at the Brinks ...
...observing whatever came my way.

I discovered, while in Alaska, that I have a great love of fourwheeling...and surprisingly, a fair amount of skill. I spent most of my last days here riding with new found friends...to the tops of ridges, hidden woods, and well, mud filled puddles. I felt more alive out there than I had in ages. It was truly one of the happiest times of my life.

Risk standing in the sanctuary.

While we were at camp, a the church had continued to be reconstructed by helpers from near and far. Although the work was slow and the schedule lacked behind, there was some forward progress. It was good to see the beginnings of a new roof for the place.

Battleship, Cody, and Twister having fun and hanging out.

Dave-O and Alex!

Cody, my fourwheeling friend, was having a birthday while we were all in town so it was out to Fairbanks to celebrate. It was also my last night. I could hardly believe it. The dinner celebration was fun and Lena and Alex, a couple of the campers, came to join us...for which I was glad. The other councilors and by now, real friends were also there...as was Dave-O...my Alabama homeboy. Dinner was good, but the company was better. We laughed, we took pictures, we got other tables involved in singing.

LOOK AT THOSE!


Shiny disco shirt and stripper heels...
Twister in an outfit someone actually once wore...for real.


The sky in Fairbanks over Fred Meyer...I can't imagine stepping out and seeing that every day.
Lena "thuggin'."

After that, it was off to Value Village and Fred Meyer. Now, a trip to a thrift store and superstore might not sound like the best way to spend your last few hours in Alaska, but when in Rome... As it turns out, I could not have imagined the hilarity that was about to ensue. Value Village is a whole world of wonderful goods and we took full advantage of the offerings.They had everything from shiny disco jumpsuits, hooker heels, to gigantic grandma (new) thunderpants (which I later purchased and sent to a friend...hopefully those are finding some kind of shenanigans out on the Bering Sea.) Now, Fred Meyer, we decided to play a few games of scavenger hunt which is basically where you pull obscure items from the shelf all over the store and make someone else find where to put it back. We broke up into teams and went for it. (The Alaskans had the unfair advantage! We don't have this store in the south!) The items we chose for each other included, a small pack of nails, a girdle, gas relief medication, and other various delights. Good times...team AK, was obviously, the winning team. Later, as we were checking out, the cashier saw us getting a bit emotional at the fact that I was leaving. I was standing there with Battleship, Twister, and Lena. She asks, "You're leaving...are you their mom?" She was serious. I was utterly floored. "Their mother? THEIR MOTHER?" Battleship is a couple of years younger than I am, Twister is 19, and Lena 16...I am TWENTY SEVEN! I asked her in a heated tone..."No, no, I am not, AM NOT their M O T H E R, how old do you think I am?" I was even more floored when she said "I dunno, 27 or 28." So, yes, yes, Fred Meyer cashier, I had my first child at 3. At this point, Lena made me leave the store, fearing for the employee...just as well, we had to get going to the airport anyway.
Risk, Dave-O, Me, Battleship, (who said I could NOT leave) Lena, and Alex. I love you guys!

The airport...leaving felt wrong. It just didn't seem like I should be going. We all tried not to get overly emotional, but we pretty much all cried. The TSA agents asked if I was leaving my family (at least they didn't ask if I was everyone's mother!) when I told them we'd only known each other a little over a week, they looked rather quizzical. I can't even explain it...there was a bond there...time didn't matter. As I walked to security and looked back at them one last time, I wondered if we would ever all see each other again... then I turned, handed my ticket to the TSA officer and...was denied entrance into the terminal. Apparently, the ticketing agent hadn't given me enough tickets...according to the ones I had, I wasn't leaving Fairbanks...so I turned around and headed right back to the group. Confusion was pretty much the order of the day at that point. Well, we got the ticket situation done and then we had to go through the goodbyes again...but this time for real. Lena followed me as far as she could and I looked back until she was out of sight...and then I allowed myself to cry as hard as I wanted to. I cried for hours, constantly, unable and unwilling to stop. I felt as if I was leaving a piece of myself behind...and in a way I was...but that's not so bad, because I carried so many new pieces home. As much as the tears flowed, as much as I missed the people, the place, the feelings it all imparted, the tears were not cried with a sense of loss, simply a sense of being overwhelmed. I try to live with the thought "don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." Still, I might...perhaps...cry a little.

Epic Alaska, Part 2

This is the second part of my original blog. This details the actual events of my trip, seeing my friend Dave-O, and working at Camp Baldwin in Delta Junction...and less of the internal ponderings I'm so prone to...well...ponder.

Part 2...continued from part 1...obviously.

The Flight to Seattle. The plane was late, I missed seeing some friends...it happens.

Mt. Rainier from the plane. One of these days, I'll see it from the base instead of the Summit.

Some of the landscape from the plane.

1:30PM Friday, July 18th…leave Alabama…travel roughly 3800 miles through 3 airports, 2 ghettoed up Delta planes, and one nice ride from Alaska air.


This is what hours and hours of air travel, delays, and airport food makes me look like. (Horror.)

Santa's house in North Pole AK...around 2:30 AM.

Giant drawings on the Santa Claus house wall.

12:30AM arrive in Fairbanks, Alaska…hungry, tired, slightly anxious, but completely excited.
Dave-O picked me up and we drove to North Pole where I grabbed the first hot food I saw…a "box of meat" from Safeway and hungrily ate it…it would later exact its revenge on me. Never eat a box of assorted animal parts at 1:30 in the morning…or ever…then we stopped by the Santa Claus house for a few goofy pictures. After that, it was off to the Brink's house, my weekend digs. There was no fanfare, no big meet and greet when I arrived, I simply walked through the front door, down the stairs and crashed on an open couch in the basement…where I could hear the breathing of maybe 3 or 4 other people. Dave-O had brought in my luggage and I drifted off to dreamland only a foot off the permafrost…yes, the basement was ridiculously cold, but you don't punch a gift horse in the neck and I was grateful to have a place to sleep.

Home sweet home on the weekends...a wonderful, kind, family lives here.

The next morning, I met some of the other folks I'd be hanging/working with over the next week, there was Battleship, Risk, and Twister, and I think Guess Who was there that night too, (no, their parents weren't all in some Milton Bradley cult; all of the councilors had board game names...to add to the campy fun of...camp. I was Mousetrap.) I wondered what they were all going to think of "the new girl" who just kind of showed up in the middle of the night and invaded their space. After all, they'd been there since May working at the camp and here I was just dropping into the middle of everything! Now, the Brinks themselves, the owners of the house were down fishing Salmon on the Copper River, so I still hadn't met my host.

One of the sled dogs at the cabin. He may look vicious, but he's actually quite gentle.

Well…it took a while to read everyone's personality, but all was cool so no worries there as far as I could see. Still, I hadn't met Mark, the guy running the camp I'd be helping out at…and considering we'd never even spoken on the phone, I was a bit nervous. Sooo, we were off to Salcha Baptist, the church he pastors, where they were doing construction on a new roof with a world changers team. Again, in typical Alaskan fashion, there was Mark, with his hands deep in some work offering a quick hello and nice to meet you, then, back to the task at hand. We pulled insulation, removed drywall, and tarped the gaping hole where a roof used to stand. New trusses and equipment stood around the building waiting to be put into place…but that would be for another day. Everyone there worked hard and I enjoyed being able to help out in whatever small way I could. The rest of the night was spent hanging in North Pole, goofing around and getting to know each other a little better. It was good times.

The blue tarp in the Sactuary at Salcha Baptist...when you don't have a roof...you've got to have something!

The next morning we attended church at Salcha Baptist…quite an experience with the hue of the tarp casting smurf like shades of blue over the congregation, not to mention the massive gusts of wind that threatened to send it flying! We had a large potluck with the members and world changers team…some of which hailed from no more than 10 miles away from me in Alabama…small world eh? After that, we were off for a little fun and games. Dave-O and I took a walk down the highway, narrowly avoiding getting hit by the semis, tour buses, and campers that sped helter-skelter down the road. We walked a mile or two towards the Salcha School, took in the views and chatted about life and its changes…deep thoughts yo.

Hitchin' my way down the road in AK.

Dave tries a tested and proved method.

We goofed around taking pictures, and pretend to hitchhike back to the church...because I'm a nerd and thought it would make for a great photo-op. After bidding Dave goodbye for the day, several of us loaded up on the Brink's four wheelers and spent the afternoon traveling all around creation. For me, that was about as perfect as it gets. I love just being out there, roaming around, beautiful scenery, good new friends, and the wind in my face.

A truly wonderful day. Open land, open skies, new friends, freedom.

This was also the day I spotted the first moose I'd ever seen outside of a zoo! Simple pleasures y'all. Tomorrow, would begin work at Camp Baldwin in Delta Junction and I had no idea what to expect…

...and then there was Alaska

Well, here I am in the bright, shiny, new world of blogging. I suppose in a way this is like a personal diary...for all the world to see. I don't really know why anyone else would care to read the random ramblings of a quirky southern girl but if perchance you would...welcome aboard.

When I woke up this morning, it was the first time I've slept through the night in two weeks. Why you ask? I don't know, but I think it might have something to do with my most recent trip to Alaska. Something about that place just sticks with me...and the fact that this was a monumentally epic trip makes returning to the ordinary part of my extraordinary life much, much harder.

This was my second trip to that great land this year...the first being this July and also an adventure of magnificently epic proportions. The interior did not disappoint...but that's a blog for another day.

Most recently however, was simply for grins and shenanigans with my best friend in the southeast of AK. When we get a hankerin' for some good ol' fashioned glacial kayaking, cold water snorkeling, crab boat riding, eagle watching fun, we vacate the standard issue surroundings, pack the thermal shirts and the formal gowns and head out west to hop aboard the Celebrity Mercury. This was our sophomore season on the Mercury and just as the first trip two years ago, nothing but good times were had. We made new friends and saw old ones...who regardless of the thousands of passengers that passed through the gangways...remembered us as if we'd never left. We laughed, we ate, we drank, we flirted, we danced the night away. We adored the crew, especially our fabulous waiters Dragan and Serdar, they returned the favor. I won (for a night) $7000 worth of diamonds to drape around my neck. We dared to plunge our bodies into the glacial waters of the Hubbard for the polar bear challenge. We did ever so much more than could be listed in one little blog...and this is just on the ship.

Now, let me regress juuuuust a little. We decided to spend a little time in Seattle before we bolted for our departure in Vancouver. It was the best of times...it was the...well, not the worst of times, but surely strange. Our first night in town, things didn't go exactly as planned and Jenny and I ended up walking the entire length of the city, finding ourselves at the Space Needle around 2 in the morning. We fearfully appreciated the random cat calls and whistles from various cars and narrowly avoided an SUV of what I'm assuming were nefarious scoundrels, who took it upon themselves to be our personal taxi service...no thanks. Sketchy areas of Seattle at night...not the safest venture, but well...at least it's a story. After bumming around for a bit and finding no suitable fun we bussed back to our hotel...but not before being treated to the delightful sight of a drunken man peeing in the alley. Oh Seattle! The next day however, was much, much better.

Through what I would describe as, ridiculous circumstances, I've been fortunate enough to come to know a few of the fisherman from "Deadliest Catch;" even more fortunate to have done some graphic design work for a couple of the boats. Well, Jenny, myself, and a couple of other friends headed down to the Pacific fisherman's terminal to see the ones I knew and meet the ones I didn't. Since they only had about a week before they left out for Dutch it was very nice of them to take the time. Hellos, hugs, and how are ya's were all exchanged. We toured around the Wizard (again for me), I hit my head hard enough to make me curse. Jenny "charted the crab"; and we all wondered and marveled at Arket's multi colored shoes. Lunch took place at The Matador where many photos and videos were taken...then we all dispersed to our random destinations. Jenny, myself, and our friends poked along in Pike Place Market and downtown Ballard, seeing all the things and doing all the things you do at Pike Place Market and downtown Ballard. Good times. Later that night, it was out with a couple of the Wizard guys, a friend of theirs and friend of ours for good conversation at some local watering hole. The next morning was off to Vancouver so I end this little regression and rejoin your Alaskan adventure, already in progress.

Now, let's talk about port. We visited Ketchikan, Juneau, and Sitka. Now as far as the towns themselves, yeah, we browsed around a bit, shopped a little, did the tourist thing, but only the bare bones minimum...time fillers really. You see, the best part about Alaska is Alaska, so take advantage. In Ketchikan, we decided to take the Aleutian Ballad crab boat tour...after watching the guys on TV for so long and getting to know a few of them, we wanted to in some very, very small way experience what they do day in and day out. We were met by Capt. David at the dock and made our way down to the boat where we jogged out a few miles into the misty waters surrounding Ketchikan. There we watched as crewmen Kiwi and Terry brought in pots of crab, adorably dorky Ratfish, angry octopi, and eagles lured with fish. We handled the catch, feeling the sharp spines of the crab and slimy bodies of the fish. We interviewed the crew, I threw the hook and Jenny brought it in...we ran all around the boat, goofed off in the wheelhouse...and possibly made some interesting new business contacts. After our crabbing adventure, it was off to Orca Corn, a small establishment slightly off the main drag that makes the best caramel popcorn I've ever had.


Juneau, the state capital! Yes, I did see Sarah Palin's house...well, the Governor's mansion...no, I could not see Russia from there. Jenny and I decided the order of the day should be some sweet, sweet kayaking so off we went! We hit Douglas, Alaska and the lake. Once we suited up in our raingear, we were off...now, by we were off, I mean the current in the lake was very strong and steering the kayak was ridiculous for the first part of our journey. Once we got it under control, it became awesome. We were literally only feet away from eagles and harbor seals. Right across from us was Mendenhall glacier...an astounding site. The cloud cover was heavy but not so heavy that it obscured the view. Overall, it was an amazing day on the water and we didn't even tump the boat! After that we invested a little time with Dragan and some other folks from the crew of our ship at the Viking Bar downtown. Juneau, it's a fun town, especially with the right activities and people.

Sitka. I loved Sitka. I don't know if it was the island aspect or the adventure, but I loved the place. I visited the surf shop, picked up a nice Euphoria shirt ("Euphoria-the first stage of hypothermia") and wondered around taking in some of the Russian atmosphere. When you think of Alaska, you naturally think of snorkeling right? Well, Jenny and I did. We did what is known as a "dry suit snorkel" in which, put on what has to be the most flattering outfit every to grace the human frame. It consists of a fleece onsie over your street clothes, and a waterproof insulated suit with enough bagginess to allow for movement...Stacy and Clinton would be so proud. Granted, if you want to survive your swim, you suck it up, suck it in, and put it on. The snorkeling was awesome. It was a classically gray Alaskan day with a slight wind, you could feel the chill in the water through the suit, but not badly. Once you dip your face below the surface, an entirely new world emerges filled with starfish the size of dinner plates, hermit crabs, kelp forests, nudibranches, abalone, and fish zipping here and there. I was surprised at the heft of the sunflower sea star but also at it's vibrant blues and pinks...who knew what lurked down there! (No salmon sharks or whales today though!)

Our last port of call left my beautiful Alaska behind and dropped us into Victoria B.C...Canada, eh! Victoria was GORGEOUS! The flowers and gardens everywhere were stunning. Now, Jenny and I made a great friend on the cruise named Emilie a Victoria local, and we just walked around town taking pictures and being again...ridiculous. We watched the Snowbirds perform...no, I'm not talking about a group of active senior citizens. The Snowbirds are Canada's answer to the USA's Blue Angels, and they were awesome with their aerial stunts. Also, as it turns out, after the failure of the Empire, Darth Vader has taken up fiddling on the main drag of downtown Victoria...who knew?

All in all, the trip was awesome and it left us with memories that we'll always cherish. Sad thing is, this is just the...if you'll pardon the phrase, the tip of the iceberg. We saw things few people will ever see, we did things few people will ever do and we let ourselves enjoy this grand old world that God gave so graciously gave us...who could ask for more than that?