Garrison Keillor

Garrison Keillor came to Fairbanks tonight. We went to his show. He is hilarious. It was a ton of fun. We had dinner at Gambardella's before the show. Mmmm. Okay. That's all.

Calico

So, after loads of drama, I went out on the last run of the season. I got to go to Kate and Andy's cabin at Calico Bluff. We'd been talking all summer long about me going to see the cabin. They're moving there permanently at the end of the week. I can understand why. It's absolutely beautiful! So, we made the trip happen on my last run. It was so fun! We went down Friday night and stayed until Saturday morning. It was amazing to wake up and watch the sun come up over the mountain and light up the hills and trees. It's very rustic and beautiful. In fact, it's so rustic you can imagine my surprise when I mentioned that I needed to use the restroom. I figured the bathroom would be an outhouse and it was. The surprise came when I went around to the front of the outhouse ... and there wasn't a door! No door at all! I was so glad it was dark - especially since Andy was outside checking on his sled dogs. Oh my! It was a little more awkward the next morning when Andy was outside and it was light! At least I knew what to expect that time. So, here are a few pictures. I just wish they captured how beautiful it really was.

Here is the garden at Andy and Kate's cabin

Here is the view from Andy and Kate's cabin

Calico Bluff

Calico Bluff

Two swans taking off of the Yukon River

Finally ... a new post!

Yes, I admit it. I have been slacking in the blogging department. In my defense, I'm running at about 80 hours right now, which is what we're allowed by law. So it's been a crazy busy super fun summer. It's actually turned into Fall now. Supposedly the northern lights are out. I guess I should go check since i can't sleep. I might as well check it out. I'll go do that after I post this blog. My cousin Heather and my sister - in - law Amy are actually my inspirations for blogging. (Oh joy. I can feel my cold medicine kicking in. This may end up being a very short post.) Anyway, let me move on to the interesting stuff: pictures. I have pictures to post of some of my experiences this summer. I haven't posted as much because I posted so much last summer and I've been doing the same tour this summer that I did last summer. I'm scheduled to go to Prudhoe Bay in about a week and bring a coach back so hopefully that will happen and I'll be able to get some pictures there. Anyway, here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Oh yes, and I'm writing all this from my new computer. My old one is going to my sister as soon as I can get all my old pictures and music off it.

So, by way of introduction, here is my latest adventure: Jake's flat tire on the Richardson highway in Salcha. So, Jake and I were paralleling from Fairbanks to Eagle. We were both deadheading so fortunately we had empty coaches (no guests). We were picking up groups in Eagle and doing tours back to Fairbanks. This adventure happened while we were deadheading, thank goodness!!

Where the tire should have been

This is how it should look

Okay, so Jake cracked the lug nuts, removed the tire, and pulled the spare out. The lug nuts take all my weight to crack and the tires weigh 200 pounds. He threw them around like it was nothing. It was really sexy. Hey, I'm only human.

That crack on the side of the tire? That shouldn't be there.

It took some convincing, but Jake finally agreed to pose for a picture. The guy's hot...what can I say?

Life or Something Like It

I'm sitting in the dispatch office stewing because I'm on PM rail. The train is coming in at 8:45 pm. I have a highway tour tomorrow. I'm exhausted. I'm not supposed to be working. Everyone I've told gets the same incredulous look on their faces. At least I'm being validated, right? That won't do me much good at 5:30 tomorrow morning, though.

However, I'm trying to think of good things to offset my bad mood. So, I have a story to share with all of you. So, I've been working with a lot of cute drivers this summer. One cute driver and I have had some mutual interest this summer. So, this driver was our pilot car driver on my last highway run. So, on our night in Tok, this driver and I may or may not have spent some "quality time" together after dinner. The next day on our tour, the members of the tour group were teasing the tour director about how cute the pilot car driver was. She deflected the comments off on me. So, then they all started teasing me. Well, what could I say after the quality time the pilot car driver and I had been spending over the summer? So I just grinned. So then of course the teasing got even worse! So, when we got to Eagle, we arranged for a great goodbye in front of the guests. He was being radioed by the drivers waiting for him to take them from Eagle to Chicken. He hopped on my coach to respond, then grabbed me by the waist and kissed me in front of the guests. The coach erupted with laughter and cheers. They were SO excited! There is no way I will be able to top that. Boy, it was fun.

I hope you enjoyed my confession. :-)

Alaska at Last

Sigh...so I'm finally getting settled in Fairbanks. I had a little bit of an adventure getting here because I volunteered to give up my seat because they unexpectedly were overbooked by 20 people. (they had mechanical problems with our plane and sent a smaller one.) I got a free ticket out of it, which is nice! Anyway, I finally arrived in Fairbanks at about 9:00 at night on Thursday. My first couple nights I stayed at the Regency Hotel. It was nice. It had a kitchenette so I was able to fix my own food. On Friday I took my drug test and we're still waiting for the results so I haven't been able to drive. I'm going a little stir crazy but my results should be in by tomorrow, hopefully. At least I have time to study up on my tour material. If only I would!! Anyway, I'm so excited to be here. Now I just can't wait to start driving!

Madame Tussaud's

On Saturday Bronwyn and I went to Madame Tussaud's. It was cool. For those of you that haven't seen the pictures on Facebook, I'm going to post a few of them here.

The End of the Beginning or the End of the End

Okay, so it's been an embarrassingly long time since I updated my blog. Apologies.

Today is my last day at West Potomac Academy. I knew when I started the year that it was my last. As teaching jobs go, this one is a dream. The problem is, I don't want to teach or work in a school. So I'm now moving on and looking for the next big adventure in my life. I'll be honest: this year has sucked. It's been really, really hard. There were days (thanks to certain meds prescribed by a dear doctor who I'm sure was only trying to help) that I almost couldn't get out of bed. Just functioning from day to day was a feat. But now it's all over!!! Now I get to move on and do something new and exciting. Who knows what that will be? For now, it's driving in Alaska, which I do because it's therapeutic. Who would think that being in control of 45 people's lives and working 80 hour weeks would be therapeutic. But it is. I love it! It also buys me three months to find something new. Maybe a position with the State Department will come through and maybe it won't. That remains to be seen. But I get to move on to a new adventure! And if I don't find a job, I'll take my Alaska money and go tour Europe!