As you know my first tour finished on Sunday and unfortunately my next one doesn't start until this Sunday. You got it, a week off. Now, I enjoy Anchorage, but I certainly wasn't ready to sit around for a week in town while I am geared up, rested up and psyched up to lead tours. So what does a poor girl do with 5 days off? Here for your entertainment is my exciting week off in Anchorage.
Monday was productive. I joined my roommate JM while she bought a new computer, then came home and checked to make sure it worked. Then she had her debrief at the office, so I walked back downtown with her and scheduled my debrief and ran into a friend, JW. We went and got some coffee while we waited for JM to finish, then she and friend EK joined us and the 4 of us headed to lunch. We ate at a place with great atmosphere and views and good food called Simon and Seaforts. Afterwards, JM and I stopped at UPS so I could get a mailbox, then we splurged on pedicures. You would think that a pedicure would be wasted in Alaska but I wear my flip flops all the time, as long as it isn't raining. The best was next, we decided to get an afternoon drink and stopped at Cafe Paris. :) From there we went to Ship Creek to check out the salmon fishing but it seemed pretty slow so we decided to stop into The Bridge restaurant for another drink so we didn't waste the walk. After getting a napkin folding lesson from the owner we decided to move onto Snow Goose Brewery for dinner and yes, another drink. It is always good to have first hand knowledge of the restaurants that we send our guests to. We then headed home for a nap and JM got ready for her tour the next day. At about 9:00 pm, EK, JW and I headed out for an evening of bowling. I am very rusty but we had a great time.
Tuesday was paperwork in the morning and my debrief at 11:30. We brief and debrief before and after every tour, or try to. The brief is important if you haven't done a tour before, it allows our supervisor to give us all the paperwork and the unwritten instructions and we make sure everything is clear. The debrief checks over the paperwork, checks through the comment cards and we can let them know of any problems or advice for the next time. I headed over to the Hilton to visit with JM while she got ready for her Meet & Greet, then I headed to one of the popular Anchorage restaurants, Orso, for lunch. I sat at the bar since I was by myself and talked with the bartender, who made a great margarita. He says the key is a little bit of cranberry juice. My chatting with him earned me some free wine tasting along with my tasty lunch. The rest of the room was pretty free, I just wandered a bit then came home. That evening a friend picked me up, we had dinner and were out until 3 am. I am too old for that.
Due to the lateness of Tuesday night, Wednesday I slept until 11:30 and missed my chance to go and work the cruise ship that docked in Whittier. So I pretty much did nothing all day. Wait, I did start planning my November vacation to Europe and went to the grocery store. I guess the day wasn't an entire loss. I also watched a lot of HGTV with my poor roommate that is house bound with a broken foot. It was one of the first 4th of July's
Today, Thursday, JW and I had grand plans of seeing a play in the park at noon and going bike riding but it rained, so the play was canceled. We stopped into my favorite coffee shop, had a nice cappuccino and ate the sandwich I had purchased. We then decided to go see a movie about the aurora borealis to wait out the cold and rain. It was great, a very good thing to send our guests to. Afterward it was still drizzily and cold so we opted out of biking and decided to walk along the coastal trail. This is a great path that runs along the inlet from downtown to out past the airport. We walked at least 4 miles by the time we made it home. Tonight I spent time packing for my 12 hour train ride to Fairbanks tomorrow and ensuing tour that I start on Sunday. I also got to chat with a few friends on line. Now it is time for bed, I need to be at the Hilton to catch the shuttle to the train station by 7:15. I am hoping to get on an optional tour up to the Arctic Circle during my day off in Fairbanks. If not that, then maybe it will be a trip to Chena Hot Springs.
I am hoping for very few stretches like this again. I am here to work.
Thanks for reading.
2 comments:
Too bad you don't have a set up for your quilting stuff so you could do that in your down time. When you do have a long stretch of downtime like that, is there any ability for you to do some traveling yourself? I know funds may limit this...especially making last minute reservations.
Cranberry Juice...got it!
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