A friend took this yesterday when he was stuck in traffic near Kingman. I-40 was closed most of the day from Kingman to Winslow because of accidents like the 1 in the picture above or ice or the wind blowing snow around so much that you couldn't see. Some of our guests were not to happy when they got stuck at the canyon.
Well its the last day of 2010; and it was 24 degrees below 0, when I left my dorm this morning to leave for work and 30 below 0 when I clocked in...coldest I have ever seen it here. Well I got enough snow for a snowman now, except its the powdery snow and I can't even make a snowball with it.
Well this new year will bring a change around the park, as Maswik will be closing. We will be having 3 or 4 days off every week when Maswik workers get transfered over to Yavapai.
Brenda made cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Dec 24th. And Chris came over to visit and ended up taking a couple home.
1 of the many snowmen decor items at Yavapai Cafe...and I used to collect snowmen.
The 1 and only day we got away with wearing goofy hats at work...so I got the jester hat
Here I am trying on Rudolph's antlers.
ok, started back to work at Yavapai Christmas morning. We opened at 7am but guests didnt really start coming in until 8:30. I had been calling Christmas a Japanese holiday for the last few years because we always got tour buses full of Japanese guests, but this year we had mostly guests that were from India.
(Jan,Feb, & Mar)This year started out with tons of snow. I was beginning to think last winter would never end. Went to 1 show of Native dancers at the Hopi House. Amy Tacey got a food co-op started here in Jan.
(April & May)~Started warming up even though we still had a few days of snow. Earth Day events were held inside because of snow. Bought a zoom lens for my camera.
(June)~took a trip to NH to see Kevin graduate. AZ got to darn hot.
(July)~Scott's wife died on the 4th, took trip to Jerome for Brenda's birthday & Xanterra had its olympics. Started going to a camera club this month or end of June.
(Aug)~Amy Tacey died after 3 yrs of cancer...my first official funeral (for yrs, I said I would never go to a funeral...never say never) & I got glasses & paid up my internet until next Feb.
(Sept)~Finally got driver's license re-instated, just in time for trip to D.C. to see Allan's retirement ceremony....need to go back sometime in the springtime
(Oct)~Hail on the 20th. ordered a bunch of food from amazon to get ready for Winter season
(Nov)~volunteered to work the marathon & took time off work between Halloween-Thanksgiving...needed to declutter while making plans on getting job in AK next Spring.
(Dec)~still decluttering & started working as a busser at Maswik until Yavapai re-opens. Amanda stabbed Mike with scissors & they both lost the kids to foster care.
Well I guess you could say this year has had some twists & turns, and I never really ended up doing anything that I said I wanted to complete a year ago. Oh well there is always next year. And seeing as I plan on moving up to AK; you can bet that 2011 will be different.
(sorta stole this from Richard...then tweeked it a bit to suit myself)
First off, I was going to title this blog "Why I want to Work in Alaska" however the more I thought about it I realized the working part is just a means to an end .... and the end is just getting to Alaska and spending 4 months there exploring, meeting new friends, eating incredible seafood, and , yes, working. So here are my "ten" reasons for wanting to visit our northernmost state ...Figured I have had enough people ask me why I want to live in AK, that I had better get it all written out.
1) The incredible scenery
2) The independent and resourceful people
3) Oversized fish & shrimp .... heck, just about everything is oversized in Alaska!
4) The Cold ..... yes the Cold. After last Summer here at GCSR, I will be glad to do without AZ Summer.
5) Mt McKinley & Kenai Peninsula
6) Photo ops ... I plan on taking LOTS of pictures to remember a very special summer.
7) Wildlife (and I am NOT talking about parties in the dorms). Whales, Seals, Bears, Moose, Eagles, Puffin, and the list goes on and on.
8) Never lost. Heck, there aren't enough roads in Alaska to get lost . Wonder if they have rush hour traffic. :-)
9) Coolwork forums and blogging .... I plan to do a LOT of writing about my adventure as it unfolds!
10) Fun in the Midnight sun-don't have to worry about being afraid of the dark. :-)
As of today I am still waiting to hear from jobs...really hoping for either the railroad job or something in Seward (maybe Windsong Lodge). Hell I would even take the year-round job in Juneau...that would be cool to say I withstood an Alaskan winter. Hey if u can handle a winter in Alaska then u can handle ANYTHING!
Well I got the end of a rainbow here...missed the other rainbow today.
The wind was ready to blow me over the edge here
The shadows were really cool in the canyon today, and if you waited a few minutes they would change.
Getting blue sky near the end of Hermit's Rest. And soo glad that the snack bar there has hot chocolate.
Now why is it that I take the shuttles down Hermit's Rest Road more often during bad weather? Well the buses will stop going down to Hermit's Rest on Dec 1st, so I don't get to see all these views usually until the buses start running again on March 1st. Well the wind was terrible today, even rocked the bus a little & I am sure we will still have bad weather the first week of March, when I come down this road again.
It started snowing this evening about 4-4:30pm . I just hope the wind stops blowing when I go out to get more pics in the morning.
I've been daydreaming about seeing Alaska for many years...first I had a neighbor couple in NH who used to work in some fishing village for the Summers for quite a few years. Then when I got here to the Grand canyon I started hearing stories about others going to work at Denali Park. Well my desire to see Alaska hasn't gone away; and seeing as I ain't getting no younger, I figure I might as well go up there while I can.
I've been on the website "coolworks" and searching every job I could find. I absolutely LOVE the idea of working near the water. I think it might be the 1 big thing I miss here at GCSR. Seward, Homer, Moose Pass, Cooper Landing, Whittier are all small communities located on the Kenai Peninsula; and then Sitka is on an Island in the Southeast panhandle area...they all have seasonal jobs around the water. Then further up North is Girdwood, Talkeetna, Crow's Nest & way up past the Artic Circle line is~Coldfoot Camp. Coldfoot just opened up it's jobs today for the Summer 2011 season and I have already sent my application in. And if you know where to look, then you can also find year-round jobs just like every other state in the USA.
I have this next week off from work, so I'm still decluttering my room...cuz there is no way I can bring everything with me to AK. Funny but a few weeks ago when I said something about getting rid of everything to Brenda, she made a comment something like~~ "well what are you going to do with your juicer?" Huh? I guess some people could never imagine getting rid of an appliance to make moving easier. When part of your childhood is spent with a family of 4 in a 2-room home or with a family of 9 living in a small 1-bedroom apartment...it's quite easy to get back to.
I have dropped off truck loads of furniture, clothes and different household odds&ends in the past, at thrift shops and neighbor's yards; that some little kitchen appliance isnt going to keep me from traveling around. My family even had a van crammed-full of stuff break down in PA...and we left it there to continue on our first move to AZ in 1998. And now...my juicer is already gone.
The Summers here at GCSR are to darn crowded and the heat this last Summer was more then I want to deal with again. Besides I seem to be getting stuck in some sort of rut lately, and decided I need to shake things up a bit once again. So hopefully...just maybe, by the end of April I will be off on another adventure (about darn time too).
My brother was always waiting for me to write a book, well he might get 1 about~~"from down in the hole, to the top of the world"~~about hiking in the Grand Canyon & going to the top of the world.
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didnt do than by the one you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the winds in your sails. Explore.Dream.Discover."~Mark Twain
"Adventure is a path~self determined, self motivated, often risky~forces you to have fist hand encounters with the world....the world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind & perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever be Black & white"~Mark Jenkins
Amy ran the 1/2 marathon with Diane. Diane left the dog with someone later on in the marathon.
1 of the rest stops on the 1/2 marathon...which started on Hermit's Rest Road.
Mile 20 Gang
1st runner to go past mile 20 station @ about 10:15am
These 2 guys wanted salt. They ran this marathon with no training.
This guy's hips were hurting...the only person to sit down at our station
Diane came to our table last, (about 3 hours after the 1st guy ran past) but later I find out she did NOT finish the marathon last. After Amy finished the 1/2 marathon, she drove to Tusayan and then ran backwards thru route until she met up with Diane around mile 21 station. Diane actually ran past someone before getting to the finish line at the IMAX.
I liked this strange looking tree stump. Found it on the way back home bewteen mile 20 & mile 19
Was trying to get different angles of the burnt tree
Found this tarantula in the road. Been here 3 & 1/2 yrs and today was the first day I have seen them...and today I saw 3 of them.
just a view where the tracks cross the road
I liked the pregnant tree on the side of the road.
This spot is where the well used to be on "Rowe Well RD"
Yrs ago there was a bowling alley here, but NPS didn't like it.
People used to have cook-outs in the framed structure in pic but NPS didn't like that either
I was sitting at mile 18, listening to all the birds chirping. Was surprised that there were soooo many. I saw about 5 FAT wild turkeys across the tracks but I didn't have my zoom lens with me.
I stopped into work while they were doing Super clean, to say goodbye to the internationals that were leaving today.
Luna rocking out with Robert's Anime cloak (or whatever its called)
Brenda's lanterns~her window display
The coffins that Brenda made for me & Doris. Chocolate-covered pretzels are inside. So I'm having pretzels with my morning coffee now.
Now that's scary...couldn't find my wig so I dyed my hair black at 7am yesterday
Brenda riding the shuttle bus tonight ...think we only went around the park twice. Some guests were going to the cemetary later for a moonwalk program, but Brenda didn't want to go.
3 kidswalked into El Tovar for dinner I had planned on going to the school's halloween carnival this year, but missed it.
My young co-worker, Robert, took this picture on October 20th from his house. We had gotten some freak hailstorm that afternoon. The next day while at work we got some snow flurries but they didn't last very long. Then also on the 21st, while I was at work I noticed a big bright rainbow above the general store....and just my luck I didn't bring my camera to work. Brenda picked me up to take me to our "Photography Club" meeting and I noticed that it was dark earlier (while I was outside waiting) then I expected it to be...geez, I walked up to the meeting 2 weeks before and it wasn't dark.
Anyways, it has been damn cold this last week. Usually in the Summer I only sleep with 1 blanket, I'm now covered up with 3 and wearing a sweater while I type this. About an hour ago I also decided to turn the heat on in my room.
It has been noted on facebook, that another employee saw that the posts were put out along the sides of the roads too, so the road crew is also getting ready for snow plows....at least they ain't out dumping the cinder rocks around yet.
http://www.lifescript.com/Health/Conditions/Addiction/How_to_Help_a_Hoarder.aspx?utm_campaign=2010-10-17-63248&utm_source=healthy-advantage&utm_medium=email&utm_content=healthy-well-wise_How%20to%20Help%20a%20Hoarder&FromNL=1&sc_date=20101017T000000&page=3 (got this link in an email today...will need to copy & paste all of above to follow link)
Have this weekend off and seeing as I am home, there were a couple cleaning projects that I wanted to get done but I am extra tired and have slept most of my weekend away. I have no energy for anything except sleep. I should be doing laundry also...or at least my work uniform for work tomorrow. But haven't done it yet. I have set an alarm clock for early in the morning so I will hopefully have energy to do laundry in the morning before I go to work. Now thats different because I have gone without an alarm for a couple years.
I have had people tell me that I need to buy energy drinks...but I think they taste disgusting. I drink loads of coffee everyday but it don't keep me awake or give me energy. I have had so much coffee that I ended up with heartburn this morning.
Can I blame my tiredness on our chilly,cloudy weather? Can I blame it on the fact I ain't had nothing to eat today? Maybe I'll blame it on the rash (or massive amount of bug bites on my arm) and just to uncomfortable to do anything...or better yet I should just fess-up and blame it on the fact that I am just to overwhelmed with the mess in my room and get tired as a way to avoid organizing anything & dealing with it all.
It's only taken me over 6 hours to even type this up..(.kept this computer window open all day.) I slept about 3 hours last night but mostly I was laying down with the laptop...guess it takes a certain laziness and/or talent to use a laptop while laying down all day.
There was a sign at Backcountry office on Friday saying that we would be getting some heavy rain tonight. and weatherbug says we will have a few days of rain. So far the sky is getting filled with dark clouds. My kids got a bit of snow in VT and NH yesterday. I ain't ready for snow yet.
Above is the picture of books I left on the "free table" downstairs along with 2 pair of pants and an old pair of shorts that I don't want anymore.
This is what the top of my dresser looks like this morning. I probably still have some more yoga magazines somewhere around my room. I'm pretty sure if you click on the picture that you might be able to see the titles of the books better.
I have seen quite a few guests this year with kindles (electronic books) and am still thinking that might be a better solution to my book collection, as a kindle takes up a lot less space in a room and a kindle is easier to carry around when traveling through airports.
Just noticed that I still have the New Years hat up on the top shelf...it's from New Years Eve 2007....LOL, time to throw it out.
As my brother was presented with each award for all the stuff he has done. A professional photographer took pictures so Allan and whoever presented each award looked toward the center of the room so the pro could take their picture. Then the presenter would just say "Your sister" and my brother knew to just turn so that I could also get a picture. I was surprised to get roses presented to me. Which is why he was starting to laugh cuz he knew I would be surprised. I got them for being his biggest cheerleader. I'm sure someone got his whole speech on video because I don't remember it all. Now I hope to get them on the plane to bring home. Allan & 3 of the kids: Amber, Quinn & Matt
I didn't go into the museum but I did get to wander around the sculpture garden for a bit on 2 different mornings when my brother dropped me off at 7:30-8:30. Seeing as DC doesn't seem to open anything else until 10am.
Last day for this exhibit was 9-16-2010, so I went in to see his stuff. Not sure why it was so special; it was all black & white photos of mostly himself, his family & friends from the late 50's-70's. I also looked at some Impressionist paintings...I still seem to like the French artists the most.
