As I have mentioned in previous blogs I have always viewed city dwellers as people of sophistication who hang out in coffee shops. Seattle, the home of Starbucks, seems to be the perfect example of this style of living. On my way to Alaska I had an extended layover in Seattle so I decided to check out the city. It has always been a dream of mine to grow up and move to Seattle and have a job in a cubicle. My dad tried to steer me away from aspiring to have my own personal cubicle. So finally I got my chance to taste Seattle for a day. I managed to use the public transport system like a pro. (there was one incidence where the ticket kiosk gave me my $18 worth of change in dollar coins so my pockets jingled the rest of the day decreasing how sophisticated I felt. I check out the Pikes Place market, grabbed a sandwich at a café and ate at a pier. I hopped on the monorail and checked out the Space Needle and toured the Klondike Gold Rush museum. Since it was a Thursday every elementary student in the city was on field trips at all the same spots I went to see- this also caused a feeling of diminished sophistication with hoards of 5th graders running around. Seattle is definitely unique but I suppose now that I have gotten to experience it I can give up my cubicle dream. My next stop was Juneau where the first thing I saw was a stuffed polar bear and everyone seemed to be carrying fishing rods and wearing rubber boots at the airport. The camp I’m at this summer is located at The End of the Road (it’s the only road around Juneau- and then a 2 mile hike past where the road stops. Depending on tide a 4 wheel drive vehicle can drive around on the beach or the other option is taking the camp’s cargo boat the Blondina. There is also no electric lines- camp runs on a generator and the cabins for the campers don’t have power so one part of counselor orientation included now to properly build a fire in a wood burning stove. Mail and groceries come in twice a week from town, there’s no reliable phone service and limited internet. Plaid flannel shirts and brown rubber boats are cutting edge fashion for any occasion. Compared to the sophistication of Seattle this is probably more my style.
This past week has been staff training and orientation. We have practice canoe safety and discussed hypothermia prevention. I am now certified to run the zip line. Along with other normal comp training one day we got to go hiking. The weather was beautiful (Supposedly we are in a rain forest but today was the first time I saw rain after being here more than a week.) We hiked up to Hidden Lake and across the ridge to a cove. We spent the evening cooking dinner over a fire and hanging out on an outcropping of rocks watching seals, sea lions, whales and bald eagles. At times when the wildlife wasn’t entertaining enough I just enjoyed looking across the channel that the ferries use to the snow capped mountain range on the other side.
Our week of training is over so the kids show up next week which means the real adventure is about to begin.
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