Skagway 5

1. Canada is only 13 miles away and I haven’t been yet.

2. Every name gets shortened in Skagway. The Klothes Rush is just The Rush, The Kone Kompany is The Kone, the Kone House is also the Kone, Skagway Brewing Company is just Brew Co, Broadway Video and RadioShack is the Shack, etc. etc. I feel like we don’t abbreviate everything as much back home? So ya, everything gets shortened except for my name. For some reason half the people at the Kone house and at work always lengthen it to ChrissiChris.  ?

3. No matter which direction you ride a bike in Skagway it’s uphill. True story. If you are headed away from the water it’s literally uphill, and if you’re going towards the water the wind is working against you so hard…it’s actually easier to ride a bike uphill.

4. The bikes. There are 5 and a half bikes at the Kone house. 2 of them work. And both of those could really use a tune up. One is a blue PowerClimber that’s gearshifts don’t work, the other is purple and has a metal basket on the front (which is totally awesome for groceries) and the seat is barely hanging on. All bikes in Skagway have Fairway Market grocery bags on the seats. I think there’s 3 on the purple bike, one to get wet, one to stay dry, and one to hold the seat on. We love those bikes. I am gonna really appreciate mine when I get home.

5. I forgot to tell you about the ‘street’ names on the road to Dyea, the stretch I drove for the Marathon. It’s called The Hill up there. There are a few houses and each street sign basically marks a driveway. So they had fun with the names. First off you have Lois Lane and then you come to Rocky Road, and Karla & Duff’s is Rancho del Ray.

6. The other day, while I was working in the Kone, that song ‘Home’ came on the radio. You know the one that goes ‘I’m going home, to the place where I belong, where your love has always been enough for me…these places and these faces are getting old, so I’m going home.’ I sat there with my head in the freezer scooping someone’s ice-cream cone and crying. I’m not real homesick very often, because I really love it here, but every now and then something gets to me.

7. Heidi is the manager of the Kone Kompany. The other day they took apart all the candy dispensers on the wall and got all the candy that had fallen in the cracks out. She sent a gallon size bag of candy home with us that day. There’s mostly random flavors of Jelly Belly’s in there with a few Chocolate Rocks and Candy Corn mixed in, along with the occasional mint or chocolate covered coffee bean (yuck). Grabbing a handful of candy from that bag is like playing Russian Roulette with your taste buds.

8. I love Chocolate Rocks! You can’t go wrong with chocolate and these really look like little rocks! Like if someone saw them on the floor they would totally not think to pick them up and eat them! J

9. Canadians. They really do say ‘eh’ after every sentence. (SBL #18)

10. At the Rush the entire wall behind the registers is cupboards full of t-shirts with each one displayed on the cupboard door. We have some awesome shirts. One of these days I’m gonna take some pictures of some of them for you. I have heard those t-shirts read aloud in so many different accents!

11. There was this lady at the counter, she asked how much something was and then before I could even finish telling her she yelled “Forgetboutit!” I was like…okay… So she asks me about something else and does it again. Some peoples’ children.

12. My roomie owes me ice-cream.

13. We have been using pens with big sunflowers on the end at work lately because we lose pens like none other. So the other day I was checking out this cute Aussie man (haha punny), and I hand him the credit card receipt to sign and a flower pen. And we are talking and he’s not signing…so I say something about getting his signature and motion to the flower pen. He goes ‘Oh! This is a pen? I thought you were just giving me a flower. Girls randomly do that to me, you know? –wink-‘ I like Aussies. They are nice. And they call you ‘love’ which is just super cute and sweet and with their accent it just sounds amazing.

14. Kat: There’s too much Nature! There’s Nature in my sandals! (imagine with a North Carolina accent)

15. Ashley’s friend Jamela moved up here. She reminds me of Ang. She didn’t have anything going this summer so she just packed some stuff and flew up here without knowing if she would be able to find a job or even somewhere to live. She stayed at the Hostel for a few days while she was job hunting but she lucked out and found a job out in Dyea at the Chilkoot Trailhead doing odd fix-it jobs and maintenance. And they have housing for her. She is really awesome. She is in her thirties, she works as a guidance counselor at an alternative high school and she used to be a parole officer. She is kinda hard-core.

16. Last Saturday, the 23^rd, was the Summer Solstice party. It was out at Seven Pastures (the softball fields) and Alex had Duff’s truck so a few of us piled in, Alex, Mike, Jordan, Big Mike and me. And then we picked up the girl Mike has been crushing on, Nadia. She’s from Bulgaria and works at the Inn. This little town goes all out. There were tons of people there, food, live bands, little kids flying kites, drunk people rocking out in the ‘beer garden’, soccer games and beach volleyball, hatchet throwing, horseshoes and hula-hoop contests. It was crazy. We didn’t get there till about 8 so the line for food was pretty long. I got the hotdog meal because it was only $3 but they had burgers, ‘grass’ burgers, pulled pork and tri-tip too. The bands were actually pretty darn good. They played everything from Blondie to Adele. By 11 the drunk people were getting pretty crazy (I saw a couple guys get in a fight for no reason) and it was just starting to get dark. I caught a ride home from Jamela, who was driving her ride home because he had been drinking. This town is something else.

17. Skagway is full of Mountain Men and Hippies.

18. By 4:30 in the morning it is light outside. I don’t know when the sun comes up but the other morning when I woke up that early (for no reason…stupid brain) it was like daylight.

19. Sunday, the 24^th. Grandpa. Dad called me at 8 am. By the time I woke up enough to answer I had missed the call. I listened to the message telling me that Grandpa had passed away that morning. I wanted to call back, but I had to go to work at ten and I knew if I talked to anyone about it I wouldn’t be able to hold it together through my shift. What a crappy day. I didn’t say anything to anyone because I didn’t want to cry. Ash texted me but I told her I would talk to her after everything I had going was over. At work, Beau asked me if I was sad and I said yes. He said he would make me a smoothie to cheer me up (he works at the Kone) and I just about started crying. After work I had to make pasta sauce because I had signed up to bring some to the Pasta Feast Meet-n-Eat. I made Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce because Mom and Dad sent me dried tomatoes, yum. When Mike goaded me about being anti-social and not going to the Meet-n-Eat I told him to shut up. He gave me a high five. (It’s funny how if you are a generally quiet person on the rare occasion you speak up and are mean people don’t get offended, they just tell you how proud they are of you). After everyone had gone I went to my room and called Ash. We talked for a while, like 2 hours, and then I called Mom. She didn’t answer so I figured she had gone to bed. I called Karla to see if there was any way I could get my shift covered for the next day because it had been so hard that day at work. She didn’t answer either so I left her a message explaining. She was the first person I told and the tears flooded as soon as I said it out loud. Mom called me back and we talked for an hour or so, well she talked and I listened and cried. I love you Mom. I called Ash back and we talked for another while. We talked until the tears turned to laughter. I love you Ash. Karla told Ashley, who told Nicole and they both gave me hugs. They are great too. I stayed up late watching OTH with Ashley and not talking about anything, just letting my emotions drain for a while.  I have never been so homesick.  

20. I ended up with Monday off. I slept in late and then read most of 1^st Nephi. I talked to Mom some more and just vegged all day. When Ashley and Nicole got home they declared it girls’ night. We went and got a frozen pizza and a movie from the Shack. We painted our nails, ate pizza and ice-cream, and watched ‘One For the Money’ which was ok but I couldn’t get over Katherine Heigl with dark hair and a weird accent. Heidi and Ariel (Del Sol), our visiting teachers, stopped by and brought us cookies. I’ve got some really awesome friends out here. I’m so grateful for them.

21. I’m doing ok.

Skagway 4

1. I am Nursery Leader! There are 3 kids in my little nursery, Pyper, Valerie, and Coleson. Valerie is the youngest and, well, she’s a little monster. Pyper likes to be in charge and talk a lot, and Coleson is just super quiet and sweet. They are all adorable.

2. So you haven’t heard from me for a while because Blogger ate my post again so this is take #2.

3. For Jordan's birthday Nicole made reservations for us at Fish Co. (Skagway Fish Company) I had the Chef Salad with grilled Halibut and blue cheese dressing. Yum! It was one of the cheapest things on the menu, but still $20. It was great to eat so much fresh veggies! (so many?) If I ever go there again I want to try the crab cakes! The birthday boy had the King Crab and thoroughly enjoyed it. Ashley, Mike and Nicole all had the Fish & Chips and Nick had the Mermaid Burger which looked really good (it's halibut). It was funny because the waiter did all our checks separately except for....no not Jordan and Nicole who are married and lovey dovey, but Ashley (my roommate who is 22...) and Little Mike (the preemie)! They were like "wait what?" It was great. After the rainy walk home we had Strawberry Shortcake. I'm glad Jordan had a birthday :)

3. Oh and Nick is our last housemate. He got here a couple weeks ago now and fits right in. We really have a great group of people in this house. He is also from Indiana.

4. Tourists! Tons of them. We have had a couple 5-ship days in the past couple weeks. 5 cruise ships in port puts 10,000 people out into this little town. It’s crazy. They swoop into the store like vultures and leave a path of destruction in their wake. Over and over, all day long.

5. My roomie Ashley is also writing a novel. But she is a lot farther than I am. She has one book basically done and plans for a trilogy. Awesome.

6. Little Mike shared with us his Twilight ‘conversion story’. That kid is hilarious. He loves the books and is not afraid to admit it. Mike: “I used to be like Saul, you know persecuting the vampire lovers, and then one day I came home and everybody was watching Twilight and I was getting ready to persecute and then there’s that scene where the Cullens walk into the lunchroom…and they were just all so beautiful and had such good style and the one that plays Alice was gorgeous…so I borrowed the book and read it that night. And then I read the rest of them in like a week. They are awesome! The movies suck but I am totally a fan of the books.” Gotta love that kid.

7. Saturday, June 9^th was the Skagway Marathon. Kristen was in charge of it (along with Buckwheat) and Ashley and I were scheduled to have that day off so we figured we would be helping but the day before Kristen said they were covered so we planned a day of sleeping in and then hiking. Well, at 7:30 that morning Mamo called us saying they needed some volunteers (the roads got washed out so all the Canadians that were coming couldn’t, including a few volunteers) and that he was outside the house right now and the race started at 8 and we needed to hurry, please? So we rolled out of bed and went to the marathon. I didn’t even brush my hair, yikes. I ended up driving Kristen’s truck to be mobile aid station #1. I drove the same stretch of road for 4 hours offering runners water, orange slices, and chocolate. Mostly I drove around eating chocolate while watching super in-shape people turn down water. It was a gorgeous day, they really lucked out. The winner of the marathon ran it in 3 hours. Crazy. After the half-marathoners (and the crazy fast guy) had finished they didn’t need me anymore so I caught a ride home and went back to bed. I slept till like 2:00! Crazy. By that time Ashley was back, and needed a nap, so we slept for another hour or so. We decided that the hike wasn’t going to happen so we set up an appointment to get feathers in our hair at the Bazaar. There is a lady there with a little shop where she does feather hair extensions and makes feather earrings and dream catchers and stuff like that. She had given a bunch of us coupons for a free feather extension so we decided to take her up on it. My feather is white and black striped J Afterwards we headed over to the Skagway Brewing Company, or Brew Co. for short, for dinner. The awards ceremony for the marathon was taking place there so all the volunteers got 10% off their food. I got Fettuccine Alfredo with chicken (‘cause it was cheapest and sounded really good, bonus!) and Ashley got the mushroom and swiss burger (burgers are their specialty). Don’t worry Mom, we didn’t try their Brew.

8. My roommate is twitterpated. And so is the guy. (as evidenced by him buying her earrings when he was in Canada today) J And she owes Nicole and me M&Ms.

9. Keoni saw my feather at Meet-n-Eat last Sunday. Keoni: Getting in touch with your roots, eh? Me: I’m Swedish and German. What roots are you talking about?

10. We all went out to Smugglers’ Cove for FHE this week and had a cookout. It was way cold but the fire was big so it was fun. Oh, and s’mores made with strawberry marshmallows are really good. And then when we were hiking out the back side of the cove towards White Lightning, up this really steep trail. Jordan: Argh! This is like a 90 degree angle! Nick: You Flatlander! :) Indianaians...?

11. This past week we have hung out with the Del Sol peeps quite a bit. I have a hard time with them, I mean they are great but in the back of my mind there is this bitterness…like one of them should be Ash. I miss her.

12. I introduced the Kone house to Frequency and chocolate chews all in one day. It blew their minds.

13. Mom and Dad sent me a care-package! I love you!

14. I think I am going to catch every sickness possible this summer. Those nursery kids are always sneezing.

15. I am learning lots about a lot of brands. North Face, Tilley, Oakley, Levi, Mountain HardWear, Montrail, Wigwam, Smartwool, Keen, Teva, etc. I can tell you all sorts of random facts. We had a clinic last Sunday morning about a few of them and now I have proform codes for super discounts! Plus we all got some free stuff; hiking socks, a water bottle, chapstick, stickers, Kone bucks, etc. It's great.

16. My North Face order came! I got my sweet awesome waterproof Venture jacket with the pit zips! Heck yes! The rep doesn't like us calling them 'pit zips' but we still do. They are 'ventilation zippers'! he says :)

17. Apparently I am the 'official' closer at the Rush. I work 10:00 to close almost every day. It's not bad and I'm making overtime because I don't get out of there till 7:30 most nights but it gets a little old.


18. As you know Blogger has become a bit of a frustration in my life lately. I think he and my internet are not the greatest friends. So there are pictures this time but not where they are supposed to be so, ya. Oh well.

The Klothes Rush, and the view down the tourist-crowded street to the docks and one of the ships. Sorry its from my phone so its not easy to see it all.

Marathoners!

My feather! Again bad picture because its from my phone...and taken in a bar...

I love the Skagway river.

One of the hugmongo cruise ships.

I decided I needed to document all the places these sandals will go this summer that they really shouldn't...tennis shoes are just not as fun...and I really need to paint my toenails..sorry bout that :)

The mountain man in the green shirt with the crabs is Dustin, the other is Nick.

Shrimp Pot spoils :)

The tallest Rhubarb in town!

Yep...and it's all gone.

Skagway 3

1. Alex: "Does anybody like water chestnuts? I have never had a craving for water chestnuts."

2. At the Kone house we share a lot of Keoni inside jokes. Keoni (Kay-Oh-knee) is a part-timer at the Klothes Rush/Duff's/the Shack/wherever he's needed and he is interesting. We all get along with him its just he is easy to make jokes about. For one thing, he calls every female either 'baby girl' or 'sweetheart'. He's from San Diego and thinks he's all that and a bag of chips. He likes to talk about himself quite a bit. And he has this habit of swooping in and 'stealing sales'. 

3. The post office lady is referred to as the Dragon lady. Jordan: "Ya me and Mike went in there once and asked about a package..." Mike: "Ya! and she just looked at us and said 'Let me eat your soul' and then she smiled! For reals!" Apparently she is so hard to work for that all the other employees quit. So our mail is a bit backed up. Basically nobody has gotten their mail for a week. 

4. Becky: "If you wanted to haggle prices you should have booked your cruise to Mexico!"

5. We ride in trucks...Delivery trucks. Big Mike has keys to the Klothes Rush truck, which is an old moving van, and sometimes we pile in if we are running somewhere real quick. It's name is White Lightning. The thing is White Lightning has 2 and a half seats, 2 seats and a little plastic kiddy table stuck in-between them with foam on top. So when we all (Mike, Mike, Mamo, Dustin, Heidi, Ashley, Nicole, Jordan, and me) get a ride home from the docks from checking shrimp pots like the other night, we um...stand in the back :) Except Heidi because she just announced she is pregnant so we made her sit up front. With the back door rolled down tight it is pitch black in there. It is fun :)

6. Shrimp pots are pretty cool. Dustin and Heidi have one and we got to go out with them when they pulled it up a few days ago. There were some big shrimp! There were 3 different kinds in there that day. It was pretty cool. I would stick a picture of it in here but Blogger and I have been having difficulties lately so you will have to check out Facebook to see it. It's kind of a wire cage with funnel entrances with spikes so the shrimp can get in easy but most likely won't get out. There's a separate cage in the middle for the bait, Heidi and Dustin have been using cans of sardines (in tomato sauce because that's all they had) and herring for their bait and they catch lots. They taught us how you rip the heads off the shrimp...while they are squirming in your hand...and pull the vein out before they take them home. I actually did not hold one or rip its head off... the legs are creepy. And they have spikes. Maybe next time.

7. Mike: Do I win? Do I win at who can dress the most white-trashy?

8. Mamo is a COOK. For reals. He always cooks. He makes himself super pasta dishes with crab in them and really good seasonings. And we all watch him eating it. And drool. 

9. It's all about who you know. Rocky is the Elders Quorum president and Mamo knows him really well from his 4 summers up here, and Rocky has lots of crab pots...Therefore we get crab! Can't wait to try it. We currently have 5 or 6 crabs in our freezer, all free from Rocky. Sometime when Mamo has time he is gonna help us cook some up and shell it and make super yummy stuff! 

10. Smugglers' Cove is amazing. I love it out there. It's beautiful. See Facebook for pictures :)

11. The tide changes big time. High tide moves the water up about 30 feet. Whats really cool is out on the bridge over the river you can see how much it changes. At low tide you can see lots of the riverbed as it heads out to sea, but at high tide that stream actually becomes a river...flowing backwards almost because of the waves moving upstream. I love it. 

12. I had an awesome day off which was getting a post all to itself except after I finished the whole thing Blogger ate it. Frustrating! So I did it again. And Blogger ate it. So much for that. Too much frustration. But it was a beautiful sunny day and I walked down to the water and it was gorgeous. See Facebook.

13. In the gold rush days the businesses would paint their names and logos on the rock face above town...Old-fashioned billboards :)

14.  Last night we had the Branch Opening Social and I met a couple from Lehi who drove up in an RV and is planning on driving every mile of the Alaska Highway. Their plan is to spend 7 weeks on the road, stopping wherever they want, exploring everywhere. How cool is that? Awesome. They are headed to North Pole next and then Denali. I'm jealous.

15. I am getting tired of writing because I have actually been writing a ton lately even though not much has gotten to you. Stupid Blogger. Until next time... :)