My first Tour

The past several days in Alaska have been truly outstanding! On Friday morning after I saw Kristin off to her actual first day of work, I seized the day and made my way to Wal-mart to but my sweet ride for the summer and did not wait long to take it on an 8 mile journey along the Coastal Trail....holy beautiful!

 Beautiful trail just half a mile from my apartment! 

Safety First :-) Your are welcome MOM!

My sweet ride for the summer around Anchorage!

After my long bike ride...I was fortunate to meet one of my co-workers Debbie and her temporary roommate Michelle! We got to know each other very quickly and before long were out to dinner enjoying a beer and reindeer sausage pizza! Yum!

Reindeer Sausage and blue cheese pizza!

Mmmmm, good ole IPA

I hit the sac early that night and prepared for my very first day of work! I had briefed with my supervisor Amie in Anchorage and wow did I receive a ton! Princess jump drive and messenger bag, hundreds of pages of material for tour direction and narration, and a handful of insight! 

Paperwork galore...

Do I look professional enough?

That morning Kristin and I had breakfast in Anchorage and then I shipped off to Hotel Captain Cook downtown for my first official night on tour! As I checked in to the hotel I received my welcome packet and headed up to my room to go over pax counts, special needs, pre-booked excursions and transportation reservations from the hotel to rail depot, and rail services from Anchorage to Talkeetna, and Talkeetna to Mckinley Princess Lodge. Sounds like a lot...and it is!!! 

My 9th floor room

My room and hotel were beautiful which made doing my work much easier. :-) I hit the sac early again and prepared myself mentally for the morning ahead! 

I woke up around 6am and got my things together and headed down to the lobby to a sea of people confused and full of questions! One word...chaos, but as I made my rounds I slowly gathered my group of 46 and gave them an area to relax and wait for our transportation to arrive. Sure enough, our 55 passenger motor-coach pulled up and the group of us were on and headed to the rail depot! We pulled alongside our car and boarded a beautiful two level rail car with glass dome overhead! 

Glass, glass, glass

Chugach Mountains

The views on the train ride to Talkeetna were absolutely stunning and we were even lucky enough to see five moose along the way! Breakfast on the train was wonderful and our rail guide Crystal was fantastic! We arrived in Talkeetna in just a few short hours and then proceeded by motor-coach to Princess's Mckinley Wilderness Lodge and I got upgraded to a suite! And boy was I not expecting that! 

My suite in Mckinley

A king size!

Yes please!

It was too much room but I was very thankful for it and the nice bath I had that evening! :-)

The views of Mckinley were absolutely stunning and the weather could not have been more perfect! Sixty-five degrees and the mountain in full view! Wow what a sight! Oh and we had a small earthquake! Interesting thing to experience but very common in Alaska! 

Beautiful day to see a beautiful place!

View from lunch

Afternoon hike...

Shorts in Alaska! It is possible! 

Mckinley is absolutely beautiful and is the highest mountain in North America and the "largest" mountain in the world with an 18,000 foot elevation from base to peak! Hope to climb is some day :-) 

Midnight sunset at Mckinley

All in all a wonderful first two days on tour and so many more to go! I am off to Denali for the day and excited for what lays ahead! 

I Made It!

Well, after weeks and weeks of hiring paperwork, emails galore, and mental preparation...I'm here! Although I will miss my family, friends and Ryzie, I am excited to see where this crazy adventure takes me!


I must say, yesterday truly snuck up on me! Before I knew it I was all packed up and in the passenger seat of Ryan's car ready to fly thousands of miles away! 

All packed and ready to go!

My flights to Anchorage couldn't have gone more perfectly! I was a little squished but all in all, I had wonderful conversation with the people around me and had no delays or cancellations. Oh and the Houston Airport....wow did it surprise me! What a beautiful terminal building and amazing facilities! 

Beautiful Concourse

The flight from Houston to Anchorage was just about 7 hours long and boy did it creep by! The views of the Canadian Rockies from 30,000 feet were absolutely stunning and I was very lucky to have this amazing woman next to me who works with Imogen Heap over in the UK! How awesome!!! 

Talk about a mountainous approach!

The approach into to Anchorage was on the bumpy side to say the least, but the pilot still managed to sit us down safe and sound. As I walked down the gangway and looked to my right I thought, "wow, you don't see that view from the Orlando airport!

I made my way to baggage and then waved down a cabby to take me to my home away from home for four months! After a quick ten minutes, and twenty bucks...I was there only to be welcomed by my amazing roommate Kristin for the summer! Our apartment is small, but very clean, in the heart of downtown, and at a pretty reasonable cost! 

 Small, but efficient!

McKinley Tower

Our Mailbox! Feel free to send packages ;-)

After I moved some things and got settled, Kristin and I headed out for a walk around the town and a quick bite to eat. We downed some Buffalo burgers and a pitcher of beer and headed back to the apartment for some shut eye considering I was tired from traveling and Kristin's day started at 5 this morning! yikes! 

Staying warm on 4th Ave

All in all, so far so good and only time will tell how the rest plays out! Today my adventure involves a Wal-mart trip, and buying a bike so I can explore this new place! Let's just hope I don't get attacked by a moose...(that happened to a girl last night in Anchorage).