Living the Dream
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Well, it's been a full two weeks on the dot since I arrived back in Alaska. The funny thing is, it seems like ages ago. Seward is incredibly beautiful. We are surrounded by mountains which, on a good day, grace us with their overwhelming presence and, on a bad day, hide beneath a layer of cloud. Still, you see the remains of snowy avalanches creeping down the mountain sides like long white arms, beckoning your eyes up and up and up.
The ocean here is calm and Resurrection bay itself rarely sees any whales but does play host to smaller mammals. I haven't seen any of those yet, but last Tuesday I did have the chance to stop by the Sea Life Center here in Seward and check out sea lions, otters, king crabs, and all sorts of fish. The center is actually a rehabilitation facility for injured wildlife and was funded by the Exxon-Valsdez oil spill.
Last Wednesday I was fortunate enough to get the chance to go ice climbing. Walking around on Glaciers is always a fun experience because you get to wear crampons. Plus, it never gets old saying you went ice climbing in July. What I really enjoyed about Exit Glacier (besides the hike in and the black bear) was the the forest service put signs up so that as you drove to the base of the glacier, you could look at where the glacier had been and how fast it receded. Sometimes it recede really quickly over a short time (think 5-15 years) and sometimes it stayed in place for a long time (think 30-40 years). Of course, this is a human time scale which isn't really the best way for measuring geological phenomena but it's pretty neat nonetheless.
Work itself is steady, busy, loud. We have 85 Alaskan huskies in our kennel plus several "pet" dogs inluding Chena. She runs a few times a week or whenever I get tired of hearing her howl, bark, and whine which happens whenever I'm in the dog yard and not paying attention to her. Jealous much? Joking! She's been a good girl and seems to be adjusting to outdoor life just fine. I think it helps that she gets to eat salmon, beef, and turkey fat everyday. -- it's kind of pathetic when your dog is getting to eat salmon and you aren't --
I love the dogs we're working with. They truly are world-class and I'm working with Iditarod Champions which is pretty cool. The Seavey's know what they're doing. Because we do so much harnessing and unharnessing of the dogs, they know the drill so it goes fairly quickly. I finally started guiding on my own yesterday which was exciting.
Before that my job was pretty much cleaning the kennel, watering the dogs, harnessing and unharnessing which is a big part of the life of the musher but... it's also pretty dull. It gets old fast especially when it's raining and the dogs are covered in heaping piles of mud. Oh well. I think I will forever smell like wet dog....
Getting to interact with the guests and the dogs is far more exciting and entertaining to me. I love talking to people and I love talking about dogsledding so it comes pretty natural. I tell them all about the Iditarod and answer any questions they may have about the race, the dogs, or my mushing experience thus far. Everyone gets excited when I say I want to run the Iditarod, but that's a pretty long time out -- I still don't even have a job this winter!
Well, I've been in the coffee shop for a long time now so I think I'm going to head elsewhere on my travels. Explore downtown Seward, pick up Chena and go for a walk, and maybe grab a bite to eat somewhere.
I'll try and post again soon but I don't have internet at my house and I work twelve hour days so it makes it difficult! Feel free to shoot me an email, leave me a comment, or a voicemail -- but remember I'm four hours behind all you East Coasters!
The ocean here is calm and Resurrection bay itself rarely sees any whales but does play host to smaller mammals. I haven't seen any of those yet, but last Tuesday I did have the chance to stop by the Sea Life Center here in Seward and check out sea lions, otters, king crabs, and all sorts of fish. The center is actually a rehabilitation facility for injured wildlife and was funded by the Exxon-Valsdez oil spill.
Last Wednesday I was fortunate enough to get the chance to go ice climbing. Walking around on Glaciers is always a fun experience because you get to wear crampons. Plus, it never gets old saying you went ice climbing in July. What I really enjoyed about Exit Glacier (besides the hike in and the black bear) was the the forest service put signs up so that as you drove to the base of the glacier, you could look at where the glacier had been and how fast it receded. Sometimes it recede really quickly over a short time (think 5-15 years) and sometimes it stayed in place for a long time (think 30-40 years). Of course, this is a human time scale which isn't really the best way for measuring geological phenomena but it's pretty neat nonetheless.
Work itself is steady, busy, loud. We have 85 Alaskan huskies in our kennel plus several "pet" dogs inluding Chena. She runs a few times a week or whenever I get tired of hearing her howl, bark, and whine which happens whenever I'm in the dog yard and not paying attention to her. Jealous much? Joking! She's been a good girl and seems to be adjusting to outdoor life just fine. I think it helps that she gets to eat salmon, beef, and turkey fat everyday. -- it's kind of pathetic when your dog is getting to eat salmon and you aren't --
I love the dogs we're working with. They truly are world-class and I'm working with Iditarod Champions which is pretty cool. The Seavey's know what they're doing. Because we do so much harnessing and unharnessing of the dogs, they know the drill so it goes fairly quickly. I finally started guiding on my own yesterday which was exciting.
Before that my job was pretty much cleaning the kennel, watering the dogs, harnessing and unharnessing which is a big part of the life of the musher but... it's also pretty dull. It gets old fast especially when it's raining and the dogs are covered in heaping piles of mud. Oh well. I think I will forever smell like wet dog....
Getting to interact with the guests and the dogs is far more exciting and entertaining to me. I love talking to people and I love talking about dogsledding so it comes pretty natural. I tell them all about the Iditarod and answer any questions they may have about the race, the dogs, or my mushing experience thus far. Everyone gets excited when I say I want to run the Iditarod, but that's a pretty long time out -- I still don't even have a job this winter!
Well, I've been in the coffee shop for a long time now so I think I'm going to head elsewhere on my travels. Explore downtown Seward, pick up Chena and go for a walk, and maybe grab a bite to eat somewhere.
I'll try and post again soon but I don't have internet at my house and I work twelve hour days so it makes it difficult! Feel free to shoot me an email, leave me a comment, or a voicemail -- but remember I'm four hours behind all you East Coasters!
