Bonfires and beer

So there's not a whole lot to do up here in your free time besides sleep, adventure in the wilderness, and well, drink. Also, burn things. We don't recycle anything because it's too expensive so we burn all of the trash that we can - boxes, etc. A couple weeks ago we had a large amount of pallets from all the supplies that were delivered at the beginning of the season. This meant of course that we should go burn things. With a lot of gasoline and booze. So one night we drove up to the bonfire pit - a clearing about twenty minutes up the road - and did just that. It was great. It burned really hot and big. We made a game of throwing burnables into the inferno and Andrew started another game of throwing rocks at the metal can across the clearing. The things we do to entertain ourselves up here. Good fun.

A couple nights ago we had another fire, but much smaller. It was right outside crew cabins and there was about ten of us there. We had an iPod with speakers and lots of dancing and a guitar. It was nice to let go and just chill. It was also the night before my day off so I didn't have to worry about getting up in the morning. Also a lovely feeling. I danced with one of the pilots (Scott Dagnon) for Island Air, the airline company Nani and Scott also run, and just enjoyed myself. It was a lot of fun.

On my day off two days ago, we went out on a fishing adventure. We went up Sarcar (the lodge is located in Sarcar cove) and fished for sockeye salmon. I went with Jeremy and Dagnon. I learned how to fly fish, how to bleed a fish, how to drive a boat and how to filet salmon. It was great. So much learning and so much fun. I like cutting fish, I want to get better at it. Work is going well. I make between 25-30 sandwiches a morning, drink a lot of coffee and walk a lot. And I'm getting good at making fires. I've dropped a fair amount of weight and gained a fair amount of muscle in return. I also got a knee brace so my leg hurts less, which is wonderful. Another thing: it turns out people buy you drinks when you make them their lunch. I had no idea the buying power of sandwiches. It's amazing. The guests found out that I'm the one that makes their lunch and they were like, "You're our favorite person! Thank you so much." I wanted to say, it's just sandwiches but I am learning that is not the case. It's kind of nice to know that. I must be off to work but there's my update for now. Love from the wilderness.
Cheers,
Emily

Canoe adventure

Jeremy and I always have the middle of the day off together so we went on a canoe adventure today. It was great. We canoed upstream from the lodge to a metal bridge. We went wandering into the forest, and it is some forest. Moss, moss, moss is everywhere, even on the tree branches. I bounced on a very springy log for a little bit. We found a deer trail and followed that for a bit. There are trees everywhere. There's room for people to pass through but it is packed. Almost no sign of human life. We saw one fly fisher. We did get within 7 feet of an eagle though. It was perched on the branch over the river waiting for food to come by. It was so cool. As we were walking back to the canoe, it dove in the water. Awesome. There was a family of ducks in the water too. The babies were following the mom and the one at the very back would drift then rush to catch up then drift again. It was adorable.

It was a good adventure. I have work in about an hour. Woo work. Also, got paid yesterday. My bar tab wasn't bad at all. I was happy.
Love everyone! Cheers!

Update

Update on my life up here. I may have pulled a tendon in the back of my left knee, so that makes work (i.e. lots of walking) interesting. I'm doing it though. I had a day off yesterday. I spent the day sleeping, eating, playing Final Fantasy Chronicles: Chocobo Tales, and going to the bar. Jeremy is slowing improving his pool game and I'm learning darts so it's a lot of fun. I have to step up my pool game though. There are alot of decent-to-really-good pool players up here. It's lovely.

Quick list of the people I work with.
Jlota, Cody, Andrew - lodge assistants. Basically they carry things...a lot.
Jaclyn - housekeeping.
Lisa - bartender.
JJones, Chris, Jon - chefs.
Whitney - server. We rock the kitchen together.
Rachel - float. She relieves everyone on their day off.
Kenji, Billy, Justin, Derek, Bryce, Trevor - boat captains. Only five are ever working at a time.
Ryker - maintanence guy. You have to say his name with a slight hick accent. Ryyeker.
Margaret - does reservations for the airline.
Nani/Scott - married, the couple that own and run the lodge.
Nahele - massage therapist. Married to Bryce.
Huck - Nahele's 4 yr old son. He speaks huckanese.
Parker - Nahele's 7 month old girl. Adorable.
Emma - Nani/Scott's. 6 yrs old. Also very cute.
Skye - Nani/Scott's. 11 yrs old.

I think that's everyone. It's a solid crew. We all work hard, play hard, drink hard. Not much to do up here besides work, shoot the shit, and drink. And get really good at pool and darts. It's a good life. I haven't thought about or missed my phone for about three weeks. It's lovely.

Another update: I am going to Portland, Maine (funny) in the fall. I will be there for nine months working for Portland Stage, a theater company out there. It's a paid internship that provides housing and I will be working on lighting and learning sound design. Should be a good time. I head out right after I'm done with Alaska. More updates coming soon.
Cheers!

Gone Fishin'

Fun fact: I have never been fishing before. And I work at a fishing lodge. Go figure. So the other day I had the day off and had a chance to go out on one of the boats. It was so much fun! First of all, there are so many creatures out there! I lost count of how many humpback whales I saw. They were everywhere. Apparently it's a good sign for the fishing and so cool to see them. We saw them all morning, blowing water out of their blowholes and breaching the water. So wonderful.
At some point our captain, Bryce, threw a dead fish in the water and an eagle swooped down not five feet away from me and snatched it right out of the water. I'm pretty sure my jaw was on the floor. That was absolutely amazing. I also saw two sea otters, one on the way out there and the other on the way back in. I thought the first one was a log until it moved. Last I checked, logs don't move. But it still took me a few seconds to realize that it was a creature. So fricking cool. I am so in love with the wilderness up here.
And..I caught a fish!! I caught a king salmon, weighing in at 15 lbs. It was a nasty battle. That fish was really really stubborn. Really really stubborn. I had a lot of fun. It was a good first experience. My time up here just keeps getting better and better.
Cheers!

Pictures!

Here are some photos the of the lodge and the various inhabitants, most of them furry. The weather has been lovely, which helps make the pictures better.

The bar.








Bald eagles eating something dead. Nom nom.










The dock, minus a couple boats and the float plane.










Fatty, aka Storm. A really cute but stupid dog.









Storm and Coho hunting for yummy things in the water. Coho is judging Storm while he digs.









Crabs! So many crabs!














More to come. Cheers!

Arrival in the Wilderness

So it's day 3 of my time in Alaska. So far, so good. I love it up here. It took me half a day, three flights and an hour long car ride into nowhere along a sketchy dirt road to get here. The first day I just hung out, settled in and did some introductory stuff. The wilderness is crazy up here! So wild. Absolutely stunning and absolutely impossible to describe.
As we flew in from Ketchican, there was water everywhere with tree-covered islands popping up everywhere. Some islands just had trees on them and were like little round plates and others were bigger, with rolling hills and beaches and lakes. EVERYTHING is covered in trees. You can tell where they've logged in the past and are beginning to reforest. Just breathtaking. So wonderful. Also, the air is unbelievably pure and the water is drinkable without any adjusting. It tastes so good. So pure.
I had my first day of work yesterday: all day on your feet, doing dishes, laundry, setting tables, clearing tables, more dishes, and more dishes. My day looks something like this. I work from 4:30-8:30 am, sleep until 12:30, eat lunch and play for a few hours. Then I work again from 4:30 -8:30 pm and hit the bar for some pool or darts afterwards. I go to bed around 11:00 and repeat. Pretty tiring but definitely worth it.
Today is the second day so I'm starting to get into the rhythm of how things work and the pecking order. It's a great place to be. The place are great, the landscape is beautiful. The sun rises around 4:30 and sets around midnight. Well, almost sets. There's always some light somewhere. Very disorienting.
Pictures to come later.
Off to nap now. Cheers!