Adventure!

As Seward likes to constantly prove when it rains, it pours. Yesterday was quite the day. I have to say I've never experienced anything quite like it and I don't think anyone else has either. What an interesting fiasco it was! Still, work was enjoyable.

Yesterday started off nice and easy. The weather was cooperating, my tourists were all really nice people (one even grew up in Cotuit), and the dogs were all in impecable moods. It seemed like nothing could go wrong. . . until it did. About half-way through the tour my brakes decided to lock up which resulted in us not being able to go anywhere. We were, quite literally, stuck in the mud. It turns out that the air had released from our air-hydrolic brakes and caused everything to jam. What that meant was no moving wheels. Now, the dogs are strong. They make pulling a 2,000 pound sled look like a piece of cake but there was no way they could budge that sled without the wheels turning. So I sat there talking to my guests while I calmly called Danny (my boss) to come help me out. Boy, was I glad I had my phone!

Fifteen minutes later, he and my friend Michael came out  on the four-wheeler with a brand-new sled. We then had to transfer the entire dog team from one sled to the other via the four wheeler. Basically, we used the winch on the four wheeler as our anchor so the team couldn't go anywhere. After transferring the team to the new sled, we were then good to go.

Problem solved, right? Well we got back to the dog lot and all was well. The incident didn't even phase me. Stuff like that can happen and you just have to great it calmly and smile about it after. My guests thought it was very exciting.

After that, I was looking forward to a nice calm ride the next time I took my team out. Right? Wrong! Just before the half-way mark I said "Alright" to my team to get them going and off they went . . . without us! The way we had hooked the gangline back up to the sled had somehow come undone and poof! Like magic my team was gone in a whirlwind of tanglined lines and barking. I jumped off my sled, told my guests I would be right back, and then chased down my team, not once, but twice!

This was a little nerve racking but I didn't let it phase me.  Rule number one: Don't panic! Panicking doesn't help solve a situation and, with tourists, it often freaks them out so you just have to remain calm and collected. The main worry here was the dogs -- when they get loose like that if they get tangled sometimes they will fight or they can choke or be dragged to death (Definitely B A D). Fortunately for me, everyone was ok.

Once again, I called Danny who rushed out on the ATV to help me. By the time he'd gotten out there, we'd tied off my team to another sled and were in the processes of untangling dogs. We hooked the dogs up to the ATV then drove them back to my sled, reattached them, and got underway.

Thankfully, my guests thought this entire episode was hilarious. "You should have seen your face!" One woman said. "They took off, we didn't, and your jaw just totally fell." "I don't think I've ever seen a person act so quickly and calmly," said another.

The rest of the tour was completed with all our dogs and with no problems! Yay!

Needless to say, by the time the end of the day rolled around I was grateful. I got home, cracked open a beer, snuggled up to the Chena-dog, and started reading. I'm pretty happy with how I handled the situations that arose and I'm definitely learning a lot about crowd control / solving dog problems. My boss was also happy with the way I handled things which is always a good thing too.

If anyone is looking for good books to read I just read "The Shallows" by Nicholas Carr and found it really fascinating. It's about the brain and how our technology shapes it. I also recently started "Born to Run" and cannot seem to put it down. It's about the Tarahumara Indians who are a tribe of insane runners who live in the Mexican Copper Canyons. Check it out for sure.

TTFN. Ta Ta for Now!

I totally forgot that on my day off this week I went "rafting." Trust me, the quotation marks are mandatory. The reason? Well, it was more of a scenic boat float trip then anything else but it was awesome. It was Nina, Ashlee, and myself who went up to Cooper Landing for the trip. Well worth it too.

The drive was, as always, spectacular. We travelled down part of the Sterling Highway which was very scenic and very lovely. When we got to the rafting place,got situated in life jackets and then pretty much just got in the boat and left.

We were joking with our guide, Rocky, the entire time because we were also guides and we knew how this thing went. One thing inevitably led to another and somehow we ended up stopping for beers mid-rafts. Really, it made the trip. We floated down the river, took pictures, and had a great time. Somehow, even though we weren't doing anything, we were exhausted by the time it was over.

The only bad thing? I left my rain pants! Now I have to figure out how to get back to Cooper Landing to get my pants back. Oops. Oh and what had I been saying about it not raining a whole lot earlier? Well, I seemed to cast my fate right then. Now it's a total downpour... whoops!

It's seems strange to say but I've been in Seward for one month now and I'm loving it. The rainy days have subsided somewhat to a more steady stream of cloud and fog but the occasional patch of blue makes it all worth while. Thankfully, when the skies open up it's been a drip here and a drip there. Last week the weather was a disaster -- total downpour all the time.  I mean “chicken little, chicken little the sky is falling!” sort of down pour. The dogs were soaked. We were soaked. The tourists were soaked in their little yellow rain slickers. But it's been fun and everyone who comes to visit still has smiles on their face so it makes it all worth while!

Work has been busy but exciting. I've really enjoyed living in Seward and sharing my passion with dog enthusiasts from across the globe. Yesterday I had people from Israel, Portugal, and France on my tours to give you an idea of where people are coming from. I also had a Japanese family from just outside Tokyo the other day so I did my best to speak to them in Japanese... Utter failure! All I could remember was "I can speak a little Japanese" and "The dog is cute, don't you think?" But they seemed to enjoy my efforts nonetheless. Actually, I could understand what they were saying for the most part which was neat I just didn't have the vocabulary to respond. I guess that's how it goes when you don't practice.
At work, our big walk-in freezer broke recently. Luckily, we were able to use everything up before it got all mushy and gross. The downside was the freezer than stunk like fish. We took out all the gross wooden pallets and pieces of plywood that had lined the freezer, chopped them up, put them in a truck to take to the dump and then what happened...the truck died!  So inevitably with the fish smell lurking around we had a small black bear come to investigate what that "delicious" smell was. He couldn't have been very old. I'm guessing a year, maybe a year and a half at most. We are talking tiny. But he wandered around for quite some time yesterday until we got the truck fixed and moving on it's way.

We also had our crew party recently after work because people are starting to pack up and head home for the season. (so sad). It was a lot of fun, but I'd worked 11 hours or thereabouts so I was pretty beat by the time I got there. Our activities included throwing meat into a dog house (I got it in 4 tries!), running a four dog team on gravel on a wintersled, some sort of cash register check-out thing, a driving relay race, and just hanging out and eating pizza. Although I enjoyed being on a winter sled again, we took the dogs out on a very windy trail and these guys are fast. Stupidly, I choose the strongest dogs in the kennel who were much faster than I was. I was terrified of wiping out and getting gravel glued to my face. Scars are cool, don't get me wrong, but not on my face, please! Fortunately, there were no wipe outs but I was the slowest. (Darn!) Our team, after winning several events started losing and in the end came in last. That was ok though because we had the most laughs.

I got offered a winter touring / year round management position here in Seward for the next year and I decided to take it -- so if anyone wants to come visit me, I'm definitely encouraging it (though I will have to work!). I'm excited by the opportunities it will give me and think it will be a ton of fun. I've really enjoyed working with the Seavey's so far. They're fun people and very laid back -- plus I know I can learn a lot from them. Pretty neat being offered that sort of position after only being here for a couple of weeks! Guess I'm a good employee :) yay!

I'm also excited because my parents are coming to visit. They will fly into Alaska on Thursday and spend the following couple of days up in Denali National Park. I'm jealous because I haven't gotten to go there yet! Then they will come down here to Seward and we will go sight seeing and fishing. I'm very excited. I can't wait to see them!

All right well that's it for now.
I will try to post again later this week.
p.s. sorry this post is so scrambled/ bounces around a lot.

Well I went on a solo hike today during my day off. I ventured up the Harding Ice Field trail at the base of Exit Glacier. It’s an 8.2 mile round trip and the views are simply stunning. It’s the only trail in the United States that allows you to see onto an ice field.

I was blessed with scattered cloud coverage so I could see the nunatuks rise up out of the ice field. Because the sky was overcast, it was often difficult to distinguish where the snow ended and the sky began. Contrast that with the lush green all around me as well as the huge flowing glacier and it made for some truly spectacular photos.



Looking out at the Harding Ice Field I couldn’t help but think of a big, white, fluffy dog. Like a Samoyed or maybe just one of the Alaskans we have in the yard all spread out with it’s gangly limbs reaching down. Glaciers are extremely visually satisfying. They constantly take your breath away -- their breadth, depth, color and size are simply overwhelming. It’s also incredible to look out across the valley and see where the glacier used to be. This is surprisingly easy to tell as Glaciers leave their own footprints. Rounded mountain tops, deciduous trees, piles of dirt -- all telltale signs of glacier activity.



Wildlife was abundant. Not only were the wildflowers in full bloom, but I also got to see marmots and mountain goats. While I was up close and personal with the marmots (they were only about two feet away), the mountain goats were several hundred yards away from me and I could only make out their stubby legs. If they hadn’t been moving, I probably would have mistaken them for rocks or dirty snow (they are off-white in coloring.)



Anyways, that’s it for now!