Sarah in Wonderland

Up the Nenana

Another terrific day off, hiking the park, dinner in "The Canyon" (also called "Glitter Gulch"...the commercial area of the park with hotels and shops) looking out over the mountains and the river, capped off by a jet boat trip far up the Nenana.  The Nenana is the major river system here in the park and adjacent areas.  It is glacial runoff, colder than whatever and filled with moraine (dirtpicked up by the glacier and deposited in the river).  It flows fast and hard but is very shallow at the upper end.  It flows in what are called braided rivers as it comes off the glacier...shallow, very broad and forming criss-crossing temporary river beds, looking as if they are braided, thus, the name.  The area we explored last night (remember, because it just doesn't get dark here, we can do most anything at anytime), was a little more familiarly river-like, though there were many islands and shoals and it was very shallow in places, though flowing very rapidly.

The scenery was, again, spectacular.  It has dawned on me that I am running out of superlatives to use to describe this place.  It is so big and so open and so lush on many levels and so beautiful it is hard to adequately describe, thus all the photos.  We were surrounded by spruce, many extending horizontally over the river, an aftereffect of the river ice as it broke up and undercut the riverbank.  We didn't see any fall but many have and many more will before the season ends.  We did see many signs of beaver...my they are busy little things...and even one very large beaver (my first ever outside of a zoo).  Many of the mountains in this area of the river are large piles of boulders while others are sharp granite outcroppings above lovely green tundra, which tops forests of spruce and aspen/birch.  The tree line here is only 2000 ft.  It had been heavily overcast all day, and the sun broke through in several places, creating what I call "god light" (from depictions of god in my catechism book when I was a child), where the sun breaks through and illuminates a defined area.  Love it!

We went up the river about ten miles and then got out at a trappers cabin while he acted as apologist for the trappers of Alaska.  We then "panned" for gold in raised boxes that had been salted with small amounts of gold.  Everyone found a little bit...I gave mine away...but it was really over-the-top corny.  The ride, though, ah, the ride!  I'll do it again, hopefully, in the fall when the tundra has turned red and the aspen yellow.  AND...I'll remember my camera!

Today, my second day off, is a lazy rainy day and I'm doing as little as possible.  And, by the way, I got my wish...I am working late afternoons and evenings everyday, Sat - Wed.  I really like it so far and hope it doesn't become a classic "be careful what you wish for".  Since it is never dark here, it really doesn't matter when you get off or go to bed; circadian rhythms seem to mean nothing here!

It really IS "the land of the midnight sun"!

In fact, I haven't seen ANY night at all since I arrived a month ago and guess I won't while I'm here.  It sure makes getting off work at 10:30 or 11:00 at night easier when it is still daylight.  It initially made it really hard to sleep, but I've learned.  We have black-out draperies, which help a lot.  I still get a little punch-drunk at work late at night but my body is slowly, slowly adjusting to a schedule of working mid-afternoon to late night.  Fortunately, my newest schedule doesn't require me to get up for 6:15AM shifts anymore.  I'm hopeful those days of getting off late at night to be back at it less than 8 hours later are over...that was killer for me and I really didn't know if I could deal with it.  So, I'm hopeful that this is our final schedule (it's been changed every week so far).  We are mostly old ladies working the gift shop, who like early bed, so no one is fighting me for my schedule.  Also, most of the gals are intimidated by the close out process and it doesn't bother me.  The only downside for me is that I don't use even half of the time alloted to close out and end up shorting myself by nearly an hour a day, which affects my measly paycheck. 

I spent my last two days off in the park.  On Thursday, Nancy and I went for a three mile hike from the postoffice in the park to the area of hotels called "glitter gulch".  It was a beautiful sunny day and the wildflowers were in bloom in a profusion of colors and forms.  After being trapped in my room with my bum foot from nearly the first day here, it was wonderful being in the "great outdoors" surrounded by all that beauty.  I just kept exclaiming over the beauty of the day and the place and apologized to Nancy for being so vocal with my excitement.  We treated ourselves to a night out that evening with dinner at the Grande Lodge, which is situated VERY high up a mountain with an unbelievable view.  The lodge has seen better days but the restaurant is wonderful and the view can't be beat.  We had fish and chips...HALIBUT fish and chips!  Oh, my god, it was wonderul, fresh and flaky. 

On Friday, I got up early to get the shuttle to the park entrance where I took a park shuttle to Eilson Visitor's Center, 55 miles into the park.  Denali is 6 million acres, yet has only one small ribbon of unpaved road going about 90 miles into the park to Wonder Lake.  That particular ride is over 13 hours long, so I opted to go a bit more than half way in 8 hours round trip.  The day was overcast and I enjoyed the muted beauty of the weather.  We saw enough animals to keep the tourists happy...and, yes, I enjoyed them, too.  But I seem to enjoy the flora and vista more than the fauna, wherever I am.  And this place is so beautiful it can break your heart!  Even ziplining paled in comparison to the abject fear I felt going over Polychrome Pass, though.  I was in the very back of the converted school bus as it rounded the hairpin curves, thousands of feet up, around the mountain.  I tried to enjoy the unobstructed scenery but found I had to close my eyes just to keep my breakfast down.  Now THAT'S a ride!!!  Maybe if I were driving and in control it wouldn't be so frightening but, for the first time, I understood my friend's fear driving on a winding road without guardrails in the snow.  OK, Gloria, I get it!  Anyway, it was a great ride and I was able to appreciate the park so much more.

I am looking forward to doing as little as possible my next days off...let my foot rest up a little.  It was pretty good for a couple days but by last evening, I knew I had overdone it...yet again.  I've learned to tolerate a certain level of pain as long as I know I'm doing no further harm.  Then...I seem to pass over that level and it's time to back off a bit.  It's a learning process and I'm learning. 

Denver to Denali...and beyond!

My feet never touched the ground the first three days I was in B.C.  I arrived in Vancouver early afternoon on Saturday, May 2, to be met at the airport by my daughter-in-law and wonderful, beautiful grandchildren, Brendan, 11, Tristan, 9, and Lily, 3.  We were then met by my son, freshly recovering from his vasectomy the previous day, for a nice late lunch.  When we got back to their place in Burnaby, they laid out my schedule and it was a doozy!  I picked a very good week to visit! 

On Sunday morning, we got up early to go down to central Vancouver for the Vancouver Marathon.  The boys were running, along with Shannon (my daughter-in-law), in the kids portion of the race.  It was great fun, though I chose to wait for everyone at the finish rather than take part, especially since I could still barely walk without limping following my stress fracture five weeks before.  (The foot, by the way, is continuing to give me a good deal of trouble and I've even gotten a walking stick.)  There was a "kid's place" set up nearby and we stayed and played for awhile.  Josh, my son, then disappeared and reappeared with a van to take us all to Whistler for an overnight.

I swear, everytime we go somewhere here I think I've never seen anything so beautiful.  The ride to Whistler, venue for the skiing portions of the 2010 Winter Olympics, was unbelievable!  The road, being expanded to four lanes for the extravaganza, is spectacular, hugging the shoreline through beautiful, heavily treed mountains.  And Whistler itself, a ski area in it's greenery season, was wonderful.  We had a great time playing tourists and my boys and I even went on the zipline.  Now, THAT was thrilling.  As I stood anticipating stepping into the precipice, I wasn't sure I could do it.  I am so happy I did...I loved it, though I have now crossed it off my list of things to do and probably won't feel compelled to do it again.  The rest of the week was nearly as crazy, attending an all-day track meet for Brendan and the spring fling at the kids' grade school.  We also went to China Town and the Chinese Park, since Shannon and the boys had not been there, though Josh and I had taken Lily during my previous visit.

I boarded the ship on Sunday for my cruise to Alaska.  It was every bit as spectacular as I'd heard and I had very enjoyable stops in Ketchikan, where I hiked through parts of the Tongass National Forest, Juneau, where I visited the Mendenhall glacier and took a whale watching boat trip (saw a couple), and Skagway, where I hiked a portion of the Chilkoot Trail and then rafted back down the river.  Saw grizzlies on the shore and eagles overhead.  Simply beautiful.  And, of course, Glacier Bay and College Fiord are as amazing as everyone says.

I got to Anchorage the following Sunday about mid-morning, left my luggage at the tourist center and walked down to their outdoor market.  After a couple hours and a salmon quesedilla, I walked up to the museum...a good wallk...only to find it closed, which was disappointing.  Back to the tourist center to pick up my bags and then I walked over to the home of the daughter of my best friend from high school (Joan McLaughlin's daughter, Patty) and spent the evening and night with them.  What a great family; it was absolutely delightful.  The next morning, early, I boarded a bus to Denali...and here I am at McKinley Village Lodge!  It was a crystal clear day and we were able to enjoy the excitement of seeing Mt. McKinley appear and grow larger as we drove.  Since it is often cloudy and she is not "out" very often, we felt blessed.  In fact, only 30% of the visiters to the park get to see her.

Our first ten days were spent setting up the beautiful new gift shop, while rearranging the old one.  We have two here, now, with totally different merchandise in each.  The lodge gift shop has Native art and other higher end stuff, while the other shop has keychains, magnets, books, snacks and toiletries...that sort of stuff.  We shift off between the two and work really early and late hours.  Unfortunately, we all have varied shifts and work late one night, several times a week, and get up early the following morning.  It's killing me!!!  The manager said, in my earshot, that she wished someone would close every night and I immediately volunteered.  If I could know I could sleep in every morning, I could easily adjust to working til 11PM.  We'll see.

I've been into the park, though not far yet as the roads are still closed into the interior.  I've seen most of the accessible wildlife, including several moose moms with new calves, cariboo, arctic hare (there are millions of them, which will be followed by an explosion in the lynx population).  We were just given tickets to allow us, on a space available basis, to go on the various tours offered into the park.  I hope/plan to take one during my next days off.  This week, my roommate, who is perfect as a roomie, and I rented another employee's car and drove to Fairbanks onour joint day off, yesterday.  Gorgeous drive and we had a great time.  We spent time, first, at Fred Meyer's and got everything on our lists (though, we discoved, we had forgotten to put a couple things ON the lists!) and then went to the museum at the university.  It is filled with history, natural history, and native arts.  We then treated ourselves to dinner at a cafe overlooking the river and mountains.  It was my favorite day since I got here...the perfect companion, spectacular scenery, a wonderful museum and the sense of being "sprung free".  As beautiful as it is here, it feels like we are on a tiny island, far from anything else and unable to get away, for the most part, except for a shuttle bus to the park.  Along with the structure of assigned hours of work, I was feeling a bit constricted and hemmed in.  Thank god many times over for my absolutely wonderful roommate, Nancy.

Next time, I'll tell you about her.  She has lived a really fascinating life.