It's been a while, but never fear. I'm still alive and well. My time in Alaska this summer is quickly coming to a close, but I still have lots of stuff left to do. One of which is to write this blog post.
So let's get to it!
Back in July, Megan, Danielle, and I had the opportunity to go to the Trapper Creek Fireweed Festival. Trapper Creek is the name of the town on my mailing address, though it's still a good 20-30 minutes from the lodge. It's one of those towns that you can drive through without even realizing there's a town. Kind of like Anatevka.
Anyways, I'd been dying to go to some sort of festival all summer, no matter the size. No summer is complete without walking in the hot sun, looking through booth after booth of handcrafts and homegrown preserves.
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| One of Trapper Creek's many four-legged residents |
And of course, no fair or festival experience would be complete without devouring a plate of deep-fried something. This summer featured a crepe-like dessert stuffed with chocolate and bananas. It did not disappoint.
The Fireweed Festival was all sorts of fun. I got to meet some lovely local artists, eat delicious food, and listen to good old hoedown music. In addition to all of this, we also visited the Trapper Creek "Free Box." It's a little barn where people donate unwanted things and other people can take them for free. I was very proud of myself and only picked up a green, floral blouse and a book on Indian Basketry. Afterwards, we visited the Trapper Creek cemetery where I had my first taste of Watermelon Berries (pictured above). To be honest, I'm not a huge fan. They do taste a little like watermelon, especially the water part. But there's too many seeds. It's like a tasteless grape. But they sure look pretty hanging on their bushes.
Want to know something else that looks pretty? Black Bears! I finally saw one! Apparently this guy has been hanging around the lodge all summer, but every time he showed up somewhere - the garbage cans, the laundry, the lodge entrance - I was not one of the lucky few to catch a glimpse of him. Until this day! I was coming down the hill to lunch and I spotted him crossing the road up ahead. Luckily, one of our maintenance workers soon drove by on a golf cart and I was able to flag him down to let him know there was a bear heading straight towards all the guest buildings. He drove around looking for the bear for a while, but couldn't find him and so drove off again. Well, not ten seconds later, the bear reemerged on the road up behind me, crossed back over and disappeared off into the trees.
Luckily, this bear hasn't posed any major problems for us here at the lodge. He's still a fairly young bear and is easily scared off by our golf carts. Hopefully he'll move on to wilder country when the lodge shuts down for winter.
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| Iceland Poppy? |
Want to hear a random fact about me? I've spent more birthdays travelling than I have at home. Whether I've been at Girl's Camp or on Trek or in Europe or in the car driving through fields of Nebraskan corn, most of my birthdays have been celebrated in the midst of travels. This summer, of course, was no exception.
It just so happened that this birthday also fell on a day when there was an employee shuttle to Anchorage, so Megan and I saddled up and were off bright and early. After the nearly three hour bus ride, our first stop was a little thrift store called the Bishop's Attic, only a 20 minute walk from downtown Anchorage. Of course, Megan and I hit up their book section first thing. I didn't end up buying any books (a rather strange occurrence), but I did find a couple picture-worthy gems:
Poor Tom. I sure hope he found a good job.
I also stumbled across this antique:
Once we'd had our fill of thrifting, we walked back to Downtown Anchorage to visit the mall and all the adjacent gift shops.
Yes, they mean real poo. Moose poo to be exact. Alaskans have capitalized on their tourists' desire for strange and unique gifts.
One of the highlights of the day for me was seeing this beauty drive down the road. I love Alaskan bush planes.
When we got home, some of my awesome and amazing friends, threw me a little surprise party, complete with cake, streamers, and chips and salsa. It was fantastic. It was certainly a birthday to be remembered.
Even with all this partying, however, I'm still managing to find the time to exercise my creativity once in a while. Partially because of some awesome work activities.
Like tie-dying pillowcases! (Mine is the green one, Megan's is the purple.)
And painting rocks! I painted the one above, but not the one below. That was painted by one of our Bulgarians. Isn't it amazing?!
It also helps that I've found some artist friends up here as well. I met Dustin towards the beginning of the season on an employee trip to Buyer's Lake. Megan and I were hiking along slowly, looking for interesting plants and gathering driftwood, when we ran into Dustin and his girlfriend, Alex - also gathering driftwood. It didn't take long for us to realize we all had an interest in art and were quickly exchanging sketchbooks and Deviantart accounts. In fact, here's a link to Dustin's Facebook Page for his art: Dustin Rotkewicz Art.
Anyways, Dustin and I decided we should do a collaboration/trade. We chose a theme of Alaskan wildlife and each drew a lineart for the other to color. I drew the Dall Sheep while Dustin drew those incredible humpback whales. I love how they both turned out! (I think it's pretty clear that I need to start working on being more colorful, however.)
Megan and I, although our schedules are often hectic and don't always match up, have still managed to find some time to goof off together. Recently we sampled a product from the gift shop: glacial facials! It's essentially a little tube of mud, but as you can see, Megan and I had a lot of fun slathering it all over our faces.
One of my favorite things to do in my time off, weather permitting, is walk down to the Chulitna River. I believe I've mentioned it before, but it's this river just down the road from the lodge. On my last trip, I went with my friend Danielle, who's fairly patient with me when I get sidetracked by all the cool things I find.
Like this beautiful fireweed specimen.
And this fantastic birch tree.
But we eventually made it to the bottom of the hill and decided to take some Instagram-worthy pictures of signs and things.
Now, normally when we visit the river, we go down to the north side of the river where the bank is fairly accessible and the pathway down not too steep. But this time, we decided to have a little adventure and visit the south side of the river . . . where there is no path. But we made it safely to the bottom, successfully avoiding all the patches of Devil's Club. And it was well worth the trip.
Although the highway is right above us and the opposite bank is heavily frequented by many employees, this little patch of wilderness felt very different from what we were used to. It felt wild and untouched and just a little desolate. I felt like a 12 year-old boy, whooping and hollering up and down the bank, excited and bubbling over with adrenaline.
We took our shoes off and let our feet sink into the cold, silty mud. While the bank was firm enough to walk around on, we discovered that if you jumped up and down, the waterlogged ground became springy like a waterbed, and then eventually gave way and you'd start to sink.
If I had stayed in one place long enough, I probably would've ended up like this log. I wonder how big it is and how long it's been slowly sinking into the mud here?
We also found several ribs. Moose? Caribou? Again, I've no idea how long these have been down here. I wonder if they're the leftovers of a bear's supper. So many mysteries!
We found a somewhat easier route back up the slope underneath the overpass. The spell of solitude was broken somewhat when we discovered all the graffiti beneath the bridge, but crows nesting in the framework helped us feel that this place had been unvisited for some time.
All-in-all, it was a pretty fantastic adventure.
Which brings me to my next adventure: going home.
Well, sort of. So, one of my very best friends in the whole wide world was getting married this summer and asked me to be one of her bridesmaids. I wasn't sure I could make it, but everything panned out and I was able to fly home for two days to see my best friend get married to her best friend.
This adventure started out with a train ride.
Me and my travel buddy, Walter.
A sketch I did while waiting at the train station.
Getting back to Utah was quite the adventure. I'm getting to be a well-traveled girl, but I really haven't done all that much travelling on my own before. In Europe I was with my study abroad group, or with my brother's family. But here, as soon as I left the lodge, everything was up to me. I arranged the train ride (thankfully and gratefully provided through my employment with Princess Cruises) and then walked from the train station to downtown Anchorage, where I boarded a city bus to the airport. If someone is looking to win a Nobel Peace Prize, then you might try looking into ways of making city bus systems easy to understand. For example, an easy to read map with labelled routes and stops that actually make sense to the common human being. Fortunately, I did end up on the correct bus and eventually made it to the airport where I waited for about six hours, because my flight wasn't actually until two in the morning. Nevertheless, I had good books (Minus 148* by Art Davidson - absolutely amazing!) and a Wanderlusty spirit.
Then, before I knew it, I was back in hot, dry Utah. It seemed almost surreal.
The wedding itself was absolutely wonderful. I couldn't be happier for Leslie and Kevin. They are two very marvelous human beings and I love them to death. It was absolutely a blessing to get to be a part of their special day.
I wish the celebration could've lasted a little longer for me, but I had to be back on a plane again the next morning. Have I mentioned that I love planes? I love seeing them, I love flying in them, I love airplane snacks and the little napkins they give you to put under your cup. And I especially love looking out the window and seeing sights like these:
I think this is either Mt. Rainier or Mt. Hood.
Flying over some Alaskan glaciers.
Once I was back in Anchorage, I had a couple hours to kill before my bus arrived that would take me back to Talkeetna. So I stopped in at the Anchorage museum and quickly fell in love. It's a really nice museum and I highly recommend it to visitors. I didn't get to see all of it, but they have a good variety of both contemporary art, natural history and science, and information on native cultures.
I was particularly smitten with the shadow this sculpture was creating.
From someone who once took a museum class and likes to pretend she knows a thing or two about the anthropological world, this particular establishment is doing an extremely fine job. Just look at those fascinating masks!
A three hour bus trip, a short shuttle ride piloted by a grumpy old man, and another coach ride later, I finally made it back to the lodge and the room and the sister that have become my world this summer. I thought it might be difficult to come back after being "home," but in actuality, I found it relieving to be back and sleeping in a creaky bed, showering in a molding bathroom, and living off of junk food stored in the top drawer of Megan's dresser. It doesn't sound like much, but if you've actually been here and seen all this scenery and beauty and all the little flowers and mushrooms, you'd understand completely.
