Eagle, Alaska and The Beginnings!

Well, Thursday I started my journey out to Eagle, Alaska! What an adventure it was!! I was suppose to fly from Salt Lake to Seattle and do a connecting flight there to Fairbanks, but Delta told me that I didn’t have enough time for my bags to connect. So, they wouldn’t connect me. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but decided to just wing it. I said a quick prayer and off I went. When I got up to my gate, I got online and checked in with my next flight online. Thank heavens for my iTouch! What I ever did without it I have no idea! Anyway, the lady at the counter told me to just go all the way through and if my bags didn’t make it I could make a baggage claim in Fairbanks. So, that’s just what I did. When I got to Seattle, I had to take 3 trains in the airport and run to my next flight. I barely made it!! I kinda felt like I was in the movies running to my plane! Lol!! Luckily I made it! It was on the plane to Fairbanks that I met my new friends, Crystal and Jen. We made it to Fairbanks, but my bags didn’t. I kinda figured they wouldn’t, so I just make a claim when I got there. On our way to the hotel I had messages from Seattle airport. I talked to them and luckily they were going to send them up to Fairbanks that night on another flight! The airport said they would deliver them to the hotel. My bags never came! In the morning I had to deal with that in the morning!


Fairbanks was interesting! It’s kinda dumpy! Just a lot of trash every where and a lot of military men! Hot ones at that! I’m not usually into military men, but man! There are some hot ones! LOL!! We woke up this morning and got all ready to fly out! The cab was late picking us up and dropped us off at the airport. I got my bag and I felt like I was being reunited with a long lost friend! Lol!! It was great! Then, we found out we were at the wrong airport! By the time we got to the right place, we were 20 min to our departure time. Luckily, they didn’t care! In fact, we didn’t even have to go through security! It was funny though because Crystal’s mouse exploded all over the luggage! We should have gotten a picture, but we didn’t. We rode in a 5 passenger airplane! It was soooo awesome! I got to ride in the cockpit! I got some awesome pictures and it was sooo cool! When we got to Eagle, we waited for our ride. Eagle is sooo old and dumpy looking! It’s the smalled town ever! No paved roads! Not even the airplane road. The speed limit is 15 only because of the dust. The mosquitoes here are huge! They are about twice the size of the ones in Utah! We didn’t do much work that day. That night they had a party for the only graduating kid in the city. He gets a full ride scholarship to the University of Alaska Fairbanks! It was interesting to see! It was interesting to have one during the daylight! But, they were huge! The towns folk are nice. Not a ton of them! But, there are a lot more kids than I expected! They were so cute running around! The people here can drink and drive. Kinda scary to me, but I guess other than trees, there isn’t much they can get in an accident with! They were blaring Lady Gaga and Fergie and dancing! It’s funny how music seems to make to the smallest towns even! The city here only has one radio station too! It plays just a little bit of everything! And I mean everything! The people here are really nice, but it’s interesting being the only one who doesn’t drink! They kind-of look at me weird! For the most part they are okay with it!

Saturday… we went to the big cold storage freezer and moved all the pallets around. Then we organized all the food in the freezer. It actually was kinda fun! We had an assembly line going to move everything! Afterwards we went back to the house, had lunch, then moved the dry foods and supply to the warehouse and organized that. When we were all done we got these really hot blue jump suits on and went to paint the bottom of the boat. It was so fun! We had this weird cleaner we had to use and then this special paint. I did the whole underside of one side of our boats. I really wished that I had a picture of me in the paint suit! I looked so funny! We had rags tied around our heads to protect our hair from the chemicals, face guards, and safety glasses! After work we didn’t do much. Just visited, watched TV, a movie and then just crashed!

Today…. I got to sleep in a little later. Got up and came to the boat house to have our safety meeting before we moved the boat into the water. After that we went down to the boat. It was a very long process!! It took us 4 hrs to get it to the water which is about 100 yards. I learned so much about the boat! It was soooo cool! I got to stand next to one of the lines and be the safety girl. That means that I had the walkie-talkie and if I need to radio an emergency I would. We got the boat for the most part done, but will have to finish tomorrow. Tomorrow we get to put our dock in. The city had a flood last year and so we are having to do a lot more work than normal. It’s soooo cool! I am really enjoying it here! It’s a totally different experience. So, as for today, we just spent it getting the boat into the water. We will take it up to Dawson on Wednesday.

I hope everyone had a great Mother’s Day!! We don’t get internet much, so I will try and update as often as possible! I feel like a missionary! Lol!! I love you all! Keep in touch!!!

Your Crusin Canadian!!

The Beginning of My New Adventures!

Alrighty!  I am finally getting back to my blogging!  Although, the primary purpose for doing so is the communication thing!  This is going to pretty much my way of communicating with the world over the next 4+ months!  So, let's give you a little outline to my life and the adventures to come!

February 25th, I had an in-person interview with Holland America/Princess Cruise Lines Tour Division.  Interview was in California

March 6th, I was rejected! Lol! Not by a guy, but by the Tour Division.

March 24, I had a phone interview with Holland America/ Princess Cruise Lines Yukon Queen II.  Interview went great!

March 25,  I had a phone interview with Holland America/ Princess Cruise Lines Denali Lodge Division.  Interview went better than day before's.

April 8th,  Registering for school and was extremely frustrated with classes and job.  Decided that I would make the decision to work for the gun shop for the summer. Told God of my decision and asked if it was right.  Two hours later, on my way to work, got a call from Yukon Queen job and offered me a position!!!  Yahoo!!

Since then... I have been finishing up my schooling, started packing and buying stuff for the summer, and getting ready to have fun!!  I am sooooo excited!!  So, this is how my adventure begins!  I am flying out of SLC at 11am on May 7th, one week from tomorrow!  I will get a connecting flight in Seattle to Fairbanks Alaska.  In Fairbanks I will stay the night and meet the 3 girls that I am flying with.  Then, Friday morning we will get up and go meet a 5-passenger airplane and fly to Eagle Alaska.  Once in Eagle we meet up with our crew!  We will stay there for about a week.  While in Eagle we will put our boat together and do some training!  Eagle has all of about 200 residents, so you can imagine what I'm getting into! LOL!  After that, we will take our boat up the Yukon River to Dawson City.  This is where I will call home for the next 4 months!!  Dawson City, Yukon, Canada!!!  I can't wait!!!!!!!

So, it just dawned on me!  I didn't say what I am doing!  I will be working on a day cruise boat.  We do 2 tours/cruises a day on the Yukon River, going back and forth from Dawson to Eagle and back again.  While on the boat I will do one of four things each day!  I will be a bartender (Sweet little mormon girl serving drinks! I know right!?), a tour narrator, a gift shop attendant, or working in the Galley serving treats, meals, and drinks.  It is going to be soooo fun!!

The area is going to be a blast!  I will have 24 hours of sunlight most of the time I am up there!  Dawson City has no paved roads, just got Canada cell service and internet 2 years ago, and looks like an old minning town with a new paint job!  I can't wait!! 

Well, here is the start!  I will keep you all updated as often as possible!!  I will have my e-mail posted to the side if you would like to e-mail me.  If you want to write me letters or send me packages, e-mail me and I'll give you our address, or you can keep in touch via facebook as well!  I will try and update with pictures and notes once a week!!  Love you all!!!
~Yours Truly,
   Amy Marie