What i have been up to over these last few months in Alaska.

Hi, all! As i start thinking about the season coming to an end, i thought i'd share with you how the summer has been going as well as what i have been up to. It has been a rocky summer to say the least. Dealing with a plethora of deep and unsettling personal problems has definitely taken its tole, as well as financial issues, new work and basically 2 months of rain.

The issues started almost immediately. When we started our jobs at the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge, A Princess Cruises hotel, we had to sit through 5 days of "orientation" or as i like to call it, brain washing. We were told that our haircuts, facial hair and styles had to be uniform with everyone else. No tattoos, no piercings, they even told us what colored shirts to wear off work! Feeling uncomfortable with working for this corporation, we were told Madison couldn't work there with dread locks. Madison, unwilling to shave her head for a seasonal job promptly decided to take a different route and started applying for jobs in the area that same day. I went in to work and was told to leave because my long hair, which helped me get my foot out the door. A few minutes after we found out we both had to cut our hair we rushed back to housing, gathered our things and left. We were homeless, jobless and in the middle of Alaska. Even with that being said, we were more excited than ever. We were excited to not be working for a morally ambiguous corporation and even more so, we were excited to be in Alaska. That night we camped in a giant gravel pit down stampede road. The next day we were pleased to find that the interviews we had the previous day were successful and now we had a job.

We moved in to our new home for the summer around May 12th. We were now living at Denali Air, a flightseeing company with a mile long airstrip and a bunch of Piper Navajo airplanes. Here we had our own cozy cabin that was just ours. The cabin is the most roomy place we've lived in, equipped with a bed loft, couch, shelves and a propane heater. We began work at Black Bear Coffee House right across the street from the lodge. The Black Bear is a hip, organic, friendly and fun place where most locals hang out. Needless to say we were jazzed to be working for a mom and pop where we knew the people would be awesome. As the days progressed and we got more and more comfortable with The Black Bear and Denali Air, our coworkers and neighbors became friends and have now turned into some of the best friends i have ever made. Everyone in Denali seemed to have the same mindset. We are all idealists who came to Alaska more or less on a whim. We all craved adventure, a journey into the unknown. Everyone travels across the globe in the winter and finds their way back to Denali in the summer. Year after Year.

We then got into our work groove, just working and hanging out. During June we didn't do much besides a camping trip into the park, which got more rain in decades the night we were there. Which makes for an interesting story nonetheless. But besides that not much happened.

Things got more interesting in July when money became a huge issue and a change had to be immediate. Because of the high price of room and board we were paying (Alaska has some of the highest cost of living on the continent because of its remote location) we couldn't afford our bills and Madison couldn't afford her car payments. Madison was initially going to leave, almost booking the plane ticket and everything but then she decided last minute she would move out of Denali Air and live in her car, a move that has definitely payed off.

The summer has had its ups and downs but i wouldn't trade the experiences iv'e had and friends i have made for anything in the world. A few days ago we were blessed with awesome weather and i feel change is in the air. From here on out it seems everything is going to be better. With only 6 weeks left in the season i'm ready to see as much Alaska as i can before i leave and i am very hopeful for the future. 

A Journey Across North America: Arizona to Alaska

Hi everyone! This is the first time i'm blogging in months, but with the support i have been getting in the past few weeks i thought i'd get the blog going again.

About 11 days ago, me and my girlfriend began our trip across the continent traveling from Arizona to Alaska. The trip was about 3,500 miles and crossed 2 countries, 5 state borders, and 3 provinces. We started the trip with an open heart and mind. We knew that it would test our limits as a couple as well as live for a week in a way we've never lived before.

The trip began a little rocky, we had to stay at the canyon for an extra day to wait for Madison's passport. Since we were unemployed and didn't have a residence there anymore we ended up camping in the Kaibab National Forest right outside the park. This gave us a preview of the days to come. It was cold and dark but an excellent experience. I got my last look at the wonderful night sky that i have come to adore over the last year and another day to enjoy the splendors of Northern Arizona.

Day 1: Arizona to Utah
Today we hit the road more excited than ever, feeling like we had the whole world at our fingertips. We made our way through the Navajo Nation, crossed the Colorado River and hooked up to Utah. Enjoying the beautiful scenery all around us and giving our home a final farewell we began our trip through the red rock formations of Southern Utah. We then drove through the vast forests and farmlands of mid and northern Utah, finally reaching beautiful Salt Lake City. Since it was raining we had to get a hotel room, a corner that i did not want to cut in the beginning, but something we inevitably had to do throughout the trip. Although, after a long day in a car a hot meal and warm bed was an expense worth paying.

Day 2: Utah, Idaho to Montana
After a day on the road we new a trip like this wasn't going to be easy. We woke up to stormy conditions and wet dangerous driving conditions. We drove past multiple accidents on the interstate which along with the dreary weather seemed to crush our moods and morale. We drove about a hundred miles and came into Idaho, which had nothing more than farms and small towns. A place which seemed to be dominated by right-winged rednecks it was a place we couldn't wait to get out of. Although after the dullness of Idaho we trucked on into Montana, which proved to make the whole american part of the trip. We past dense forests, mountain passes, valleys, river crossings and beautiful cabins. We ended the day at a family owned hotel in the bad part of Great Falls, Montana. From the outside the place looked like a rundown cheap motel, but when we went in it proved to be way different with a king sized bed and suite-like room it was definitely the best room of the trip as well as the cheapest!

Day 3: Montana to Alberta, Canada
Waking up to sunny, warm temperatures we left Great Falls and hit the road for Canada day! The drive led us through the plains and oil fields of northern Montana, which followed us all the way to Alberta. After about 2 hours we reached the border and were appalled to find shortly after entering how expensive EVERYTHING was! Gas was $1.30 a liter which amounted to about 5 dollars a gallon.  (a price which made its way all the way to $1.60/liter or $5.92 a gallon. Yikes!) for lunch we stopped in Lethbridge and enjoyed our first legal beer ever! (drinking age is 18 in Alberta) we then kept on going, making our way to a town just south of Edmonton. Alberta didn't have much to offer us in terms of scenery, since we totally an unintentionally bypassed the Rockies and Jasper and Banff National Parks. We finally got to the town of Leduc and thus began our effort to find a relatively modestly price room, which proved to be foolhardy. We went to every hotel we could find leaving disappointed from everyone when we learned that all the rates were $100+, a price well out of our budget. We ended up finding a shit hole hotel that cost a whopping $80 bucks, but being the cheapest room and to cold to camp we had no choice. The room was adorned with 80's era tapestry and linens and, although it was advertised as smoke free, reeked of marijuana and cigarette smoke. Enjoying the liberal Alcohol laws of Alberta, we headed over to a bar where i enjoyed a 10 dollar stein of exceptional beer. That being about the only good thing Alberta had to offer.

Day 4: Alberta to British Columbia
Today was Alaska Highway day! We left and headed towards Fort St. John, British Columbia planning on camping out because of our dwindling funds and high costs of everything in Canada. However, this day turned out being one of the most stressful, having been overcharged twice for gas and were running out of money fast as well as other events that i will explain later. The drive turned out to be uneventful as well, just driving through oil fields, grasslands and woods. When we got to the campsite about a hundred miles outside of Fort St. John we were greeted with a soupy mud road. We decided to try it anyway, seeing that our destination was only a mile down the road. This, we learned, was a mistake. We ended up getting our tiny Honda Fit stuck in the mud only a few hundred feet down the road and i had to exit the car and push the car in my Crocs. We got back to the road pissed off and befuddled. We had no where to stay the night, we were hundreds of miles from the nearest city, totally unwilling to turn around and had only an hour or two of daylight. With the roads being riddled with moose at night driving with the sun down was not an option so we just kept on going until we found the nearest haven of civilization. We reached a little oil service town called Pink Mountain and went to a run down truckers cafe and motel to ask directions to the nearest campground. The woman told us they were all closed for the season but welcomed us to stay in their parking lot. An offer we graciously took. The woman said it reached below freezing at night and the ground was to muddy to put down a tent so we set up our sleeping bags in the front of the car after we got a good cheap dinner from the restaurant and fell into an uncomfortable, fitful sleep.

Day 5: British Columbia to The Yukon Territory
The day started at 5:30 am and was the longest day of the trip. We left and made our way the hundred or so miles to Fort Nelson, got a good Tim Hortons breakfast, A ritual we followed every morning in Canada and made our way to the Yukon. This day was by far the most beautiful of our whole trip. Shortly after leaving Fort Nelson the Alaska Highway hooked into the heart of the Northern Rockies. Driving through the Huge Mountain passes and next to crystal clear creeks it inspired and made me remember why i was doing this. We saw more wildlife than we've ever seen in our lives. We passed through a herd of mountain sheep, multiple herds of caribou, a bear, herds of giant bison and spotting our first moose.

When we reached the Yukon we planned on staying at a town called Watson Lake. We reached the town shortly after entering the Yukon. The town didn't have much of anything to offer. Since we were sleeping in the car again we needed a discreet place to camp for the night and since the days were significantly longer in the Yukon, we decided to keep moving to the town of Teslin, which was about 2 hours away. We got to Teslin and were definitely more pleased. There was a good spot for camping with a great view. I got my last 6 pack of beer and continued the routine of car camping we started the night before. 

Day 6: Yukon to Alaska  

Alaska Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

The day started like the previous morning. We woke up a little later at 6:30 and started driving right away. Excited to finally be getting to Alaska we stopped fewer than previous days, only stopping for gas and in Whitehorse for our daily dose of Tim Horton's. The end of the highway in Yukon was the worst part of the whole road. With long never ending sections of frost heaves it slowed us down to only 40 miles an hour for 100 miles. We finally got to Alaska and made our way to our destination of Tok. When we got to Tok we realized we got payed earlier in the morning so we bought an expensive hotel room and enjoyed the splendors of the states and celebrated our arrival in Alaska with a fulfilling dinner. Shortly after we checked into our room we met a man who was in the room next to us with the same make and model car from the same place, Flagstaff. We talked more and it turned out he was heading to Denali as well. We learned he had a cabin on Stampede Road, the road made famous by "Into the Wild", and he invited us to stay until we checked in to our job a few days later. 

We went to sleep happy that we finally reached our new home and that our trip was over. 

Day 7: Fairbanks, AK

We drove the few hours to Fairbanks where I had a friend I met online who invited us to stay the night. Reaching Fairbanks we did some shopping at the local Walmart and enjoyed our hard earned day of relaxing. She made us dinner and let us enjoy her satellite TV and high speed internet. 

Day 8: Healy, AK

We woke up at ten and made our way to Healy. A 2 hour drive down the George Parks Highway, we entered healy and were in awe at the hugeness of the Alaskan Range as well as the beauty of the surrounding land. We got breakfast at a local cafe, checked out the park, did our laundry, took showers and headed to our new friends cabin, which we would stay for the next 2 days. The cabin was beautiful and very rustic. Slightly under the tree line the land around the cabin offered great vistas of the surrounding environment and gave us a good taste of what our home was going to be like. The sun didn't set until 11, which was definitely something to get used to. One thing i didn't expect were the mosquitoes. They bit me alive and left me with a dozen plus bites. But besides that i'm thrilled to be here and i don't plan on leaving anytime soon. 

That's it. Welcome home.