I Made It Through Canada!!!

Hey everyone!!! I made it through Canada it was a long long long long drive but we have had some good times!!  Sleeping in the car and not showering for 3 days was amazing....I think everyone should try it......HAHAHA!!  We arrived in Vancouver on Wednesday night and we were blown away with how big it is.  We had no idea! It took us over an hour to find our hotel and when we finally did it was in the ghetto!  Thursday we decided to take the ferry to Victoria and loved it so much we decided to stay the night there!  This morning we went to Buschardt Gardens and words cannot describe its beauty! (pictures will be posted soon) Then we took the ferry back to Vancouver and headed to Seattle.  Tomorrow we will be going to downtown Seattle and I am really really really excited!!!! I have always wanted to go to Seattle and do the whole tourist thing.  Sorry there are no pictures, but I promise there will be some soon!  I love and miss you all!

I will miss my Sweet Ride: Van 687

As part of my employment here at Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge I was assigned a van to run various errands for the company. Mostly to deliver "found" lost luggage to other Princess Hotels. I will admit that I was scared to drive such a large vehicle at first but this little sweetie has definately grown on me!! I am going to miss driving it around and it will be hard to drive my little compact Mirage when I get home....that is if the Mirage is still running....I'm not gonna lie I am a little scared that she won't be running to well.

My Sleeping Quarters!!!

When you first walk in this is what you see, my bed is the one with the cute
lamb blanket on it....the bed across from mine is my roommate Carol's bed...but she
is never in there because she always sleeps at her boyfriends....(scandelous).



This is Tiffany's side of the room, it is in its own little corner......She rarely sleeps in the
room because she also has a boyfriend whose room she frequents......


Then off to the left of Tiffany's side of the room is the bathroom...this is a bad picture
because there is also a toilet and a shelf in here. :)

My First Bear!

I saw my first bear in Alaska on Wednesday! Wednesday morning a bear crossed the river by the lodge and had been wondering around down by the river....well by Wednesday evening it had made its way up to the main property of the lodge and was wondering through the parking lot. For some reason guests at the lodge think that it is ok to go flocking toward a wild grizzly as though it is Winnie the Pooh at Disneyland. Meanwhile all of the staff including myself are trying to get everyone back inside and away from it. Luckily no one was hurt. These signs are all over the property....I found them rather hilarious! Hahaha.

Princess Homestead. A.K.A Northstar, A.K.A Deathstar

This is where I live here in Healy Alaska! Now I know that you are all very very jealous so just to rub it in let me tell you a little about this little piece of heaven here on earth. Not only do I share a room with 2 other girls but my room is fully equipped with a bathroom, one closet for all of us to share, 3 twin beds with military issued sheets and pillows ,( the mattresses are actually really comfortable) 2 drawers located underneath my bed and several different species of spiders. The homestead itself has a cafeteria with culinery chefs that find ways to make normal everyday foods taste like poo...but don't worry there is a salad bar filled with wilted lettuce and a variety of strange toppings. Also located within the homestead is a bar called The Outpost, now The Outpost has the same 6 people in it every night. The only reason I know this is because on the occasion that I miss dinner I usually go to the bar to order some bar food to take back to my room. The bar food is actually really good, which really confuses me because the same chefs using the same food within the same cafeteria make the bar food....its a little suspicious...kinda like we are going to save all the good stuff and charge you up the wazoooo for it...but the food that you pay for out of your paycheck is going to resemble poo. All in all it is a great place to live!

Amber.

About a month ago Amber sent me a care package full of fruit snacks, granola bars, jerky and trailmix!! It was so fun to get this package because we are only fed at certain times here and if we miss a meal or get hungry we are S.O.L. It was so nice to have this as a back up to my meals. And it totally made my day to get a package in the mail! Thank you very much! You have no idea how much I appreciated it! I know it isn't cheap to mail things to Alaska so I will forever be thankful to you!

Valdez

In the middle of July me and 4 other people decided to drive down to Valdez. I went with Brenna, Lance, Justin and Jordan. We had sooooooo much fun!!!! I have become really good friends with Lance and Brenna over the past few months, in fact Brenna and I have been SERIOUSLY talking about moving to Southern California for awhile....anyway, Valdez is more beautiful than anything I have ever seen....it looks like how I imagine Hawaii would look, but there is snow on the tops of the mountains....it was so fun, I don't think I have ever laughed so much in all my life!!! I think I will remember this trip for the rest of my life! :)