Work and Play

 Work has officially begun and I am one happy camper.  (Most days, that is, but such is life.)  Seriously, I love my job.  It can be very stressful at times, but it's a good challenge.  Plus, I get to meet people who come from all over the world.  Unlike some of the other jobs I've held, I actually feel fairly competent at this one.  For now . . .

And, as an added bonus, I have some really awesome co-workers.  Many of them are older women and, to be honest, I might have been a bit biased at first.  How was I supposed to connect with these people in a completely different season of life than me?  Well, some of you will probably be happy to know, that many of these women are quickly becoming my friends and heroes.  They've been everywhere and done just about everything.  They're hilarious and wise and basically really awesome.

In the days before we opened we had what was called a "dry run."  We had a mock opening without any guests where we opened up the gift shop and restaurants for all the employees.  It was really fun and a fantastic idea because it gave us a chance to work out a lot of problems before our real opening.  Anyway, on my day off, after eating at one of the restaurants on property, some of my coworkers and I went for a hike.

This is one of my supervisors who started collecting fallen bark on the hike to use in our gift shop displays.  We found this really awesome piece that's basically a log where all of the wood had rotted out.  And now we're using it as an adorable bear den.

Besides work, Megan and I have also managed to find some time to go on little excursions and adventures.  Not far from the lodge is this cute little town, Talkeetna.  Every day we have shuttles that go there for our guests, but employees are allowed to ride on their days off if there's room.  I've been down twice so far.  It's basically a town that consists entirely of gift shops and little food trucks.

Spirit Dancer figurine

When Megan and I went to Talkeetna, we brought our sketchbooks and made it an art day.

Then, just this past week, Megan and I also had the chance to go to Byer's Lake.  It's a lake inside Denali Park, just about 15 minutes from our lodge.  There's several hiking trails and most days you can rent kayaks to go out on the lake.  The day we went was absolutely beautiful, which was nice because it had been cloudy and rainy for the past several days.

 Seriously, we couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.

Also, I've recently become obsessed Alaska's wildflowers.  I can't help but stop and take pictures every time I come across a flower I haven't seen before.  Or take even more pictures of the flowers I see everyday.  I can't tell you how many pictures of Forget-Me-Not's I have.

Well, that's all for now.  I'm having an absolute blast and this is shaping up to be one of the best summers ever!

Amanda's Alaskan Adventure

Guess who's back! *cues "Back in Black" music*

It's me, by the way.  And by back, I actually mean in Alaska, which is a place I've actually never been before.  But that's not the point.  The point is:

"I'm on an Adventure!"

Ever since I got back from my Study Abroad in Europe two summers ago, I've been dying to go on more and more crazy, awesome journeys, expeditions, and outings.  The little time I've had for leisure reading is spent with anthropological studies and travel writing.  The thought of having to spend another summer in a dead-end job pushing carts or trying to convince people to buy things they really do not need was a little bit mortifying.  And then, like a lightning strike in a storm, I saw them.  The posters on the shuttle I took to campus every morning, the ones with pictures of sled dogs and mountains and other wonderful things.

And suddenly I find myself in the middle of Alaskan wilderness, stocking shelves at a gift shop for the Mt. McKinley Princess Lodge.  And, let me tell you, I am absolutely in love!

Here are just a couple obligatory airplane photos.  I love airplanes, airplane food, and especially turbulence.  The image on the right is a sketch I did after I realized none of the pictures I was taking from the plane were going to come out very good.

Since I've gotten here, I've just been going through trainings.  Being a retail job, it isn't totally new to me, but this will be my first time working in a gift shop.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love gift shops?  Because they are some of my favorite things ever.  I don't know why.  I love chachkis and postcards and all those random pieces of local art.  During our trainings we've been talking about how important it is to love what you're selling.  That's not going to be a huge problem for me.  I know nobody needs anything in our store and they know that too.  It's all based on want.  I know that and so do the customers.  I feel like the playing field is fairly level.  But enough about that.

On my first day off, I went exploring some of the hikes we have on site.  So far, I haven't had any wildlife encounters (which my mom is probably grateful for), but there is tons of incredible foliage and plants to be discovered.

Example A: Fiddlehead Ferns

These are just starting to come up and haven't fully bloomed yet.  (Is bloom even the right word for ferns?)

 

Example B: Birch

It's pink!

 

Example C: Moss!

And Mushrooms!

Example D: Beautiful Flowers

The blue ones on the left are Forget-Me-Nots, Alaska's state flower.  They're just starting to bloom and they are absolutely amazing.  I have no idea what the pinks ones are, however. Any help?

And the views here are breathtaking.  We're called the Mt. Mckinley lodge because of our view of Mt. McKinley (which is actually officially called Denali).  It's technically taller than Mt. Everest.  Everest is the highest mountain in the world, but that's because the plateau it sits on is already quite a ways above sea level.  If you're measuring from base to tip, Denali is actually bigger.

Anyways, on a clear day, we have the most spectacular view of Denali from the lodge.  I keep trying to take pictures, but you simply can't capture the force of that view with any sort of camera.  But here's one of the better ones I've gotten.

It doesn't help that the snow makes it blend into the sky when you're trying to take a picture.

Being around all of this, has also been really inspiring.  I brought my Drawing Lab book by artist Carla Sonheim and have done several of the activities in her "Inspired by Nature" section.

 Do you recognize those pink flowers?  The one I did is the square sheet with the brown border.

There's also some cool industrial messes around the lodge.  (Mostly up in employee housing)

(Safety First)

And do you know what the greatest part of this whole adventure is?

I get to share it with one of my very best friends in the whole world: my sister Megan.

Back to Work!