Lola and Ariel =

I've got wheels! Now that the rain has settled in, I found it an incredible stroke off luck that Lauren's scooter became available for rent for the last month I'm here. Her cute blue scooter is named Lola, and I got to meet her last summer when Lauren first got her. I was hoping to rent her when I first showed up, but a driver who is up for the summer had beat me to it. But starting today, she's all mine!

I can layer on my rain gear and cruise through the weather to get home a bit faster. With the bubble gum helmet and the goggles, I look a bit ridiculous, but who cares! I love it!

Week 3

I know you've seen this same view about a million times now, but this is Juneau's downtown on my way to work this morning. The sun is rising so much later now, even in the two weeks since I've been here!


Do you see the light coming up in that little dip on the left side of Mt. Roberts?


Sitting on the couch at Caitlyn's, this is what I see out the window. Mt. Juneau! Lauren and I hiked that mountain last summer - maybe we'll get the guts to do it again, but really, the rain will be here non-stop, so I don't see that happening.



Today at work there was a little free time to be silly - and it was Katie's last day (every one is jealous). This is Lauren and Darlene. Lauren thinks she looks super tired and Darlene thinks she looks pale. Just for that I'm posting the picture so they can see how ridiculous those thoughts are. You ladies are gorgeous!


Below is Able. Remember the dude with the hurt foot playing the guitar a few days back? He is mostly better and back in action. He made that face special for me after the camera came out :)
This is the aforementioned Katie. She has been this season's trooper, being one of the only returning ops people from a previous year to be here at the beginning of the season. I've stories from May and June, and really, I don't know how she kept herself going to work. This is not the type of job one person can do, and training people to do it is a full job in of itself, let alone training and working! Katie, you are amazing! I'll miss you!


As for me, I'm holding up. Dispatching for 8 hours is so much more draining than driving 14! When driving there were breaks and only one person's schedule that I needed to concern myself with. Now I'm at the board almost non-stop and I have to keep 40 driver's schedules rotating in my brain. I'm pretty useless at the end of my shifts now. But, things will slow down, fewer ships will come in, and then I'll be back home - no doubt missing the mountain views and sea air. I need to get over this "grass is greener" bs and enjoy my time here! Everybody, just tell me to shut it!

So. With that, I will shut it.

Late start today

I have the pleasure of being the afternoon/evening MOD today, which means I get to enjoy a press of coffee instead of my togo cup's worth. Mac the dog is sitting under my legs between the coffee table and the couch and I'm getting excited for the next month. I need to look into some flights out of Spokane, now that my dad is picking me up in Seattle (in a month!).

Before I get all ramped up for leaving Juneau, I still need to make sure I do some things that missed out on last summer - helicopter rides to the glaciers! I have Friday and Saturday off this week, and I'm hoping I can get on one of the tours. If not, going for a zipline again would be amazing, and there is the chance to go fishing on Saturday out from Auke Bay.


These goons are some of the drivers that make it possible to operate a tour bus company. Don't they look like fun? Lauren was taking a break and shared some of the details about her new beau, and it was too funny not to take a picture. This one is a bit staged (I'm sure you can tell) but when I walked in and found them in a gaggle, I had to run back and grab my camera.

Lauren's beau works on one of the cruise ships, and she only gets to spend half a day with him every week. She is booking a vacation when the season is over and will be joining Wayne (the bf) in his home country of South Africa. South Africa! I excited for her!

And because I got so many messages saying my work space was too little, here is the half of the space you didn't see...

Saturday

I got to see this on the walk home today - sun, rainbow, and the gorgeous mountains. I walked past two people who also took a picture of the rainbow, and found out they were a dual driving trucker team, husband and wife. They are here for another week, and we talked for a good 15 minutes about what they should do while in town. This is where I work when I'm in the OPS center. I sit, or pace, around this board and answer the radio. Questions and problems come in and this is where some of the fixes come from . Exciting. I know.
After work today, I spent some time with Lauren while she was working at the Crab Shack. The Great Baldini came by for some bisque-to-go, and we shared a beer while he talked about working at the Red Dog saloon and various cruise ships. He plays piano, plays trumpet, and has a Louie Armstrong routine. He busted out his iPhone (I really shouldn't be shocked by this by now!) and showed me videos of him making fun of tourists (with them eating it up in the audience) and playing lounge tunes for lounge lizards. Lauren and I said we'd come by and go against our "No Red Dog" unofficial rule. It really is a place just for tourists...

Another great day in Juneau!

Juneau! A place to live!

I was so happy to see this sign on the walk to work this morning. 56 degrees. Whoa. Right now, my toes are still cold from work and I'm wearing two jackets, but I love it. Love it! Also on my walk to work I got to reconnect with the eagle that sits on the cross bar by the bridge (not always the same eagle, but I pretend it is) and the morning fog rise up Mt. Juneau and Mt. Roberts. :)

The cruise ships were coming down the channel and hardly anyone was awake - the mornings in Juneau are so peaceful and refreshing.

Today it was nothing but rain, rain, rain. As soon as I got to work it started, and when I was coming home it stopped. After the morning ship had all of it's tours departed, I went back to the office and had my shirt drying over a fan and my rain gear all over the desk, trying to get it dried a bit before the next span of time out in the rain.

I'm so happy to have a place to stay! I thought it was going to take me much longer to find a place than it did, but now I know not to doubt the power of word-of-mouth in this tourist town. This is it!

It's a cute one bedroom rented by a sweet girl named Caitlin. She has a gem of a dog in Mac, a black lab, and is super chill. She is in the bedroom, and I sleep in the loft, in the space above the closets. I climb up that ladder and crash on a feather mattress and my sleeping bag. It is exactly what I was hoping for - enough space to have a room of my own, but not so much that it was an empty homecoming at the end of every day. I have the benefit of the lived in home with the convenience of not paying my entire paycheck. And, I can walk the two miles to work, so no car is no problem!

This was last night. Hanging out with Lauren, her boyfriend, his mom, and some friends from the ship.

Hanger and float planes coming in for the day.
Some images from the afternoon passengers leaving the ship for town.

Shuttle line!
Mikey, Darlene, and Lauren hamming it up before the ship was docked.
Lauren and I!

Juneau

(View from the plane on the way here)

I started work today - a whopping 9 hours of writing tomorrow's schedule. My brain hurts. Or, maybe I'm hungry. Or both. There is a lot of hostility in the office at this point. People don't want to help each other, things aren't getting done or getting missed. Its only been a day, but it seems like it's coming from the top down, and as it goes down, it gets messier.

It's great to see Lauren and Lev and the rest. Things pick up right where they left off, and that is wonderful. No awkwardness, no revving back up into the taunting and bull shitting. It is easy to be here with them.

Here are some images from my time here already.

Hilary! We were sitting in the driver's lounge waiting for Ms. Laura Rudy to be finished. A group crossword puzzle made this happen to her, but I don't remember how.

The front of Alyson's lawn, at the house I stayed at last night. You can't really see it, but there is a real back how bucket across the street.

Scenes from Tracy's Crab Shack - voted Juneau's can't miss eatery in some travel magazine, or travel site, or something. Lauren is the cashier (it's her fun money job!) and I feel a bit bad I caught her with this expression...but it's speaks volumes! I had a blast sitting at the little counter in front of the melted butter pot, chatting with her and drinking (free) beer. I also talked with just about every customer that came through the line, asking where they were from and such. We met two handfuls worth of Spokanites! Gonzaga toting locals. It was wonderful :)

This is the wonderful Erika. She Laura and Hilary are from Bellingham. They are upbeat and happy, and some of the best people I've ever met.

Laura is showing off her Alaskan car, complete with rusty wheel wells, a broken door hinge, and (when it rains) water filled floor boards.


Able hurt himself kicking a soccer ball. He can still play
a mean tune.
The Bellingham ladies + Stance Sampson (isn't that a great super hero name?) all showed me the newest shop in town where you can buy frozen yogurt, better known as froyo. It is DE Licious, as Dan would say.

Alaska Day!

Four hours of sleep, checking bags and going through security twice, 10 hours of travel, and then I'll be in Juneau.

Can I just take a second to say, in this day, all major airports should offer free wi-fi. Thanks Seattle for being on it!

I found out yesterday that my friend in Juneau who was going to meet me at the airport didn't realize that today was the day I was coming in, and is out on a chartered fishing boat, hopefully snagging a whopper of a halibut. So, when I get in in a few hours, I'll get to walk about the city until she gets back. She needs a break from work, so I'm not freaking out about the snag. All this means is our major catch-up gush will have to wait until 1) she is on land and 2) she's had a shower :)

More later for sure! Yay! Alaska!