Happy Quarter of a Century!

Well yesterday was my birthday and now I am officially 25 years of age.  Yesterday was a great birthday all in all.  I worked at 5am so that I would be done early and get to enjoy my day.  The morning shifts are hard to wake up for but once you're up they're really a lot of fun.  Unfortunately yesterday we had half of our co-workers come late.  One tried to get out of it by claiming to be "sick." He tried to garner sympathy from me but I wasn't dishing it out that morning. I told him that Steph and I had been there on time and it was my birthday and we had managed all the phones and guests by our selves so he could manage a few hours too.

After that my manager got me a big box of brownies and put two candles in them and sang Happy Birthday to me.  The brownies were yummy!  Then a few hours later just before a large group of guests were set to depart from the lobby to the train depot Steph managed to get them all coordinated to sing.  So I'm doing something else when I hear this loud hum then I realize then ENTIRE lobby is singing me Happy Birthday!  It was by far the most enjoyable embarrassing moment I've had thus far. After work I went back to my room to open a few packages that had arrived.  I got a pair of shoes from my parents (THANK YOU!), a jacket from George (THANK YOU!) and 3 Jane Austin books from Grandma Jane (THANK YOU!).  My backpacking pack, tent, sleeping bag and sleeping pad all showed up too so now I'm ready to get out into the wilderness!

I waited until around 8pm to have dinner at the Salmon Bake with some friends.  We stayed there until around 1am having some drinks and celebrating til my birthday was over.  Overall my 25th was a great day!  Now I have two days off and am trying to figure out what I want to do.  Today I'm thinking about going into the park and taking pictures then tomorrow maybe getting a nice long hike in before doing a Jeep Safari Monday evening.  I'll post more on my activities tomorrow night.  Hope all is well in the lower 48 and thank you for the birthday wishes!

A Bump on de head

Well after an exciting week at work I finally feel like I know what's going on and not like the new kid anymore which is great!  However on Friday I went did something that only a spaz of my caliber could do.  I was at the train depot welcoming our new wave of guests and placing their bags in the under bus storage.  Sure enough after I put the last bag on I stood up too soon and did not clear the metal door. WHACK!  Yup that's the sound the back of my skull made on the metal door cover.  By far one of the most painful head hitting experiences I've had to date.  I managed to get through my greeter speech and the train rush back at the front desk ok then when I went to dinner I started to not feel ok.  I started to feel like I'd had one too many beers at the bar and dinner stopped sounding good.  My managers sent me to the Nurse and the nurse examined me, at one point I was near tears I felt so not like myself.  As it turns out I gave myself a nice little concussion.  I was sent home from work and told to check in before my 5am shift the next day.  At 4am the next morning I still felt drunk and my stomach was not happy.  I called in sick and called the nurse.  He told me to check in at 9am and we'd go from there.  At 9am I made my way up to the nurses station where I was examined again.  The nurse wasn't happy with what he saw so we went to the urgent care clinic next door.  Thankfully the Physician Assistant at the urgent care clinic didn't think a cat scan was needed, just that I had mild concussion and needed to rest more.  So I've been ordered off work until monday and told to lay low.  For those of you who know me, laying low is not my idea of fun and yesterday was rough on me. I spent most of the day working on photos or sleeping.  Thankfully today I am no longer feeling nauseous, which was getting really old yesterday and not as drunk as I was yesterday!  I appear to be on the mend and headed back to work tomorrow!

For my first concussion I couldn't have asked for a better story cause at least I can say I did it in Alaska! Unfortunately I picked the nicest days of the season thus far on which to sideline myself :-( I'm sure I'll make up for it soon though.  

Vroom Vroom!

On Wednesday I had the chance to go ATVing!  I went with two guys that I work with at the front desk.  I'd heard from co-workers that it was a lot of fun and really muddy which as many you know I like the mud!  We headed out on the shuttle to the property and started to wonder if maybe I hadn't dressed warm enough.  It'd been pretty cold the past few days and Wednesday is was cloudy and looking like rain.  By the time we got their and got orientated to our machines I was pretty sure I was going to be cold on the ride.  They gave use helmets and gloves so I figured I'd be ok.  Sure enough as soon as we started to ride the ice came, yes freezing rain in all it's glory came pelting down on our faces.  Thankfully like most weather around here it didn't last too long!  However by the time we got to our first look out point my hand had past the point of being numb  and went to achy.  The guide was nice enough to swap gloves with me and I was able to feel my hand for the rest of the trip.  It was important to have feeling in my right hand too since that was the thumb I was using for the gas!

My co-workers laughed when the guide asked if any of us had been on an ATV before and I said, "No but I have a Vespa."  Surprisingly the guide said, "Nice yeah this will be pretty similar."  The biggest difference between the two was the turning, my Vespa is pretty nimble but the ATV is four wheel drive and you gotta work to get it to turn.  The ride was gorgeous we had beautiful lookouts and even bigger mud puddles to drive through!  Towards the end of the ride they took us down into dry creek, which is just at the name says, a dry creek bed.  Since we were all handling our machines well and keeping up they let us free to drive around and go over big bumps on our own.  I of course would drive, stop, take a picture and then move to a new location to do that all over again.  After about 10-15 minutes of play time we headed back to the company headquarters.  The ATV ride was a lot of fun and great way to get out and see the area, we rode along a northern edge of the park near Stampede road.  For anyone who has read or seen the movie Into the Wild we were near the area where he hiked into the park.  I highly recommend getting out on an ATV if you're in this area, it's a great change from hiking but also a great way to feel 5 years old again!

I will have photos posted from ATVing soon but in the mean time I've posted the photos from the Helicopter Ride, Husky Homestead and our climb on Sugar Loaf!

Do you know...?

I'm trying to get caught up on all the happenings here so you guys have something to read!  Yesterday was my first actual day at the front desk.  I didn't start til 3pm so I worked on photos and relaxed in the morning.  The hike to Sugar Loaf really took it out of us so we opted not to try and do anything that morning. I woke up and noticed that my throat felt funny, I realized my sinuses were draining but I felt ok.  It was so cold on Sugar Loaf that everyone's nose was running and I think my sinuses got inflamed.  Over the day it became progressively worse to when I was ready to go to bed I couldn't breathe through my nose. A friend game me some Tylenol Cold to help me sleep but it didn't do much.  I had a pretty restless night of sleep but thankfully I've got some Sudafed with me so I'll be using lots of tissues today but it should be better by tonight.

Anyways about my first shift!  Where I work is really hectic when the train comes in because it brings 200-400 people on into the hotel who are all checking in and want to book tours.  We have a great system that utilizes their time on the train.  We actually check them in on the train and give them there keys there.  When they arrive here they can just go straight to their room unless they want to book something else.  We went to the train depot to pick them up and I was supposed to listen to the greeter speech we give on each bus.  Unfortunately there were two groups of people, very unhappy people, trying to find a bus that was not there.  I was trying to help them and totally missed the first half of the speech.  Oh well it's a fairly straight forward thing to give and I'm looking forward to doing my first one.  After that it was my job to walk the line of people and try to elimnate people, no not do away with, just see if there were things I could take care of while they waited in line.  I noticed out of the corner of my eye a woman moving her hands around in the air.  I tend to react to that because of my sign language background but it usually turns out to just be someone moving thier hands around.  Not this time!  There in front of me was a large group of Deaf people!  I got so excitied I introduced myself and asked if there was anything they needed answered.  They were  all very receptive and happy to meet me.  They have two interpreters with them that were communicating with our managers about something.  I told them I'd be at the front desk and to come by with any questions.  I then went into my managers office and reminded them about my training in case they needed it.  They were really happy and seemed relieved to know they had someone else to help communicate.

After the rush was over I started throwing myself into the front lines and using my computer skills.  It was pretty straight forward and everyone was happy to answer questions.  Then a small number of the Deaf group came back to ask about their luggage.  It was really nice to move my fingers and wiggle my face again!  They were very appreciative and I'm hoping to run into them again today.  One of our managers told us at the end of the day that today was a bad day and we all did really well for our first day.  The three of us who are new were really happy to finally be working and enjoyed ourselves.   So now I'm off to grab lunch and blow my nose before my shift starts.  Check back later tonight for more photos!

I've only been here a week?

Greetings!!!

So I can't believe I've only been here a week so far.  I've done so much already!  I finished computer training on friday and then went for a hike to Horseshoe Lake with a group of people.  It was a great warm up hike with nice views and wildlife!  We saw a Ptarmgyn and a beaver!  I didn't get a picture of the Ptarmgyn (pronounced tar-ma-gine) which is the Alaska state bird.  I did however get an awesome picture of the beaver!  Which you can see here.

On Saturday I got up and went to the post office and got myself a p.o. box.  So I finally have an address!  To send me goodies or notes you can mail it to,

Lydia Chambers

P.O. Box 713

Denali, AK 99755

It's a 1.5 mile walk to the post office so I probably will only go once or twice a week till I figure out how to sweet talk the shuttle drivers into dropping me off!  After that Crystal and I went to the rafting guides we have on property to get on a trip.  Unfortunately due to high winds they were only running the wilderness run which is where you sit and a guide rows.  No crazy rapids but still a great way to see the area and wildlife.  We joined a group of Holland America Employees on their training trip. As I mentioned in an earlier posting I met a guy on the flight from Seattle to Anchorage who was coming to work for Holland America.  Believe it or not he was on our rafting trip!  It was really cool to see a familiar face and catch up on the last week happenings which feels so much longer.  None of us can believe it's just been a week.  The rafting trip was nice but pretty cold, the river water doesn't get much warmer than 36 degrees so they put everyone in dry suits.  Getting into the suits was by far the neatest part.  Someone helps you get dressed then you have to bend over and hold the never seal open to let all the air out.  Otherwise you look like the Michelin man! We got to see and hear alot on the ride about the area.  Different geological facts and history of the area.

After rafting Crystal and I went to Husky Homestead.  The homestead is home to Jeff King who is a 4 time Idtarod champion. The Idatrod is a 1,000 mile dog sled race from Anchorage to Nome.  Upon exiting the bus you are handed a 6 week old Alaskan Husky puppy to hold and have your picture taken with.  I melted of course! As many of you know I have been contemplating getting a husky for the last year now.  Then we heard a presentation all about the dogs, how they are breed, trained and chosen for the race.  For anyone who doesn't know about this race it's a really interesting presentation.  Then Jeff King took us inside and talked longer about how he got into the race and his experiences.  He's had some close calls as well and some amazing experiences on the race trail.  We also got to see a video of how he trains the dogs, one of which ways is to hook them up to a line, like the one for a sled, put them in lifejackets and have them pull a boat in his lake.  These dogs have an amazing amount of strength for thier size and it would only take one dog to pull a 150lb sled with a 150lb musher on the back.  Jeff told us about one racer who wanted to know exactly how much weight each dog was pulling.  He attached meter to each dogs harness that registers to force being exerted.  At the end of the run he found that each dog only pulled 4-5lbs each!  That's how they are able to go so fast is because they pulling a nominal amount of weight.

The whole experience was really fascinating and the dogs were amazing.  Sunday morning Crystal and I got up early to meet a shuttle for our helicopter ride.  That's right we got to take a helicopter ride over the valley!  It was too windy inside the park so we stayed outside of it but it was still AMAZING!!!  I was again apprehensive about flying but again I was wrong.  The ride was a little bumpy but it didn't freak me out at all.  We flew over some moose and caribou which looked like little plastic toys.  He flew us around some amazing views of the Alaskan range.  The photo that is behind the title of the blog is from that flight.  I have more photos on flickr that I'll post tonight.  We all had headphones on and they were playing music from Braveheart and Enya music.  Let me just say this, listening to that music while seeing what we saw you can't help but feeling like crying.  Myself and the guy next to me both teared up.  It was so awe inspiring to see the beautiful creation  called Alaska.  I feel truly blessed to have been offered this opportunity to see God's creation.  We were all on such a high after that ride that Crystal and I decided to go check out the visitors center in the park.  They have some gorgeous buildings with some really neat green technology in place.

We came back for lunch and figured out what to do next!  We decided to go for a hike on a nearby mountain called Sugar Loaf.  It's a 47oo ft mountain across the street from us.  We'd heard the beginning was really steep then leveled out along the rideline before the final climb to the summit.  Myself, Crystal and Dominique headed out around 3 to catch the shuttle to the property with the trailhead. We hit the trailhead at about 4.  The beginning part was definately tough, almost straight up until you pass treeline.  Once we passed treeline though the view was AMAZING!  We made our way, slowly, along the ridgeline.  It was very windy so we took our time and took breaks to warm up.  We weren't totally prepared for such strong and cold winds but managed ok.  At 7pm we took a rest and discussed our options.  It looked as though we at least another 45mins ahead of us to hit the summit.  Thankfully here you never have to worry about chasing the sun!  We decided to go ahead for another 45mins, at 7:45 no matter where we were we'd go back.  Twenty minutes later we were standing on the summit!  The summit offered a special treat of a view of the Alaskan range which is opposite the Denali park.  For all the pain and huffing and puffing it took to get there the view at the top made it all worthwhile.

We headed back down and arrived at the bottom just before 9pm.  We took our time going down to be sure no one got injured, it was just a steep return down so sure footing was important.  We treated ourselves to pizza and then gingerly made our way home and fell fast asleep!

I will post pictures later tonight of Husky Homestead, the Helicopter ride and the climb of Sugar Loaf so be sure to check them out!

Take Off

I've been in Denali for 4 full days now and I can't believe how much I've done already.  Tuesday we had orientation and then reported to our managers for the rest of the day.  We didn't do a lot at the front desk simply because it's so busy right now there wasn't much time to spend explaining stuff.  The newbies mainly stood around and watched and asked questions.  Then we all got to go to the train depot to pick of the guests arriving from Anchorage.  When we got back our manager approached us and said, "Denali Air has some openings who wants to go?" Not knowing what I was volunteering for I was the first to put my hand in the air.  Turns out myself along with 2 other girls got ourselves seats on a flight seeing tour over Mt. McKinley!  We had 10 minutes to grab our cameras and get into the van.  

For the past few years I've had repeated anxiety attacks on planes and have become more wary of flying that I was when I was younger.  All of a sudden it dawned on me that I'd be getting on a really tiny plane and I started to regret being so eager.  The other 2 girls had been last year and reassured me that it's really safe and a smooth flight.  As we walked out to the plane, a Piper Cheiftan with a total of 9 seats I got a little anxious.  I knew what a unique experience this was though so I took a deep breath and got on the plane. Our pilot was the Chief pilot for the company with over 20,000 hours of flight time.  He told us it was a beautiful day for all the flights they'd done so far and expected the same for us.  As we took off I was overwhelmed by the scenary and quickly forgot about any bumps or shimmys of the aircraft.  We climbed to 12,000 ft and headed for Mt. McKinley.  On our way we flew of glacial valleys and the spine of the Alaskan mountain range.  All I can say is breathtaking!  In our orientation that morning the activities coordinator mentioned that how the park looks now will change completely in about a month.  Right now it's the end of winter and other than the evergreens there are no leaves on trees.  I'm hoping to take another flight mid-summer or the end of the summer to see the change of colors.

As we approached McKinley the size of the mountain overtakes you.  Until you see it for yourself you can't even begin to fathom it's size.  It's 20,320 ft tall with the largest vertical rise of any mountain in the world of 14,000ft.  It felt as though we were merely a few hundred feet from the mountain however we never got closer than a mile and a half!  We circled the mountain and could see the summit on the south peak through the clouds.  The pilot really impressed on us what a treat we had in the weather.  He told us we couldn't have asked for a nicer day, smooth air, patchy clouds and beautiful sunshine.  As we circled around we flew over the glacier that the climbers use to approach the mountain.  We were able to see the 9,000ft base camp with climbers approaching it.  As we turned more we saw 3 parties of climbers headed up to the 14,000 ft camp.  During the entire flight we listened on headphones to an audio tour with information about the park as well as the mountain.  I can only remember half of it simply because I was so focused on what was outside of my window I didn't really listen!

The flight got me so excited to be here and made me realize what I have the opportunity to do this summer.  The company was so happy to have us because as front desk staff we get to recommend tours and businesses.   As soon as I got back and went and met some more of my co-workers at the dinner theater at our property.  As employees we can get a delicious free meal and show. I had forgotten how hungry I was in all the excitement over the flight.  The family style ribs, salmon, potatoes, corn and the best of all the biscuits was not lost on us hungry employees.

Yesterday we began computer training.  The computer system can be confusing but for the most part we're picking it up pretty fast.  After that the entire front desk staff was invited to a local restaurant which is the local hangout and the famous restaurant in glitter gulch. We were granted a meal by the owner so we could tell our guests about the resturant and how good it is. I am happy to report that the food was just as good as he said it would be.  I had the signature dish "Salmon Bake" with garlic mashed potatoes.  Dad- these were THE best garlic mashed potatoes I've EVER had!  Everything was so delicious I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

After dinner we all hung out and I was able to meet everyone which was really nice.  So far everyone's been really cool and a lot of fun.  I'm really looking forward to the rest of this summer and what it has to offer.  We have our last day of computer training tomorrow then I have Saturday and Sunday off.  I don't know what I'm going to do yet but getting to the post office will defiantly be one of them.  I'm also going to go to the kennel inside the park.  They have dogs that take the rangers and supplies around the park in the winter there.  Unfortunatly during the summer these Huskies don't get much exercise so they have a program where you can adopt a dog for the summer.  You come 3 times a week in the evening and walk the dog.  They pair you up with a dog that matches your personality or an activity you want to do. I've decided I'm going to take the dog running but chances are I'm going to have to run no matter what when walking it.  These dogs know no commands other than "GO!" they're whole job is to pull heavy sleds and I will be no different than a heavy sled.  Two other front desk staff have are doing this and really love it so I can't wait!

I'm heading to bed a bit early tonight because I've been up late the past few nights and have gotten up early so I want to catch up on some sleep.  Tomorrow after training we're going for a group hike to horseshoe lake then I might try and get to the kennel.  I've posted pictures from the flight seeing tour on my flicker page.  I was really eager to get them up so they aren't cleaned up very well but you'll get the idea.  Hope all is well with you in the lower 48!

New Kid

Ok so I'm finally here at my destination, Denali National Park!  We arrived this afternoon via a bus from Anchorage.  I've been up since about 6am and it's 10pm now and still really light outside.  The long daylight hours really do a number on you because you're body is tired but it doesn't feel like it's that late.  I'm sitting in the cafeteria where there's a wireless signal which is just a few feet from my room.

Here's Mt. McKinley from my window on the bus!

It's been a long day and I'm pretty exhausted.  The trip up was gorgeous and I had to pinch myself to make sure it wasn't all a dream. We saw Mt. McKinley which is HUGE!  The park is huge too we drove for at least 3 hours and haven't even hit halfway yet. The bus ride was bittersweet because I met some really cool people only to discover that they all work at different properties.  I have met one girl, Crystal, who's been really cool and we decided to try and room together which led to the least fun part of my day.  We went to a triple room and discovered that there was another girl slated to be moving in Wednesday.  So we went and got the room switched to another one only to discover that 2 people were already living there and had another one on the way! So finally we split up and moved into separate rooms. The room's aren't anything spectacular just your basic dorm style room.  I'm looking forward to getting the boxes I mailed and making feel more homey.  I of course over-packed but the majority of it is camera gear so that's ok :-)

I relaxed in my room for a  bit and then got dinner with my roommate.  After dinner we had paperwork to fill out and take photos for our staff id's.  Then Crystal (my buddy from the bus) and I decided to go explore around "Glitter Gulch."  Glitter Gulch is the area we are staying in, there are hotels, shops and restaurants in this little stretch of road.  Tomorrow we have orientation and then I'll do some training on the computer systems.  I've met some of my fellow front desk workers who worked here last year.  They are both from New York and have nothing but wonderful things to say! The employee village is a neat little area, we have a rec room and cafeteria to hang out in outside of our rooms.  There are also posters up all around for hikes, movie nights and yoga classes so hopefully no shortage of things to do. I have some qualms about my roommates but hell I'm in ALASKA!!!  I'm going to get my P.O. box tomorrow hopefully and then I'll be able to send that around. I'll write more this week as I start to get adjusted to the schedule. I've posted photos to flickr and will continue to post as the new adventures come my way.