Bath mats

So Erin, Fernando and I all went into anchorage to get groceries. We went to target and I walked out with bath mats, toilet rugs and candles. Picked up some knitting needles at Micheals and some things for my costume. Petco happened to be right next door so I had to get kitty something. 

It's beautiful out today. Clear as a bell and sunny. 

 

I worked on my costume for a few hours today, I think it will be fun. I don't know where I will wear it or who I'll go out with, but I'm not gonna sit around and mope on my favorite holiday, friends or no friends. 

Erin and I went to chair 5 today, she's not the most outgoing person in the world, but nice to have a girlfriend. I was hoping there would be stuff going on, just an older crowd. I miss the chaos of home and living in a college town, I just gotta stick it out this next month, things will get better. 

Looking for friends

So it's pretty hard to not just break down and cry. I'm not depressed, which is a miracle, but I'm so dang homesick. I miss Marquette and my friends and the community. I miss walking from house to house or hopping on my bike at 1am to catch the last hour at the bars. I really miss the river and Lake Superior and feeling like I belong.

I went running in the rain today. Pretty sloppy out but I had to get out. The houses here are absolutely amazing, big A frame log homes with huge windows and beautiful porches. I'm curious to who these people are and what they do. I ran up to the day lodge and got a feel for where some of the chair lifts are and the Sitzmark. I stopped and talked with a lady at the local art gallery and went to Jack Sprat to meet the owner, who was friends with my friend from Michigan. He didn't remember my friend, but he offered me a job.

My hip was giving me some trouble so I don't know how much running I'll be able to do, gonna need another activity to keep me sane.

The generator was on when I got home but Andy had his laptop plugged in so I took some candles and took a romantic shower by myself. The bathroom is falling apart, but the shower has two shower heads at each end that both work, could be interesting?

I warmed up some left over rice and beans that were left over in the house and from my NOLS trip. There is so much stuff in the house I made it a rule I had to put a serious dent in the food I already have before doing any grocery shopping. Half my calories are coming from beer so I'm not about to starve.

I'm trying really hard to make friends, it's just that everyone is about, 10 years older than me. I miss the college town and having all different types of people. Here i feel everyone is somewhat the same, all just loving life and the outdoors but pretty hippy, not sure if thats the right word and I don't have a great sense of the things going around me. I did meet a guy who used to live in my room. He stopped by to pick up a phone case and we ended up talking. He is a commercial fisherman and x ski bum. He spent the day hiking and jumping off a mountain with some sort of wings, anyway, he asked me out to dinner but I had already made plans with Emily. We ended up all going to the silver tip for drinks and met up with two more people.

Went into Anchorage to finish up some testing for work. The lady doing my tests told me just about her entire life story, getting pregnant young, her ex boyfriends, her momma, baby daddies, how she hates Alaska and wants to get out but not to Michigan because it's ugly (she saw 8 mile) Anyway, I passed and start training Saturday. I train through Halloween. I'm almost relieved that I have to work cause I just don't have the energy to get dressed up and go out with a bunch of people I don't know. I do have a pretty good idea though, just not sure if I can make it work up here.

Back to Alaska

So Nutt Nutt and I are at the Minneapolis airport. He is laying next to me giving himself a bath. He is doing great on the leash, refuses to go to the bathroom but has no problem eating. I think I'll call him Earl.

So Mr. Earl Nut Nut made friends with just about everyone at the airport, even security came over to play with him for a bit, sure did make the four hour Minneapolis layover go by quick. 

Lucked out with and empty seat next me me. Nut didn't like takeoff and escaped his carrier, but laid down in the empty seat and stayed there the whole trip once the fasten seatbelt sign came on. Thank goodness the guy next to me was a cat lover, I'd doze off and Nut would be on his lap. When we got to the airport all the flight attendants petted him goodbye, even the captain gave him a quick snuggle. 

My friend from Princess picked kitty and I up, 1 am Alaska time, 5 am Michigan time, we were both pretty beat. Good to all hang out back at her apartment for a bit before passing out. Nut doesn't really understand how to use a small litter box, he would go and then just scratch at the air and the wall and everything but the litter. 

So the house I'll be living at doesn't have power right now. Looks like we are using lanterns and the wood stove. Still not sure what room I have or what rent is but whatever, I move in tomorrow. 

June 25

Missing everyone in Marquette and Mackinaw like crazy. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have just one life. The people here are awesome and the job is awesome, but I miss the water. I miss the water and the boats and the woods and the rivers. I miss my family and my friends and having someone to snuggle up o at nigh an give me kisses on te forehead. I miss the security one gets from building a life. It's hard walking into a cafeteria an instead of looking for your friends you look for an empty table. I mean I'm making friends but I just don't know I I have the strength to build another life just to rip it apart. I'm probably just tired and emotional, but I just want everyone to know, even if I am unable to talk with you, doesn't mean I dot still love you

June 23

So I gt a new job. It's a lot to learn in a day , I can't even remember the name of the place I work sometimes, the numbers get so jumbled up in my head, 2320 2320 2320, it weird cause its actually 20320 and I just get so confused, I guess I just work at te 20. My McKinley princess wilderness lodge. My roommate is like sixty , I think her name is Karen. She I really nice, a little roughy around the edged. A smoker. - 

All tatted up, but se gave me a pair of jeans and is forward and set ground rules right off the bat. 

I literally got here today aroun one. Camped on te side of the road at a rest stop thing with racheal, wen to Mary something's for breakfast waiting Di her ride ten came to te lodge. I waited or Scott I a bit, met a few people filled out paperwork, got my uniform , saw Danny and Thomas. Thomas showed me aroun then I had one hour to unpack and get ready or work. I showered real fast an talked with my roommate, bikes to work, didn't know where I lock get up then went throught the wrong door in my juniors. I met Jeff, he is one of my bosses, he is actually from Marquette so that was pretty exciting. There are actually a lot of people ere from Michigan . 

They paired me up with Alex, he is a returning server and e gr me training right away. He is an awesome server and was really thorough teaching me. It's so much to pick up and I had a hard time with the trays. I spille a few things a little and put a beer on the wrong tab  everyone wa supper nice an supportive, both workers and guests, I have a lot I learn but when no get it I know I'm goin to live it, it's fast passed and so many new people and I get to ask them where they are from : ) today I helped some people from kersley and I feel like I knew a little about where everyone was from, thank goodness for the bike trip. 

After work Thomas took me out to the employee bar and helped me go over a lot of things, the kid is a genius I swear. 

I gotta get some sleep though, work at 630, so up in a few hours. They have me doing a split shift and I'm running food all day to learn tables and sections and orders

June 22

Still pretty drunk from last night, Deanna drank me under the table. I'm not sure how I like the bars here in the summer, it light out and they suddenly become a little more awkward. 

There is half a bottle Of emergency soaking me and my tent. Deanna asked if I was up and ready to go to breakfast, I'm in no shape to be out in public. 

It's really nice out, I'm packing up and looking for people on couch surfing to team up with. I got a hold of a girl, rachael. She just got here from Missouri an is just hanging out at REI. 

I figured she would be perfect to pick up and we can go back to the homestead and the solstice party an travel the kenai and camp on the spit in homer. Pretty excited to go back to the homestead. I really miss james. 

Deanna gives me a map and a roll of tinfoil and some spices (incase I catch a fish) and I say good bye and head to REI.

You know those mornings after a hard night of drinking when you realize you really probably shouldn't be driving..?

Rachael is posted up outside REI with a big backpacking bag and suitcase charging her iPhone . She is blonde hair blue eyes and really pretty. 

June 21

I just dropped James off at NOLS and I can't stop crying. I'm alone, 4300 miles from home and no where really to go. I know I'm just tired an emotional. But we didn't even get to say goodbye. We have been through a lot the last 20 days and he really became my traveling partner, we got each other through some stuff and its hard to think that I'm alone again. I just want to find a safe place I sleep for a bit before heading back to anchorage. A place to pull myself together and get my smile ready for the next leg if the journey. 

June 21

I just dropped James off at NOLS and I can't stop crying. I'm alone, 4300 miles from home and no where really to go. I know I'm just tired an emotional. But we didn't even get to say goodbye. We have been through a lot the last 20 days and he really became my traveling partner, we got each other through some stuff and its hard to think that I'm alone again. I just want to find a safe place I sleep for a bit before heading back to anchorage. A place to pull myself together and get my smile ready for the next leg if the journey.

I'm at the Fred and Meyer grocery store trying to pull myself together. Charging my phone and my laptop at the cafe and cruising on couch surfing. It's stupid how much I miss James already, everything reminds me of him and the trip and I just need some familiarity. I keep thinking he is going to walk around the corner and come sit down next to me. I wonder if this I how my family feels when I leave them.  

We had such a roller coaster of a trip, I swear we probably hated each other until we got to the homestead in Alaska. It's amazing how quick things can turn around. I just wish I had a chance to say goodbye before he jumped into his nols orientation. Things just happened so fast this morning. 

June 5

So we got pretty drunk with the camp hosts last night. James was journaling when I went over so it was just me at first. As soon as I stepped onto the property their bear dog jumped into my arms and started licking my face. I grabbed the bottle of my dads booze wine and robin went sent Randy in to get glasses. We sat around the fire drinking wine with the pup on my lap and gabbing away. They were pretty friendly, think that wasn't their first drink of the day ha. 

James came and the pup on my lap kept for him and started barking. Good guard dog : )

Hiked across te street to charge my phone this morning, there was some sort of power station at the train tracks

Pretty nice view : )

James left his first note!!

   

I don't know what we are thinking, we haven't bought mosquito spray yet. That has kind of been the theme for this trip so far, saying we are going to do something in a certain state then forgetting. In Michigan we were supposed to get stickers from the local shops and brewery's to give out, Wisconsin was cheese, Minnesota we forgot, North Dakota, kayak in a puddle, and Montana, buy bug spray. We did see a bear though..

After we left the campground we went went back into town at east glacier to check out a wooden lodge or something.  

Well we found the log cabin...

The water is even cool!

So James says he wants to work there doing anything, I don't think I could do it, too spoiled, I have become a water job snob.

We drove back into the park and I attempted to pay for the campground, I think I did it though..

The drive through the park was beautiful

It's really hard to get a good picture throught the windshield when bug guts are splatting everywhere. 

I want to apologize but blogging this trip might just be what tears it apart. It isnt fair  for the person I am traveling with to have a traveling partner who is constantly hunched over her phone. 

Thank you all for helping us get this far, you all mean da world to me : )

June 4

We slept pretty well in the car, WAY to stormy to sleep outside. Jamie James and I all hung out in the back of the Subaru last night swapping stories and eating snacks. 

This morning was less stormy and my totes held up outside against the rain. 

Who needs skyboxes when you have two sea kayaks? Every morning / evening I have to climb up on top of the suub and bail all the water from the cockpits of the boats and make sure no water got into the dry compartments. 

I forgot half my shower stuff this morning and someone left a big nasty girl thing on the shower floor . Hot weather though!

James and Jamie made oatmeal breakfast this morning and we all ate out of the pot. Everyone kept dropping things ha. James spilled the oatmeal everywhere then Jamie dropped her spoon then James just threw the whole pot of oatmeal we were eating on the ground, thank you oatmeal for being sticky..  

This is a really ugly place in northwestern North Dakota . It's all oil and trucks and dirt and its horrible. I have never seen so many trucks in my whole life, not just he average trucks, the ones with the extend mirrors and thy are all just so big. The houses are all quick made things, many of them just flipped over semi trailers with stairs up to them. We even saw a hotel made out of box cars. Not a place I want to spend any sort of time in. 

We got a little ways out of town, into montana, still ugly but our nerves were beginning to settle and the trucks were thinning.

We needed coffe pretty bad and the oatmeal had left the station and we needed gas. We found a little station, I pumped gas this time, we have been taking turns and logging prices. James went into get coffee.

I walked in the store to see it wasn't a store, just a cement room with four vending machines, two for coffee, one for pop and one for drinks. James was standing there half crouched infringement of the coffee dispenser with his hand in the little door trying to hold his mug straight. He wasn't doing a very good job bhajahhahaha all the coffee was running down the outside of the cup. Then he tried to get chips and they got stuck, we gave up and walked to the store across the street.

The sports club, Shelby Montana 

Grace : holy wahh, tell your chefs that was the fastest burger ever made

Waiter : haven't you ever been to Burger King ?

We just pulled into a campground on the south side of glacier. The mountains are beautiful and still spotted with snow that radiates in te sunlight.  

James was pretty sure te campground would be really expensive, but this one is small and only asks for 10 a night. 

We did a lap and found a spot on the east end, right across the street from the mountains and between bear and elk skat.

I can't find James. I went to the bathroom and his shoes are here but he isn't. I can't find a note I checked the bathroom and bikes the campground four times, checked across the street an up the trail to the woods by are camp. No where. 

I just ran into a couple walking there dogs and asked if they had seen a boy my age, the lady really didn't seem to know what my age was. She said she saw a guy on a bike ( that was me ) but no one walking. She then proceeded to tell me that I need to be reading my bible on this journey and getting to know Jesus. That we will be meeting him soon....

I did another lap and still no James, talked with the camp hosts again who still hasn't seen him. I figured he was fine, probably looking for service and got carried away, but still pissed he did t let me know, this is bear and moose country an we go to school or this kind of stuff. I really am turning into such a mom. 

So James is back, walked up telling me about the moose tracks. I think he could tell I was on edge. I tried to take a deep breath and hold back but I could t. Where did you go why did. You leave a note!!!! I was looking for you for 30 minutes. He just said he was sorry, he didn't go far an turned back. Man, I really am a mom, sorry mom for all the times I never told you where I was going. 

The camp hosts are pretty cool. They just polished off a bottle of red wine, have three dogs and are from Texas. We will be drinking dads booze wine later 

June 3

ISo last night got pretty cold but the mosquitoes died down. We pack up pretty slow, I'm still trying to get organized cause I have so many things. James was quick though and made coffee.

There are bathrooms with running water and showers. They are the type where you have to hold the button down for the water to come out. Showered in five second intervals, but at least the water was hot : )

We just stopped at a grocery store and the lady refused to let me take my stuff out of the store without a bag, a rush of fury shot through me and I about walked out.

Eating cheese and muffins for breakfast    

There are about 100 Mosquitos in the car. James is freakin out seating them and swerving. He gave me the job of gettin them but they really aren't bugging me. 

We are taking two across northern Minnesota an North Dakota instead of 94. I'm kinda bummed cause I wanted to see Bozeman an billings and some of the bigger cities in North Dakota. I think glacier should make up for it though : ) we are hoping to run into our friend up there, fingers crossed : )

So they weren't a kidding when they said there was a whole lot of nothing in North Dakota. 

My engine light came on an James is snoring. Pulled into a gas station, oil and coolant look good, I think...

We stopped at a place to get the codes checked. The guy, darrin, looked at us kinda funny wen we rolled in, looked at the kayaks and asked if we were lookin for water, told him we were kayaking g the puddles. 

Darrin liked at me and goes , "so outback, who makes that one?" Woah....

Then the codes came back and he sounded out, cat a litic converter. We asked him what that meant, he didn't have a clue...

 

We met a girl at a rest stop from upstate New York. She has been on te road for almost a week and is planning to drive around the country for a rew months. She is 22 and a science teacher in Tennessee. Impressive.

We are probably all going to camp together tonight if we can, either at a state park or Walmart parking lot ha. 

My friend just called me, his dad lives in the city with the parking lot. That's really exciting! He said the city was really dangerous and it would be a bad idea to stay at Walmart.  

Guess my friend Zack called his dad and he wa really worried about us camping. Zack said his dad was in a management position and lived in an apartment with two other guys. I gave his dad a call and he instantly started telling me how horrible and dangerous the area was, that he had an extra room and we could lock the door and be safe. I couldn't really hear but he sounded panicked. Probably just worried about us, said girls got raped in that parking lot.

June 2

So James and I are on the road, pretty emotional leaving Marquette knowing last night was the last time I would be staying in a familiar area surrounded by people I love. Just the transition time right now is kinda rough. I may be getting to old to be ripping apart my life and starting new. I know there are good things to come, but it's still hard leaving a place I love so much.  

I went out to the ore dock last night an sat on the swing and talked with Amanda forever and ran into tori and Mario and a bunch of other friends. 

It really was a perfect night, going to the blue lounge and seeing squibblet, Bart, and some other friends I hant had a chance to say bye to 

It was really nice to have a home at Clinton's to go back to, pretty comfortable there.

James and I were talking about what we are going to miss most about Marquette. I'm going to 

 

So we had our first oops moment. We hit l'anse and I was like, huh, that's not right.  James said we were fine and I checked the map, we are turning around now : )

It is beautiful out here, everything is so green.

James is driving the whole way, I'm really loving this. I can blog and look at things and its just great 

I have never been to northern Wisconsin or Minnesota before, it looks a lot like the up. 

James is really bummed that I'm not as excited about this trip he is. I keep trying to explain I am excited, but I have been crushed on trips so many times before and just take trips in stride. Still excited, just don't spend the energy outwardly showing it 100 percent of the time. And I just left two of my lives behind, that's gonna take a minute to recover from.

James is chewing, bluck. 

 

We got to out campground. It's BEAUTIFUL . It's rustic and no on is here, the sun is setting over the lake in the background and the mosquitoes and flying in out noses. 

We set up camp pretty quick, James has his hammock and I have my tent. 

James opened the tuna can with a hatchet, pretty classy. We don't have much food cause we weren't really thinking.

We just made dinner, cheese chunks and tuna over the fire with pretzels and opened a bottle of the Alaska wine

June 1

Whelp, it's go time. Started this morning off curled up in a ball passed out on the freight boat. Made the eight off the island, someone gave meg dons a radio so she stayed over to call off cars ha. Was really upset to find that out and that she wasn't on the boat. Not much of a goodbye. 

Sitting in the break room charging all my things drinking water from my wine glass and eating my captain bills breakfast sammich from the sheppy bucks I have been hoarding for years

May 31, 2013

II'm sitting in my host home in St. Ignace looking out over the straights and the Mackinaw Bridge for the last time for a long time. 

 I was really just starting to get settled in and my life here was really picking up. For the last month I have been staying with Paul and Cindy Brown and working in Mac City for Shepler's. They kinda just scooped me up and took me in, no real questions and life's been great! 

We have Thirsty Thursday every day with the family. We scoot over to Cindy Mom's dads house with family and Rose makes us treats and we drink Bud Lite out on the back porch and laugh at little Brycers. It's really nice having a family again, everyone here is so close too, I mean the whole city is basically related. 

Last night we had TT and rose made spinach dip, cordoun blue, cracker sandwiches and a rhubarb coffee cake. I could hardly stand. After we went to the Barage out at Uncle Bob's cause I hadn't been there yet. Cousin tyler took me on the four wheeler out to the big lake and in through the woods and Uncle Bob made us some of his famous smoked whitefish dip and apple pie drink. 

Then for some reason Cindy mom started singing all the old Adverb, Interjection, cartoon songs. Everyone got in on it and it was like a yooper version of an English lesson hahaha.    

So I'm pretty sure I just got a job in Alaska for after my NOLS course at Mt. McKinley princess wilderness lodge! Thank you Danny Lorentzen!