I have seen so much in the last few days and done even more. I am tired, drained, excited and anxious all at once.
While in Alyeska, I watched a friend go paragliding (pic 1) in the most beautiful setting, from the top of a glacially carved valley with the Turnagain arm in the background. Then we ate lunch there too. On the way back to Anchorage we stop at the Alaska Conservation Park and got our first look at bears, moose, reindeer, muskox, etc. Once in Anchorage, we ran some desperately need errands, went home repacked and head out to enjoy solstice. We went to a karaoke bar with our boss and I karaoked for the first time. I know, I am not the same person anymore.
Friday we had to get up very early, after a late night, and board the train to Denali. The trip is 8 hours and would have been amazing but there are more then 20 wild fires in south central Alaska so the smoke was thick (pic 2). The trip was still very nice, good thing to since I will be spending a lot of time on the train. I found out on Thursday that I will be on the "rail belt." That means that I will be leading trips from the port in Seward, through Anchorage, to Denali and finally ending in Fairbanks, or vice versa. I also am being pulled out of training 2 days early to start my first tour, which will be Monday.
Saturday we had a full day. River rafting in the morning, a Jeep Tundra tour, tour of the hotel property, then a dinner show. All of the events (except hotel tour) are options for our groups so it is good to have first-hand knowledge. This morning we were up early for a natural history tour (pic 3) of the park and we got our first glimpse of Mt. McKinley. It was slightly obscured by clouds but it is so amazing to see. The top of the peaks were blindingly white amongst the scattered clouds and even from near 100 miles away it is overwhelmingly huge. They say that only 30% of people trying to see the mountain actually are able because of clouds, so we were quite lucky.
Well I must study for a test and prepare a presentation for my boss, and if time permits, a short nap.
Thanks for reading.
We
5 comments:
Wow, and I thought raising two babies was tiring. Sounds like you are having a great time! Karaoke??? You really have changed. :) Can't wait to see more photos.
The stories are so amazing...Congratulations for getting pulled for your first tour early. I look forward to hearing more!
Good Luck with your first Tour!! :-)
How i iwsh there was video tape of you kareoking. How much beer was involved? hee-hee
Looking forward to hearing how your first tour goes. I know you will do great!
Um, no I do believe you've karaoked before... Aug '98 at a farewell house party where the hostess was talked into renting a karaoke machine... I've got picture proof!
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