Skagway: Week 2

So the other day we all were watching Contagion and well it was an interesting movie but not one I need to see again, but there was this quote: "Blogging isn't writing, it's graffiti with punctuation." I love it :) Here's some more graffiti for you. Week 2 in Skagway...

1. Creepy Crows! Skagway is home to tons of Crows...or Ravens? I don't know which, but they are big, black, beady-eyed, and creepy. Even if I had never seen Hitchcock's 'The Birds' I would still get creeped out when they stare me down on the way to work. Caw, caw. Creepy noises, plus isn't a flock of them called a 'murder'? A murder of crows. Ya that's not creepy at all.

2. Rhubarb is everywhere. Growing along the streets, in front yards, taking over flower beds. Jordan says in it's hayday Rhubarb grew 6 feet tall wild all over the valley. I see it all when I walk to work and want to steal it to make Crisp!   

3. Soapy Smith. We went to the Days of '98 Show. Ashley, Big Mike and I went from the Kone house and met Heidi and Dustin there. It was funny! And we learned about legendary Soapy Smith, who was some crazy outlaw who made money off of all the suckers who went broke looking for gold, until he was gunned down by the bay in 1898.

4. The view from my window:

5. Free fudge! Even though this stuff is a month old it is dang good! Duff makes a bunch of different kinds and we sell them in the Kone Kompany.

6. This is Nikita. She lives in our backyard. She is Phil and Kristen's. They live below us in the Kone house. Phil is German. Kristen is Karla and Duff's daughter, she manages Duff's Backcountry Outfitters. Phil is the master of Inventory for the Klothes Rush, Duff's, and RadioShack (the Shack). BTW you can check out the Klothes Rush, Kone Kompany, and Duff's on Facebook.

7. Black Cherry Vanilla is flipping good ice-cream. And if you mix it up in a shake with a bit of lemon sorbet you get a cup of heaven.

8. Duff's Trail Challenge. 12 trails. 80 some-odd miles. 1 summer. I am gonna try. I think I can do all of them but the Chilkoot, which is 33 miles and takes most people 3 days. Oh and I've already got one down! Smugglers' Cove CHECK! The rest of them are: Lower and Upper Dewey Lake trails, Devil's Punchbowl, Sturgill's Landing, Upper Reid Falls, Icy Lake, AB Mountain, Denver Glacier, Laughton Glacier, and Lost Lake.

9. Nichole: "I love being married. When those guys come in the store and keep talking to you and you know they are heading towards asking you out, you get to just slip in, oh my husband loves this brand, or something like that. It's great! Someday you and Ashley will get to do it to!"

10. Ashley: "Don't you want to build your mass?" Jordan: "Oh my gosh I thought you said something else! AHH!"

11. Nichole: "What possessed you to take your shirt and pants off?!" Mike: "I'm on top of the world!"

Asian Lady Underwear Experience

Oh boy. Today...today was interesting. I had my first real adventure in customer service. This is how it went:

Me: Hi, how are you?

Asian Lady: Where are the panties?

Me: This way...

So I lead her to the "Granny panties". You know, the packaged ones that go up past your bellybutton.

Her: I need higher. (she points to my ribs)

So I show her the 'high rise' panties.

Her: Can I see them? Let me see them.

So I help her open the package. It's better to just pull them out then have a customer rip apart the packaging.

She holds them up...to me.

Her: Oh these are big. What size you wear? But you are big!

Me: OKAY...well lets get you smaller ones then...

We proceeded to go through every package of underwear.

Her: Oh no. I can't have this color. White. Pink? Does it come in this blue?

Me: Um well here is one white and here is a blue...No it doesn't come in the blue color of that shirt over there. Sorry.

Her: I take this one and the one from this.

Me: Um no...you can't mix and match the undies...Well because they are different sizes. Yes you can get this white one and this blue one. Yes they are both the same size. Okay I will put them at the front for you.

I stuff all the opened undies out of the way to put back together later.

Her: Oh how much is this? Is this the same? How much? Discount? Discount? Where is thermal? Thermal?

So I show her the long johns.

Her: Meedum.

So I stand on my tippy toes to reach where the long johns hang and dig through them looking for mediums...Which there aren't. Of course. So we go through the larges...taking apart packaging.

Her: Oh, black. Different color?

Me: No I'm sorry. All the thermals are black.

Her: Yellow?

Me: No, I'm sorry there are only black. Black.

So after multiple trips upstairs to the stock room "Checking the back for mediums, and yellow" we finally settled her on 2 pair of underwear and some thermals. She shopped around a bit and got 3 shirts too.

I spent an hour with her picking out underwear.

Then another 15 minutes checking her out and explaining "no discount" and then going over the receipt with her explaining what each thing she bought matched on the receipt. Oh boy.

When she was finally satisfied and left, Mindy turned to me: Yep you just earned a couple Kone Bucks. Go on to lunch, I'll put the underwear back together.

Thank you Mindy! :)

I was so done by then. For reals! It was emotionally draining. And it's just the beginning.

No matter how little English a customer speaks, they all know the word "discount".

I am now officially a salesperson.

Skagway...So Far...

Hey Peeps!!! Are you missing me yet? :)

So I have now been in Skagway for nearly a week. And basically I. Love. It. Yep. 

So here is Skagway....

This town is probably impossible to dislike. It's pretty darn cute. Some things I love/think are funny/have learned/etc. so far are:

1. On Broadway, which is the 'main drag' for tourism, the sidewalk looks like this:

They call it the boardwalk, even though it's not on the water, and it leads down to the wharf. The peeps from the cruise ships head right up Broadway from their humongous monstrous floating fancy hotels to the cutesy shops and historic buildings.

2.This is the best sign:

And the railroad runs May 1st through October 1st :) Oh and the locals say it 'ray'road...?

3.This place is gorgeous:

No matter which way you look it's a masterpiece.

4. Skagway (or Alaska in general) does not listen when Mother Nature announces "Summer Time!"

5.The bears are just waking up and are hungry. 

6.The outdoor garbage cans look like big white chest freezers. They are big and heavy to keep the bears out...so they don't hang out in our backyard hopefully.

7.Lots of Australians go on cruises to Alaska. I have met people from England, India, Florida, Vermont, the Philippines...but mostly Australia.

8.Shoplifting is a big problem. You have to watch out for people who try to steal the 'sexy sluttys' as my boss calls them...the fancy women's underwear. You have to watch out for guys who try to steal them...because they don't want to be seen buying them. Who knew? 

9.Most of the cruise ship crew is from the Philippines.

10.Sharing a house with a bunch of college aged peeps and a broken dish washer makes for insanely high stacks of nasty dishes in the sinks.

11.My house-mates are: my room-mate Ashley--from Idaho, BYU-I

Niccole and Jordan--Newly-weds also from BYU-I

Alex--the boss's nephew, he's our 'father'

Mamo--RM, Poly

Michael--Niccole's little brother, preemie, BYU

Mike--another 'the boss's nephew'

Mystery-man--RM (actually served in Skagway last year) not here yet

Me

12.Jordan laughs when he is scared. It's great. We watch a scary movie, it starts getting intense, out come the giggles. He says it got him into trouble on his mission. Picture this: you are in a sketchy neighborhood knocking doors and as the door opens you start laughing. Ya he's great.

13.I can tell you all about the great Tilley hat. I had to watch a movie about them the other night.

14.ESPN is the only channel guys care about. I'll be glad when basketball is over.

15.Paying $6 for a rather small shake doesn't even phase anybody. I worked one day in the Kone Kompany and I expected to hear some complaints or at least exclamations but nobody objected. Crazy.

16.Jelly Belly's are too yummy. There's an entire wall of them in the Kone. And we get discounts. Bad. Very bad.

17.A frozen tourist will fork over $100 dollars for a windbreaker that they are going to use for one week in a second. And gloves, hat, long johns...etc. :) It's a bit funny.

18. All the cute, nice guys are married. But that's normal.

19.Michael got his mission call to the Philippines. Which is just a little funny as we sell them all Crocs and underwear at the store everyday.

20.Duff's fudge is too good.

21.SmartWool is everybody's best friend. And SuperFeet. <--Audrey, I am gonna check these out, they are insoles that are supposedly super awesome for support.

22.The North Face stuff has tons of features...lots of selling points. 

23.Skagway comes from Skagua which means 'land of the north wind', the U.S. postal service changed it to Skagway. Jordan is training to drive a tour bus, so we are quizzing him on random Skagway facts and learning lots. Like how every single Chilkoot Indian was killed off because of the Gold Rush. Or how at first Skagway had a really bad stray dog problem...but then winter hit.

24.You do not get fired for driving your tour bus halfway off a cliff. Just ask Jordan. That was a close one :)

25.Whitehorse is the place to go...if you don't have a mandatory clinic about Tilley hats that night. Some of the guys drove out to Whitehorse and went to The Avengers...we have forbidden them from saying anything about it until the rest of us get a chance to go.

26.Milk is not a necessity. At least at 6 bucks a gallon it's not.

27.Ashley likes to read too. And she has lots of nieces and nephews...she comes from a family of 9.

28.Guys need missions.

29.I am going to spend way too much of my paycheck :)

30.The Fairway Market is the only grocery store I have ever been in where half the shelves are bare.

31.The world according to Mindy (my manager at Klothes Rush) is a very interesting place. And the woman could sell you the shirt you are already wearing in 5 minutes flat.

32.Inventory. It's a lot bigger word than it looks.

33.The internet here is pretty slow and limited...it will kick you off if you watch one too many youtube videos...ok so if you watch one video. But there is a window, from 10pm to 3am, when its unlimited.

34.Steak is cheaper than chicken.

35.The heat doesn't work in mine and Ashley's room. It's freezing!

36.The grocery store closes at 6 which means that if you really need something (like cold medicine) and you work til 6:30 at Klothes Rush you can always bribe somebody to get you stuff. 

37.Free movie rentals = super random movies every night. Ones I have liked: We Bought A Zoo, Dream House, Thor.

38.It is very possible to live off of frozen pizzas. Ask Alex.

39.The other Mike reminds me of Spencer, my cousin who is like 12? Yep. We all kinda pity Michael since he has to room with him.

40.It's going to be an awesome summer.

SBL #1 Get There

So...I got here :) I left SLC at 8:30 Friday morning and got on a plane to Seattle. It was really cloudy there so I didn't get any good shots from the air...but it was pretty! and really green. I think someday I would like to explore Seattle. The airport was HUGE! I came in at gate A something-or-other and had to get to N6. We had gotten in a little late so I didn't have a ton of time. Plus I had to pee like a racehorse. So after the bathroom I followed the signs down 2 stories to....a train. So I hop on the train and get off at the stop that says something about N gates...and get on another train. And then another. Crazy! I was really starting to think that I wasn't going to make it. Then finally there were no more trains, I booked it up 2 flights of stairs and finally found N6 at the end with time to spare :)

Seattle...from the plane for Juneau

The flight to Juneau was cool though it was really cloudy too. When we flew over Canada I saw some snowy mountains poke up through the clouds. When we were descending into Juneau the clouds were super thick and grey, as soon as we broke through them rain was rushing past the window. It looked really cool streaming past and it was hard to tell if it was rain or snow. Juneau was pretty too. I loved how all along the runway as we landed was a path of water with float planes every few feet :)  The airport was tiny! I liked it. And there were 3 bears in there. I don't think that counts for seeing a bear though.

Rainy Juneau

Black bear :)

 I checked in with Air Excursions for my flight to Skagway. The took all my bags, including the one with my jacket, and I wandered the airport until boarding time. There were 3 of us including the pilot. The other passenger, a Skagway native, lent me one of his jackets when we headed outside because it was pouring like nothing you ever see in Utah. The plane was tiny but I have been in smaller with Ang. But not in a super windy rainstorm. We climbed in and scrounged around for seatbelts. The other guy, Tom, sat up front with the super-cute pilot, apparently because the pilot needed someone to keep wiping the fog off the windshield :) There were random screws everywhere...holding the plane together? I started getting just a little nervous. When we took off water sprayed in through the bottom of the window. For reals I am not lying. Then I got a little bit more nervous. The pilot really was cute though.

 The further we got from Juneau the clearer it got. The ride was pretty rough and my stomach clenched a few times but overall I really liked it. The scenery was beautiful. I took a million pictures on my phone :) When the pilot would see something interesting he would be looking out one side or the other so intently the plane would start tilting. The longer he looked the farther we leaned. It was kind of entertaining. Then he would look forward again and suddenly we would be horizontal again.

Random tiny island with a little lighthouse and a helipad :)

I love how each bit of land seems to be in a competition with
the rest to see who can pack on the most pine trees

Skagway!

Skagway Bucket List

    I am going to have about 5 months in Skagway this summer. That is a pretty long time but I want to pack in as much as possible :) So I decided to make a bucket list of things I want to do while I'm there. I am sure there are lots of things I am gonna want to do that I don't know about yet but here are some I know. I have from May 4th through September 27th to do everything on this list! I will blog about each one I get to do and post pictures so stay tuned :)

1. Get there! Fly to Seattle, then Juneau, then hop on a little 6-seater plane for Skagway.
2. Take pictures in front of the Driftwood building. It is literally covered with driftwood, thousands of pieces covering the exterior of the historic building. Sounds awesome.
3. Walk the beach all the way around Skagway Bay.
4. Go in every Shop. It's a small town so it's do-able, but there are lots of cute tourist shops.
5. Cross the border into Canada and get a stamp in my passport.
6. Hike into the Tongass Rain forest.
7. See a whale.
8. Ride on the Ferry.
9. Take the White Pass and Yukon Railroad to Whitehorse, Canada.
10. Visit the Gold Rush cemetery.
11. Eat halibut. Or Salmon. Or Crab. Or try all three.
12. Go to a Canada Super Store. Because Brett says so.
13. Hike to Laughten Glacier. Touch the glacier :)
14. Catch a fishy. A big one.
15. Learn everything I can about Skagway... The people, history, wildlife, and where the name 'Skagway' comes from.
16. See a moose. Or Caribou. I don't know which lives in the area.
17. See a bear. Actually I could live without that but if I see one I will definitely blog about it.
18. Hear a Canadian say "eh?" :)
19. Collect a postcard from each city I visit. Seattle, Juneau, Skagway, Whitehorse...
20. Take a picture of the Skagway River so pretty that someone would totally blow it up and put it on a wall.

The adventure starts Friday.