Kristy ran!

Kristy ran the Chicago Marathon! Yay Kristy!

Dan and I went up to Chicago to cheer her on this past weekend, and Chicago put on a good show. The weather was warm, the breeze came out, and most were in good spirits.

We drove through Champaign and made a jam drop at my brother's. Six huge jars of Ciara's homemade jam from the stock pile at dad's house to his. "How long with this last you Miah?" "Six jars? Probably six weeks." My brother loves jam.

My weekend was rounded out with a trip to my favorite fabric shop - The Needle Shop - and a special treat of meeting Alice, Gus's sister and Dan's aunt. I happen to think aunts are pretty cool, being one myself, and Alice was no exception. She is a wonderful story teller, and hearing about how she met her husband on a 2 week long steam ship voyage from New York to Athens was both hilarious and a trip through time.

There was a lot of fun crammed into the weekend, so I'm tired today. I got sun burnt while cheering Kristy on (ironic as she was running to raise money for skin cancer research), and for some reason my body hasn't liked the weather since leaving Juneau. I can't seem to drink enough water, and lotion just gets sucked into my skin. I'm hoping everything calms down. Or it rains. Both would be preferred.

Back to the Grind

I'm home.

I started back at Common Grounds yesterday, happy to be pulling shots. People kept coming in with, "hey you're back!" Everyone thought it had been three months since I left. Did it really seem that long to them?

The sink is broken, the lights aren't fixed, and things I used to deep clean seem to have been a bit neglected. But that's my job - cleaning the underbelly of the shop.

We were working long days in Juneau. Really long days sometimes. But I can take those types of hours way better than working a counter for 8. The morning rush was great - keeping me energized and working out the cobwebs in my barista parts. But once the midday lull started and crept to the afternoon... painful.


Spokane was a great stop on the way back. It was short, but much needed. My parents are really great people - my dad time and mom time was relaxing, and I was able to work out some ideas I've been rolling around in my head. Phone calls aren't anything like real face time. I also got to see my dear friend Rena. Rena! I love Rena.

The cats are happy to see me - Baxter in my lap right now in fact. Comma has totally mellowed out in the six weeks I've been gone. I think the heat had her stuck in a funk, but now that the highs are in the 60's and the nights are downright chilly, she is down right snugly. This is much more like her hometown Portland weather.

Out of Eden

I left Juneau yesterday. The 10:20 milk run had me landing in Seattle at 4pm, which was irritating when Lauren booked it, but the drawn out retreat from Southeast ended up being a good thing. I got to see a snippet of Sitka for the first time. My window seat was just over the front of the engine, and when the ground crews were doing their bit with the luggage, I was happy to see so many boxes filled with fish.

Next was a stop in Ketchikan, which gets more rain than Juneau, and it was pouring. Rain. So much rain in SE. We flew up over the cloud bank and for the next 90 minutes to Seattle it was all blue skies and bright sun. It was shocking to be in so much grey then so much blue.

I really love Juneau. I am going to miss it. Last year I didn't think I would be going back ever, but this year I'm not going to fool myself - I don't think it's possible to stay away from Juneau.

Last week in Juneau

Only one more ship day. The Zaandam was supposed to come in today and the Star on Tuesday, but the heavy storm that came through SE made it delay it's docking until Tuesday also.

With the last ship day in sight, it seems like the whole town has been going out to celebrate. It seems like everyday is someone's last, and who knows when I'll see them again. Downtown is packed.

Today I got a call from Dan saying Violet broke while he was driving her home from Chicago. Water pump? Busted Radiator cap? Fly wheel? We'll see. Dan is staying an extra day in Chicago, hoping the car will be fixed tomorrow.

Saturday I will be home.

Taku lodge!

I got the unexpected pleasure of going on the Taku Lodge tour today with Lev and Wes. You can see the adventure if you visit my flickr set here.

Monday Football

Oh Monday, I don't think you're so bad :)

It was another wonderfully sunny day in Juneau. I walked to work and stopped for a cup of coffee. The A team was in the office: Lauren writing the schedule, Lev on the Ops board, Wes rounding up the dock reps, and me running between the dock, the office, and the occasional small transfer. We all had a blast down at the Zuiderdam, sending tours off on time and with happy guests, and making the best of the crazy shuttle madness that happens every time a ship docks at AJ.

For about two weeks, the ops team has been having trouble getting our act in gear to finish up the day together, without leaving anyone hanging out to dry with loads of work to do. We have all been getting reamed by 902, drivers are dropping like flies, AC is broken, people upset with tour distribution, too many hours to work in a day and not enough play; the burn out is running wild.

Maybe it's because today was the last Monday that we'd have a ship. Maybe it's because we were all jazzed to watch Monday Night Football, or maybe we finally remembered we are good at our jobs and those that don't think so can shove off. Maybe it's all of that.

Sure, we had to scramble when the Mountain Zip and Glacier tour over sold their max by 6 and we didn't have enough seats on the bus for the tour that was supposed to leave (what's that?) five minutes ago. Sure, when 281 broke down on the side of the road an hour after the shop said it was good to go, it took a minute to get another vehicle out to transfer the passengers to their Whales & Trails Adventure. But even with the awkward phone calls to the tour operators explaining the delay, there was no blame being thrown around. No rivalry to fan the flame.

Now is also the time where Year Reviews are being written and handed in to our bosses, telling them what we would like to see changed for next year. I've only been here 5 weeks, but those kinds of things (finding ways to make operations run better) gets me excited! I got an offer last week for a year round position up here, and even though I'm not taking it, I can't help but put my mind to work on things that will make next season better for whomever they find to work here. However we got here, today was a good day in the HAP office.

Or - maybe I'm so freaking happy because my fantasy team won (again) this week with 129 points to 78.

Here's hoping the last week is a good one!

Another sunny day in Juneau

Today was the real mark of the end of the season: our first no ship day! With no ships in port, we all had the day off, and what a day off. Tressa, Ericka, and Hobbs (first name Andrew, but we never call him that) and I decided to hike Mt. Jumbo.
The trail is well marked, but steep in most points. After we cleared the tree line we got a view of the top, and from the spot in the picture below, we had 45 minutes of hiking before we got there.



At the top we had a feast of PB&Js, summer sausage, cheese and crackers, and bananas. That dog in the photo is not our. From the moment we started the trail head, this dog was right there with us. She continuously hoped we would throw her a stick, but with the climb, we weren't good for a game of fetch until the top. Half way down the mountain, we met up with her owner and got them reunited.

And then we were at the top! We could see all of downtown, but our motivation for this hike was a view of Admiralty Island, the one on the West side of Douglas.




There were some awesome small snow melt lakes.