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 23rd, 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 24th. 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 1st 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.
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