No ships today!

The town is empty of cruise ship passengers. This is the first day we haven't had a ship in port since May. No throngs of umbrellas stabbing innocents in the head. No photos taken with the gigantic stuffed eagle outside the fur shop. Just people enjoying the cafes and the weather.

Lauren and I went to Thai last night. So tasty. Then we drove around all over Douglas Island looking for a house for rent that Lauren's boss mentioned, and in looking for it, we found all sorts of great neighborhoods we never knew existed. Douglas is a little treasure! We happened to be wondering around just as the magic hour was starting, and the golden light setting over the channel and seeping through the trees made me think of Cour d'Alene lake in the summer. We didn't find the house for rent, but we spotted some great little nuggets that were for sale. Maybe Lauren will make a long term decision. Either way, it was fun to drive and see the great homes.

Then we went out. All I can say this morning is ouch.

The good news, we walked by a cute little three story walk up that is next to the Governor's Mansion that had a for rent sign in it. It is right in the corner where my favorite house in town is located, and hopefully, it will be Lauren's new abode. It would be great if she could live down town.

I'm going to enjoy my coffee, my book, and my cat for the next few hours. Happy weekend everyone!

17 Days

Kodak has taken to sitting on top of the TV. He lays down and curls his little paws like an otter and takes a nap. Jacque and Carrie could be shouting and tapping away on their computers, and the volume on the TV could be super high, but he just shuts it out and takes a nap. I will try to channel my inner Kodak this next week.

My job has decided they don't like that I get overtime so after this weekend I'll be back to just driving. I don't try to understand their motives or their crosshatched thinking. I'll still get overtime, now we'll just be short a dispatcher on at least two days. Repeat after me Ariel - It's not your problem.

Only a little rain yesterday, and I think today is going to be sunny/chilly. I'm having dinner with my friend Sydney from Allen Marine at the Island Pub, then coming back home to hopefully go back to sleep for a ridiculous amount of time. Usually I just say that everything will be better in the morning. At this point in the season I should be going out and doing all the things I didn't get to do, but all I want to do is rest.

Yesterday was the last day the Island Princess will come to Juneau this year. The Shore Excursion manager has been great these last three weeks, helping me down on the docks. I was down there checking in all of the tours before their all aboard time, and this gigantic huddle of people show up to say goodbye an hand out gifts to the ship. At one point Brian came up to me and gave me a hug and wished me a good end of the season. It was the first hug I've had since Dan left.

It makes sense now why I'm tired and so ready to go home. My introverted self needs my world of few friends. Too many comings and goings. Too many withdrawals from my energy bank and not enough deposits. Not enough hugs from people that know me.

I'll see Ciara around the 1st, and that is close.

Unload the camera

I haven't been taking very many pictures lately, but here are some that have been on my camera for awhile.

Kristy sent me an awesome care package. In it was this pin. Roar

This is Sarah Ramano. She has worked for Allen Marine all summer as a dock rep. Today is her last day. I'm so jealous she is going home tomorrow.


And this is when we went out a few weeks ago.

DAN!

Dan is here! Dan is here!

We've been having a grand time together. Yesterday I had off from work, so we went whale watching. The rest of the time he's been here, we've been taking in some of the local flavor. Here are some whales for you !

Humpback!
Bubble net feeding!

Orca!
Pretty!

Lauren got to come with us, as she had the day off also. Yay!

I think tourists are funny. I especially like the dude in the rockin' turquoise fedora. Very nice!

Proof we were there.

Treking about

Yay Wednesday. Done with the craziness that comes with the beginning of every week. I haven't had a really long day in almost three weeks, so it was great to finally get loaded with one yesterday. Today I had some great people on board that made the heat tolerable. Again with the heat. Three days now in the 80's or above. Crazy weather!

After work today I was glad I went with Lauren to hike/run the Perserverence Trail that leads out of downtown. It goes up about 1500 feet above see level, and has some really incredible views. Lauren and I always seem to have great conversations when we go running, so that was refresing too. Talking for a purpose other than a tour. We got back and realized we hiked/ran 6 miles. After two days of being dog tired, I didn't think I could go out and do 6 miles like it was nothin. Made me feel pretty good about myself.

Ciara is doing better, with hopes arising that she'll be out of the hospital by Friday. Yay! It has been great to be connected to my family, even though it comes from unfortunate circumstances.

But now for some sleep.

Run. Forest.

I am super excited for this Saturday night. I am part of a herd that is running in the Caterpillar catagory in this year's Fools Run. Several drivers, ops managers, and dock reps (maybe) are going to run together as a huge bus, complete with working tail lights (hopefully). In this part of the race, everyone has to be connected, so we will be a huge blue bus made out of cardboard, connected by rope (I'm assuming). There will be others in costumes that go with the bus motif - a dock rep holding a tour sign, and maybe a few tourists. It's going to be so much fun! Just wait for the pictures :)

And yes, this means my heal is feeling much better. I have been going on some serious walks with Bruce and the steady increase has been great for it. We did a bit of jogging today, and all was well. We'll bump it up again tomorrow to see how it would be for the race this Saturday, but I'm anticipating positive results.

Anyone know what this plant is? I thought that the pointed four leaf white flower like this was on Dogwood trees, but I've never seen it on a low plant. I only had my phone when I took Bruce for a walk, so the quality is poor, but maybe one of you lovely readers will know of the top of your head. I'll look it up too, but maybe I'll get lucky by asking.
Bruce and I went out to Brotherhood Bridge, and had a nice hour walk. The mosquitoes were a mess and we had to turn around early, but the views were incredible. It is great to be able to go for a walk through a rain forest at any location in town. The whole town is a rain forest!
This was maybe 200 yards off the main road that leads from the Valley to Out the Road. Right beside the Mendenhall River. Now that I know Bruce doesn't get car sick, I'll get some bug repellant and head back out. There are a ton of meandering trails of the main trail head, and the whole area is dog friendly and pretty safe from bears. Next time I'll bring my camera so the quality is a bit better. But you get the idea. It's gorgeous.

We hits 70 degrees today! It was a heat wave! I love this weather.

Summer solstice

What do you do in Juneau to celebrate the 18 hours and 18 minutes of sunlight at the Summer solstice? Jump into the Gastineau Channel! Or in my case, watch these five goons jump in the channel. It was 1030 at night, I'm down at Sandy Beach, and a car pulls up with these five all excited to freeze their bits off. I stayed in case they needed someone to drive them to the hospital to be treated for hypothermia. Don't they look excited?

There was a count down, a rush, and then some really funny conversations about needing to be fully submerged or not. The water was in the area of, oh, 45 degrees. I guess the deciding factor for the plunge was the purchase of some new floating devices that needed to be tried out. A bright pink inter tube and mattress looking thing were brought out, and were used for about 3 seconds.

It was a good time. And I'm happy to report that no one needed to be driven to the hospital.

Not much else has been going on. I'm in a pretty reliable routine with work. I'm reading another Dan-recommended book, Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. If you haven't read any of Stephenson's stuff, he has a wonderful way of creating settings and characters, and rolling out incredibly complex ideas with a nice blend of subtlty and bluntness.

Here is a view out of my life. At the docks, there are vendors that come each day and hang up all of their signage in hopes of enticing people who didn't purchase tours off of the cruise ships . I believe most of them are working for the same company, as they sell tickets, but the people end up getting on the same buses to go anywhere. When I see them like this, all propped up and waiting to shout out at passers by, it reminds me of puppets from Sesame Street - all of these vendors are stuck in their little windows.

At work, someone has pilfered my beloved coffee cup out of the drying wrack. I have now put up a note asking for it back, in hopes that someone just really needed a coffee cup and will return it when they know it is missed. It went missing the same day as Baxter. I don't want to diminish Baxter's disappearance with something like a coffee cup, but losing both - well, it just sucks.

But lets leave this on a positive note. Dan has regular Internet access now that he's in Dharamsala. I'm not sure of the nuts and bolts, but I'm happier getting to hear from him more often. Less coffee to-go, but more Dan. I'll take it.

Zipping Video

Kyle took a video of our last zip line! Enjoy!

Four days is too long for no update!

I had Friday off. With the free time I went on a Zip Line tour with my friend Lauren. It was misty, and all the water made it that much faster. It was close to 40 mph! We had a ton of fun with all the other zippers, and the two guides, Kyle and Daniel, were a blast too. Almost three hours of adrenaline and fun.
This is the group minus Kyle, who is out on the line taking the picture.
There were two Indiana Jones style bridges. We had to split the group up in two for weight purposes, and my group was having a blast swinging the bridge all over the place. This is our cheesy picture, which I think is pretty cute.
Lauren and I, looking like goobers. After zipping, we back to the house and watched a movie before going to a BBQ at Carrie's parent's house.

Carrie and Jacque hosted a great BBQ. The shore ex from the Volendam came for dinner too, and it ended up being a good group. Carrie made this amazing baked brie, with brown sugar, whiskey, and walnuts on top. So good! I'm can't wait to make it for my own party!
Lauren and Mary
Along with the great party and great atmosphere, Carrie and Jacque were responsible for taking care of Kimber, a black lab puppy. It was such a good dog!
We all played with her for so long and so hard, that he just tuckered out on the couch. Already she can fetch and has got the "I'm adorable" gallop down pat.
The two on the left are some of my managers, and the man on the right was the shore ex from the ship. They were so intently playing some Mario game on Carrie's Wii.

Jacque!
This is Travis. I felt a little bad for being part of the group that kept saying he looked like the dude from Reno 911, since he just shaved his beard into a moustache, but it almost had to be done. Travis is a fire fighter and he couldn't respond to any fires in the recent months because of his beard - it wouldn't make an air tight seal in the face mask. We'll see how long he puts up with the teasing.

Saturday was a different type of adventure.

I was doing an Evening Quest Whale watching tour, and just before the end my bus broke down. I couldn't get it started and had to rustle up some fast transportation for the very last tour of the day so they wouldn't miss their All-Abord time. A little stressful, but it ended fine. The frustrating part was it was a dead battery. It died in the 20 minutes I was waiting for my people to show up. Ug!

I got to talk to Dan, which is always a nice surprise. He was traveling that day from Shimla to Dharamsala and had stopped on the trip for some lunch. His lunch was my bed time. It works.

Today was easy stuff. The big excitement was possibly finding Baxter, as one of my neighbors said she saw a black and white cat with a pink nose and green eyes. I thought maybe she didn't get a good look at the eyes, as Baxter's are yellow, but when I got home today, it was no good. I found the same cat she spotted, and yes, it was black and white, with green eyes. Almost the exact same markings as B, but definitely not him. It sucked to go through. I'll keep you posted on any more B sightings that may come up.

A little reality

Work wise, I got it easy today. Other than waking up at 4:30 so I could make coffee, so I could be awake, so I could be in the yard at 6am, it was smooth sailing. A little shuttle duty, then a small little tour with 22 really fun people.

After I went home this afternoon, I took the bike out of my back seat that Wes, the dock rep, and I mashed in there yesterday. I put the tires back on, and hooked up all the brake lines, readjusted the brake handles and super annoying extra reflectors, and set off on a ride to the yard to time myself. Four miles in under 15 minutes. I can definitely do that for work. I'll add in a little time to change there, and WHAMO, I'm shrinking my gas bill.

I went to dinner with Erin and some others at Twisted Fish. A nice group with fun conversation. I rode home. I was just about to leave to go play softball when I got a call from Dan. It has been so hard going from talking to him everyday, to not knowing when I'll talk to him next, or when he'll get a chance to be around an Internet connection. But today we talked!

I got to hear all about his visits and adventures, cooking classes, homework movie assignments, and lots of things I can't remember names for. He is having such a wonderful time, and already the first half of his classes ends on Saturday. In less than two months, he'll be here!

I unloaded about Baxter, all my worries, trouble it's giving me at work, thinking the worse, and being generally miserable. He made me feel better in ways that only someone you love can, and I felt lucky to have him. I was buoyed by our talk.

I went and played pool after softball with Lev, Erin, and Lauren. The girls and I decided to try and go on a zip line tour tomorrow, since we're all off, and after a short while, we called it a night. When I pulled in to the drive, my headlights crossed over a large black bear, making it's way across the driveway, and into the woods. The first thing I thought of was, "Of course Baxter isn't just hanging around! He doesn't want to battle a black bear!" So now I'm back to feeling like I've lost my cat for good and nature has taken over.

My friend sent me this link so maybe not all is lost.

Evening walk

Erin and I went for a walk about in Marine Park tonight. Had a little Pel Menis, did some girl talk, enjoyed the views.
The ships that come in to port are huge. I had forgotten just how freakin' big they are until we went down to a small pier that's used for float plane departures. We got so see the bow up close at the 8 foot tide level (we have 24 foot tides here).

There was also some silly and sweet sidewalk chalk art. It was a good night. I talked to both my mom and my dad today, both unplanned, and both gave good hopes for Baxter's return. Dad gave me some ideas for traveling home, and we got each other excited for the coming of Miah and Jessie's baby girl, due in September.

Friday Night!

Friday night in the big city! Or something like that anyway.

I was off today for all but two hours where I and my fellow drivers were educated on how to safely and effectively handle the following situations: emergency evacuations, Noro virus presentation (vomiting on the bus), and spill response (some sort of fluid leaking from the coach). Very useful. Very informative. There were limited times in which I felt I was being parroted to, which is progress, I think, from the last Hazard Training Class.

Came home and worked on some paintings. They still need a lot of work, and the more I do this stuff, the more I think I should take a basic drawing class or something. Since most of my pieces have to do with body parts, maybe life drawing is more appropriate? Or maybe just more practice. I'm going to go with practice for now.

I went out to dinner with one of my roommates, Paul (the pilot), as he came home and was just gushing to tell someone the crazy day he had. There was an ambulance involved, a passenger with what seemed to be an exploding hernia, and a race to the landing strip in which he barely beat an Alaska Airlines jet. Pretty good for a little prop plane! So we went to the hanger and ate. I love halibut. Dinner tonight just reiterated that. Halibut = Win.

Then tonight, the dispatcher from Allen Marine, which is the company we partner with to sell and transport cruise ship passengers to whale watching tours, was playing bluegrass music with his band down at the Alaskan Bar. The guys are great! Violin (or is it a fiddle if it's this genre?), mandolin, standing bass, banjo, and guitar. Sorry Dan, no jug or tub players. But great still. I met some of the drivers out, as well as some of the other tour industry folks. Throw in a couple bosses and a few beers, and it was a great time had by all. And dancing! I still thank Ms. Luhn for casting me in her play as the stand in (for my brother) and made me learn how to swing dance. I love swing dancing! There were a few people there that had an idea of how to lead, and were happy to find a partner who could, at least, follow along. It was great!

Most of the time, I was leading my friend, Erin, along the floor, as she was too nervous to dance with strangers (what?) but even then she and I were laughing over our clumsiness and confusion about who was supposed to do what. The down side to all this - I may have hurt myself even worse. I didn't really feel anything, as I was under the influence of the delicious Alaskan IPA, but now, sitting here, I'm sure I'll need to nurse my heel in the morning. Oh well! It was so fun! I love dancing!

The band plays again tomorrow night, so at least I'll have a fun time tapping my foot along, if I'm too injured to partake in the galloping. Hearing really good bluegrass live - there is really nothing like it.

A bit of town

I've had a bit of free time, now that I'm not preoccupied with housing drama, or creeper drama. I've been walking about the downtown area, trying to fill my time with something other than consuming coffee, and doting on my cats.

Juneau was originally a mining town. The majority of the land that has buildings on it was originally the bulk of the mine tailings that were dumped in the Gastineau Channel. The rest of downtown was built on extremely steep grades, some looked to be attached to the side of the mountain by little more than silly putty and a toothpick.

The hills are too steep in some of these area for roads to be built to access them, so instead, there is smattering of staircases all over. If you need groceries, you tackle the stairs. Moving in? Have fun carrying that sofa up 160 steps!


I like them all quite a bit. I could be happy on the side of a mountain, rain gear on the coat rack, cats by the fire, and a wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. Granted I could be happy a lot of other places that would be considerably easier to conduct my daily business, but still, Juneau is adorable.
This is yet another view of my street. That giant slope is Mt. Roberts. It comes right out of the water and reaches up 3819 feet. There is a trail that starts just east of where I live.
In fitting manner, the trail head is a staircase.

We also had another driver training in which we became the passengers, and were driven around to all of our tour destinations to have the ins and outs of each stop brought to our attention. 6 hours of this business.

And this last picture is from today, from the seat of my bus. The Norwegian Star was in port today, and this scene are all of the shore excursion representatives, holding up signs trying to direct the thousands of people coming off the ship. It is always such a mess, but that is the nature of the beast.

It's not curling up with the NY Times, but I'm happy

Waffles. Hmm, waffles. Happy Sunday everybody! It is beautiful in Juneau - not a cloud in the sky. A crisp 43 degrees, and empty streets. I am done with work, and enjoying the blind date I set up between a waffle, and some peanut butter. They are having a lovely time in my tummy!

I had some early morning runs today: taking a soccer team to the airport at 4:30; taking the shore excursion sales managers to Temsco to get on helicopters, to enjoy this beautiful day from the air, and to also go snow shoeing. They were a fun group, and I'll get to see them all through out the summer as they come in on their prospective boats and hand me fistfuls of tickets, passengers, and dock times. Yay! The season is starting!

My uniform has been disbursed. It amazes me how a seemingly normal shirt transforms me into a bus driver - I used to have a body shape? Where did it go? Where is my waist? The plus side is it's grey, so the inevitable film of muck won't show after the first 15 minutes. And the jackets are red, which I give a big thumbs up. After I bulk up on under layers and warm socks (why are my feet always cold?!), I will have my defense against the rain, sleet, fog, and cold. I have yet to find the repellent for whiny passengers, but I'll keep looking.

About town.

I went to the Alaskan Brewery. It's an awesome operation. They've crammed a ton of stuff into their property to keep up with their production growth. The outside, however, is an awning. Humble chaps, and all that.
Went to the Mendenhall Glacier. I've never been here this early, so it was great to see the lake frozen over. Well, not completely frozen; a tourist decided to walk out on the lake and he fell in!

Also went to a cooking school here in town and learned how to make a couple of great seafood dishes. Chef cooked, we tasted. It was fun.

I found an animal head I would hang on my wall! This was here the last time I was in Juneau and I sort of fell in love with it. I won't bring it home, but maybe someday I'll try to make my own wicker moose head.

Revisited a favorite oddity. Pel Menis is a restaurant that serves one thing, Russian dumplings. The options are with hot sauce or without. Sour cream is optional, and they throw in some bread to calm the heat. When it's raining outside, and you're cold to the bone, this is a great way to warm up. And it's tasty!
The house was so cold I built a fire instead of huddled under layers of blankets. It smoked up the room until I got the flew and fan working properly. I don't know if Baxter was cold too, or just interested, but he hung out by the fire for a good hour. Maybe cats like ambiance. Or maybe he's critiquing my method.

I have my retraining today. 308 point inspection of the coach, followed by maneuvering the bus through an obstacle course. I hate those cones. If I haven't forgotten my pivot points and bus-geometry, I'll be driving for the next ship. And that is a very good thing.