Ziplining

So many excursions, so little time! All summer I have wanted to go zip-lining, but I could never make it work. I was either too late signing up (only one crew member per excursion, plus there has to be an empty slot), or I haven't been able to work my schedule around it, etc. This week, I finally got to go! We have four different zip-lining tours - two in Juneau and two in Ketchikan - so I asked our Shore Excursions manager which one was his favorite and he recommended Bear Creek in Ketchikan. I am not sure how the other ones are, but Bear Creek is amazing!

The tour was six different lines, an extension bridge, repelling (they called it repelling but it was like fifteen feet), and an alpine slide. We were divided into groups on nine, so I got put with a family of eight. They were a big, loud, New York Italian family, but they were really nice and a lot of fun and they took all the pictures of me. I was a little worried when I first got put with them, but I never felt like an outcast. I kinda felt like one of the family by the end!

Ready to go with all my gear! You can't tell from this angle, but we were tethered to the platform the entire time.

This is my first run, and I think I look pretty good. My left elbow is locked, my right hand is where it should be, and I'm smiling!

This was the third or fourth line, so by this time I felt like a pro. I would like to say that I never stopped short of the platform, nor did I ever stop my self using the tree - I feel like that was a success!

This is what I saw. Beautiful, isn't it? One of the guides, Gen, took this for me.
The extension bridge crossed this creek and the pictures cannot due it justice! The bridge was a little shaky, and not that coordinated, so I was not brave enough to walk across with my eyes closed and my hands at my side. I wasn't afraid of falling, we were tethered to a line above the bridge, I just new that I would end up with my foot caught between slats!

The slide was a highlight! I could not believe short two hundred feet was!

Our awesome guides, Rhett and Gen.
We all got medals at the end (this is the best picture of it I have).

I have never considered myself a dare-devil, but I do like to experience new things and I am so glad I got the chance to zip line in Alaska (I would like to do it again somewhere else in the world). If you have never been, I highly recommend it!

Dog Sledding

As crew, I have the opportunity to participate in shore excursions as an"escort." Basically, I am there as a representative of HAL, I socialize with the guests on the excursion, and report any issues back to the shore excursions manager.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to escort a group to on a "Sled Dog Training Camp Adventure." We visited a camp where several professional mushers train with their dogs during the summer. It was a lot of fun and I would definitely recommend it to anyone look for a fun, low-key excursion.

We started with a tour of the camp's extension bridge. It wasn't at all relevant to mushing, but it was really pretty.

After the bridge, one of the guides talked to us about the dogs and their training. I was really interested to learn that they start training the dogs when they are just a few months old and start racing them after a year or two. I also learned that the dogs they use now, the Alaskan Husky, is a fairly new breed. They used to use Siberian Huskies or Alaskan Malamutes, but the size caused some problems. Alaskan Huskies are a little bit smaller with shorter, but denser, hair. Their diets are very high in fat because they are outdoors all winter and high in protein to keep their energy levels up. She also introduced us to a dog who is nine years old and still racing. She said that once a dog retires, the musher either keeps them as a pet or tries to find someone to adopt them. If I was a musher I would probably have 150 Alaskan Huskies as pets because I don't think I would be able to set rid of a dog to whom I had grown attached.

Next, we all loaded into what looked like a golf cart without an engine. A team of sixteen dogs pulled us around the camp for about 15 minutes. It was amazing how fast they went and fascinating to watch them make the turns and work as a team. We met the dogs afterwards and they were all attention hogs!



After being pulled around camp, we learned a little more about the Iditarod. The highlight of the excursion was getting to see the new puppies! The camp had a litter that was ten days old and they were SO CUTE! I want a puppy!

Again, I really love my job! It's not every job that you get the opportunity to do things like this!

Great Alaska Lumberjack Show

A Crew ID is GOLDEN! Many places realize that crew are their best marketing method, so we often receive deeply discounted tickets to shows and activities to we will spread the word to passengers. When I first heard about the lumberjack show, I thought it sounded a little lame. I wouldn't have paid to $35 to go see it, but when somebody told me that crew can see it for free I figured the only thing I had to lose was an hour of my time and it might be fun.

So, one day in Ketchikan Ashley and I headed over to the show. Not only would I recommend the show, but I have now seen it twice! Just last week I went again with my friends Jen, Karyn, and Will. It's a little bit cheesy (they're lumberjacks), but it's a lot of fun. The audience is divided in half and each half cheers on a team of two lumberjacks. Some of it is a little scripted, but it doesn't seem fake, just cheesy.

I never realized the timber sports were a legitimately competitive sport, but I guess they are. All the lumberjacks are professional athletes and they compete in twelve events throughout the show. After each event, the winning team gives a member of their audience a wood chip (I didn't get one either time. I don't know what I would do with it, but I still wanted one). Both lumberjacks I cheered for the first time competed the second time I saw the show, but they were on different teams.

The youngest lumberjack, Michael. He just graduated high school and Collette's reaction to the picture was "It's a baby lumberjack!" He is small, and young, but he was really good.

The Ax Throw seems like an accident waiting to happen! Sometimes they have perfect aim,


Sometimes their aim is not so good!
It is crazy how quickly they can destroy a log that large!

It probably took less than ten second for them to complete this cut.

The Climb
Log Rolling: This is about seconds before one slipped and landed straddling the log!
Who can resist a picture with lumberjacks?

So, if you are ever in Ketchikan and happen to have some free time, go see the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show. You won't regret it, I promise!

Views From My Office

One of the best parts of my job is my desk! The library is lined with huge windows and my desk faces straight out! There will be some contracts where I will just see water, but there is no end of gorgeous scenery up here!

Here are a few pictures I took while from the Library!

Tracy's Arm

Sunny Glacier Bay

Overcast Glacier Bay

Meet the Volendam

I feel like most of my entries will involve my friends/co-workers, so I think I should introduce them to you.

Collette Wiederrich

Collette and I embarked together and will debark together. She is the Youth Program Coordinator, so in her own words she “entertains the small humans on board.” We are constantly mistaken for each other (we've decided it must be the hair), but there are worse people to be compared to. We have pretty similar personalities but she is a little bit saucier and wild than I am so she is known as my evil twin and I as her better half.

Cara Borghesi

Cara one of the Youth Staff, was my roommate, but she left July 13. Describing Cara is fairly difficult, she;s the type of person you just have to know! She has sound effects for EVERYTHING (one for walking into a room, one for standing up out of bed, happy dolphin, sad dolphin), and she's just overall entertaining!

Glen Barry:

There is truly only one Glen Barry and I'm not sure the world would be able to handle more than one. Although Glen has worked on ships since 1998, this is his first contract with HAL. HE has a plethora of stories about his time on Royal Caribbean and Disney Cruise Lines and he often entertains us with them. I am so glad that I ended up with Glen as my first cruise director because if I had ended up with someone boring or uptight I don't know what I would have done.

Corne

Corne (kor-NAY - I'm not even going to try to spell his last name), our Facilities Manager is affectionately known as Gru. I am convinced that the animators of Despicable Me used him as model for their main character. He's the only engineer who hangs out with us and he is a ton of fun and such a nice guy! His (failed) attempts at the Hand Jive during one of our shows has permanently endeared him into my heart.

Ashley Alishusky

Ashley is another member of the Youth Staff. At first, I thought she was shy and quiet, but she's not. Every now and then she will say something that comes out of left field and have us all cracking up. If I go somewhere exciting in port, I usually go with Ash.

Niamh Mason and Ian Kee

Niamh (said Neeve- it's Gaelic) and I started on the same day and we bonded over the fact that we were both dazed and confused. She's from England and basically I want to put her in my pocket and carry her around with me (which she thinks would be fun). Niamh is a photographer on board and, for the record, her camera is better than Ian's - Ashley, Collette, and I voted!

Ian is also a photographer on board. He was one of the first non-entertainment staff I made friends with because he and Collette had worked together on the Ryndam. Ian is a tease, which made me like him instantly.

Alabama's Finest

Several week ago we had a huge family from Southern Alabama, and they were really Alabama's finest. One guy really outshone the rest of the family and by the end of the week he still asked me for ping-pong paddles even though I had explained six times that we do not keep them in the library. If there was a prize for dumbest question ever, he would win!

Glen (my cruise director) walked past the dining room the last day of the cruise and heard the guy going crazy on the dining room steward. He was screaming, "You can't move things on the last day, it just ain't fair. I understand moving things the first few days, but you can't move them on the last day! I'm gonna write a complaint!" The poor dining room steward was really confused so Glen stepped in to help. He asked what the problem was and again the man started screaming that we can't move things on the last day. Glen asked which activity we had moved. "The showroom was right here the rest of the week and now you've moved it to the other end of the ship! It ain't fair to move things around when I finally figured it out!" Yes, he caught us, as night -in our spare time for kicks and giggles- the entire crew moves a two story showroom including the stage, seats, dressing rooms, etc from one end of the ship to the other! I would like to say he was joking. Unfortunately, he was not.

Directionally Challenged

A few weeks ago I received the following questions, three times each, from six different people while I was at my desk in the Library:

"Excuse me, can you tell me where to find the Library?"
Hmmm: Books, magazines, couches, computers, LIBRARIAN - have you tried the next deck up?

"Is this the dining room?"
Yes, this is the dining room. Times are tough right now and as a company we have had to cut back some so our meals now consist of coffee, finger sandwiches, and light pastries. Also, I hope you only plan on one plate each because our tables only have a diameter of about 18 inches and we sit sit on couches instead of chairs. Seating is limited, only about forty people, so come early.
*The Library is more like a bookstore with a coffee cafe.