Karma

So just the last couple of weeks I've been getting shit on by the universe. Things seemed to have conspired against me to make me hate my job, not be able to see those who I want, and the less important things such as stress around the holidays (mostly focused around work), car trouble, laundry (its' a huge hassle to drive 30 minutes away just to wash your clothes and when you work 7 days in a row I frankly don't have 7 complete outfits, I barely have 10 pairs of underwear so you all can imagine what that's like), having enough time to cook for myself... and of course I'm missing a Belmont Christmas with my family which isn't going to happen again for awhile.

I needless to say haven't been a happy camper. But things this week seemed to be going a little easier. I was able to cook myself a big dish which I'm eating for lunch everyday, my laundry still isn't done but I have enough key pieces (clean underwear) to make it to where I can do laundry, and some people in my office have become less annoying. My schedule will also fall into place after the holidays. Which is nice.

However, I am a firm believer in karma. Basic principle you do good things, good things happen to you and then there's the opposite you do bad things, bad things happen to you. Of course I also believe there is a balance to the universe as well. sometimes a string of really awesome things will happen to you, and then followed by a string of really shitty things. Other times it feels like you 'save up' for something good. A string of crappy stuff will happen and it balance with a string of good things. I have the feeling my recent string of bad things has been saving up for last night.

Last night (9:15pm) I was coming home from work and I was on the dirt road that takes me up to where I live. It's a bit narrow and with the extra snow it's also a little slick. Sometimes when two cars meet if both go very slow and just barely make it. This ONLY works if both cars go over as much as they possibly can. The car I met on the road last night didn't move over, at all, in fact they continued driving in the middle of the road. My choices were to hit the car or put mine in the ditch. I figured for the safety of everyone it was best just to ditch my car. Lots of soft snow to cushion Otis's fall (Otis is the name of my car). The person in the car didn't even slow down and continued driving. I tried to back my car up, sometimes you can just get out like that. I didn't try too hard, If you do you will just end up burying your car even more. I knew at that very moment that it was going to take another vehicle to get my car out of the ditch. I also knew that my road was full of rednecks with trucks who LOVE to tow things and pull helpless people out of ditches... no seriously, they really live for this kind of thing. I did the only thing I could do at that point, I put the flashers on my car and got out and started walking up the road. Another car blew right by me, I kind of wanted to tell them to slow down, and then another car came by. This one stopped and I explained that my car was off the road, and they asked if I needed a ride to get where I needed to go. I hopped in and found out that it was my old 3rd grade teacher and her husband. I told them about what happened and my old teacher (who still works at the school) said, well that's too bad, in my 3rd grade class one rule is that everyone has to be nice. And it's not nice that someone drove by you and your car without slowing down or stopping on a winter night when there was clearly a problem. We drove to my place and I asked my neighbors if they could tow me, I have a tow strap in my car (thanks dad) which we used. My neighbors didn't have even the slightest problem going to get my car. And 10 minutes later it was out and by 9:40 I was back at my place, with my car.

Goodwill towards your fellow man isn't something that only exists from December until the New Year. It's a choice that we all can make to help our neighbors. We are all of one world and making it a better place by giving someone a hug, helping them carry their groceries out of their car, and helping pull their car out of a ditch at night, makes it a better world for you too. Thank you to those who helped me last night, and once again Happy Holidays everyone!

Gaining Perspective

So this ski season hasn't started off very well for me. I actually have a life and am trying very hard to live it this year. I have friends who I like to make plans with on the weekends, I have family who live in other parts of the country and I'm trying to set up my next adventure (this will be a new post). This year will be the 3rd year I will have worked in the office I work at. Overall it's been a cushy job, getting two days off a week, making reservations, having full time work, my hours being slightly flexible. The past years I've been rather flexible in my schedule without a whole lot of other priorities other than working. This year however I do have other things going on in my life. Due to a training schedule I have only had one week thus far where I have two days off in a row. Often times this means that I'm working 3 days and then 7 days. Needless to say this is very frustrating.

On my first two days off in a row my plans went down the drain for a number of reasons, all valid. So I decided that I was going to get some stuff done like get my car inspected, grocery shop, do my laundry, get my dress fitted for an upcoming wedding I'm a bridesmaid in, finish Christmas shopping... So I got my car inspected and went grocery shopping. I even went for a hike. This is where my weekend goes down hill. I saved Christmas shopping, dress fitting and laundry for Sunday. On Sunday I woke up to a flat tire. I pumped it back up full of air but was advised to not actually drive on it any more than I absolutely had to, which was to get it fixed. The killer part was the I was actually at a tire warehouse the day before getting my car inspected. Awesome. Nowhere in the state of Vermont actually repairs tires on Sunday. So I was stuck at home, at least I had gone food shopping the day before. On Monday morning I went back and got my tire fixed having just barely enough time to get to work. They were thankfully able to patch it, a total of $30. If I had gone to some other places they may have told me I needed a new set of tires. I then proceeded to have a very terrible day filled with obnoxious people on the phone and in my office.

This whole weekend and Monday were pretty terrible. But today something happened which helped me gain perspective. An elderly woman I know had a flat tire and took her car in, unlike myself, her tire was unable to have a quick patch put in place and all the tires on her car needed to be changed. $400 later this woman had new tires on her car. This is not someone who can afford a $400 car payment. She then was having to reconsider some plans that she had made based her finances. Here is an adult woman who is struggling financially. Even if this woman were to receive $1000 for a Christmas gift, this money would be spent right away on bills, mortgage, prescription medicine, and groceries. Living from paycheck to paycheck is never where I want to find myself. It makes me very sad to hear that someone who is elderly is having to do this. This woman has value in our society yet she is struggling to maintain a simple lifestyle. The financial struggles in life should come at the beginning rather than at the end. Hearing about these troubles especially around the holidays make me thankful for what I do have.

Right now If I were slapped with a $400 car bill, I would be able to pay it. I would gripe, and probably complain, but I would be fine. I would still be able to have a cell phone, pay my student loans, eat and buy the things I needed. My troubles at work not having two days off in a row and then having the annoyance of a flat tire, pale in comparison a grandmother who is trying to make the holidays the best they can for their children and grandchildren. Many people in the United States live paycheck to paycheck. I'm thankful that I am not one of them. However, these people have put my own problems into perspective. While annoying and frustrating as my current situation is I still am able to do the things I want within reason. My heart goes out to those who have to sacrifice over the holidays. I hope everyone has a safe place to celebrate among family and friends. I know that this time of year can be stressful and frustrating but please in those times where maybe things aren't going the way you planned please remember those who are less fortunate. Happy Holidays everyone.

'Lodging and Reservations, Melissa Speaking'

So my current desk job is a far cry from living on a glacier, hiking in Yellowstone or outdoor education but it is a job. It works perfectly in my schedule. Just because it's not the ideal job for me doesn't mean I can't go work everyday, make a few dollars and go home.

Here is my rant about jobs:
There are people in this world who do try day after day to find work and can't. This rant is not for these people. This rant is for the college grads who can't find work because they think it's somehow below them to clean a toilet, flip a burger, or run a cash register. I have heard many of my friends from high school say 'oh I can't find work.... It's impossible....' when they live in areas of world that I KNOW contain a Starbucks on every street, a McDonalds on every corner and about 4 hotels in the span on 5 miles. Suck it up, and apply. I realize that college is a lot of money, and when you just paid $80,000 for your education cleaning up vomit may not be exactly what you were envisioning. However, it does not mean that the bills stop coming. Maybe you were lucky enough to have mom and dad pay for college, and don't have student loans, that's great. I always have my jobs lined up. I've never been in a situation where I was jobless. I have to work at it, but I do find work, and I move to it when I find it. If that means mopping a floor, asking someone if they want a refill on their coffee or taking condo reservations over the phone, then so be it. I don't have to go into default on my student loans because of it.

Switching Gears

The winter begins... my slow season. The time of the year where I don't actually have to work more than 12 hours a day and live where I work. The best thing: I go to work. I work. Then I leave after 8 hours. It's great. I realize this is what the vast majority of the people who live in the United States do, but it is not what I do most of the year. In the fall I wake up and I'm at breakfast by 8am and then I'm done with my day by 9:30, sometimes 10. I love what I do, teaching children about the woods is one thing that I am passionate about. After working hard all spring, summer (in Alaska) and fall I'm ready for the 9-5 office job. Best perk it comes with a seasons pass.

However, I'm coming to realize that working at the ski mountain is not something that I can continue to do every single winter for the rest of my life. You may laugh but when I was 15 I had a nightmare that I never wanted to be realized. My nightmare takes place when I'm 30, I wake up I'm in a grungy apartment living in Ludlow I work at the mountain and the most expensive thing I own is my ski gear. I'm dangerously close to making that nightmare a reality. I've decided that this has to be my last season working at the mountain. I would even feel better working at another ski mountain, I just can't continue to live and work in the same town I attended high school. So while unfortunately this is my last season, I'm going to make it a good one.

Leaving New Hampshire

Once again it is that time to leave New Hampshire and working with children doing outdoor environmental education. I really do love working with children in nature, it reminds me of why I'm an environmentalist in the first place. To inspire wonder about the natural world in my students is my main goal while working here. For others it might be team building and anti-bullying, but for me it's getting kids excited about nature. Which is no easy task. It takes time to develop a relationship with anything, be it caves or computers. Children are more and more being encouraged by their parents to stay inside. Many reasons are valid, if you are in an urban area perhaps children running around in the streets isn't the best choice. But if you are in an area of the world which has forests and green spaces many children don't have access to those without their parents.

This is why the program I work at is important. It gives children access to nature and time to develop a connection. Children need nature, it's been scientifically proven that children with learning disabilities such as ADD, ADHD and social issues are more at home in nature. Often times teachers point out children who have disabilities as being challenges in their classroom only to be the best children in my field group. If a teacher hadn't said anything to me I would have never known that this child was having problems in school.

Thanksgiving Part 1

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. This year, much like Halloween, I'm doing it in parts so that I can celebrate with the most people that I can. 

My friend Jen and I were talking while driving around in my car the other day and I mentioned that it would be fun to do a pre- Thanksgiving meal with some of our friends that we work with. My very close friends in New Hampshire have all become a bit of family for me. So Jen and I began to plan, this was our first thanksgiving in which we were in charge. We got a list together, planned our meal and then went shopping. Everything was fine and then we were in the store and we looked at the chicken vs. turkey options and decided that chicken was going to be a more suitable sized chunk of meat for us. Then as we were walking around I asked Jen 

'Have you ever roasted a chicken before?' 

'no. have you?'

'no.' 

'huh, this is going to be fun' 

So after buying everything on the way back home I did what I always do when I have questions about cooking, called my mom. She explained about how long she thought it would take and to put tin foil over the top of the bird.... blah blah blah. As Jen and I cooked the next day we realized that this wasn't actually that bad. Everything turned out delicious! 

 Everyone got together drank some wine, talked, connected, and generally had a great time. The house was full at the end with positive energy from being with those you love and value. This I feel like is the spirit of the holidays. I'm glad we found it. This year I'm thankful for friends and family, and friends who have become family. 

Voting

When people start talking politics I usually turn and walk away. Political debate really doesn't interest me. I know what the candidates stand for and I feel that I've informed myself to make the best choice which lines up with my own values. However, election day is the one day which I do become excited about politics. 

There are places in the world where people do not get the opportunity to vote, or if they do their votes don't matter. Corruption and lies unfortunately goes hand in hand with politics. The guy low on the totem pole doesn't always get his voice heard. I'm not saying the the United States is free from this kind of controversy, but at least I feel safe to go to the polls, cast my ballot, chose the candidate I want and leave without having to look over my shoulder. The United States voting system is far from perfect but I feel that everyone should participate. 

Those who chose not to vote are giving up their right to chose their leader. Apathy with lead us nowhere. Be proactive and vote. 

Thunderstorms and Hurricanes

So this week our school canceled because of Hurricane Sandy, or Frankenstorm as I like to refer to it. It was too bad because the children who were coming would probably have been safer in New Hampshire than just outside Boston. about the only thing that happened here was a wetter than average storm and a little bit of wind. I was imagining the storm that rocked me and my group on Yellowstone Lake. Trees coming down every 5 minutes. No joke, this was a terrifying experience, to know that you are in the woods the only thing you have is a flimsy tent and live trees a foot in diameter are falling everywhere. You hear more trees fall than you see. A falling tree is a scary thing to watch, a 30 foot thing falling at its own will, blowing in the wind and bending in ways you didn't think possible, and then slamming into the ground. Most people prefer to think of nature as a calming nurturing place. But nature also has raw power that can make you feel very small and insignificant.

Hurricane Sandy was just another storm for us, for others in New York and Atlantic City it ruined and changed so much, I compare it to how Hurrican Irene reeked havoc on southern Vermont. But like I said, in New Hampshire nothing really did happen even though we prepared for this weather by battening down the hatches and making sure our warm sleeping bags were ready to go. I'm glad that we did that though, because right now as I write this there is a thunderstorm going on outside. I hadn't realized this until just before writing this but I haven't experienced a thunderstorm since last spring before I left Alaska. No thunderstorms on the glacier. Maybe it was the change in elevation from Small town Alaska to the glacier (4000 foot difference in a couple of miles.) that left us without thunderstorms. But right now there is a killer storm happening, a drenching rain and lightening hitting the lake about 15 feet from my door step. the kind of thunder that shakes your house and you can hear the lightening crackle in the air. (my computer is NOT plugged in by the way).

I love thunderstorms and realized that I have missed them. Glad that I got to see another before winter hit.

Step 1

Step 1: Touch the nature.

Many of you know that I work for an outdoor environmental education facility. Kids from ages 10 to 15 come and learn about nature. They get to take fun classes which focus on place based learning and hands on activities. For example an hour and a half class about Frisbee would talk about physics for about 30-40 minutes and then play ultimate Frisbee for the next hour. Now you might say, wow not a lot of learning goes on at this place. But the day starts at 8am and ends at 9pm. The educational pieces are interspersed throughout the day instead of happening only between 9am and 3pm. The children also come to this place and sleep there at night. Similar to a very educational summer camp, only for your schools classroom.

Children come from many different types of backgrounds, some are urban areas others are suburban, some children are less affluent than others. The one thing that they all have in common is that they are severely lacking in natural education. I was asked today by a 10 year old which tree was a pine tree. The biggest thing that can happen to these children while they are here is to know that nature is a place that has importance and should be valued.

The way that I first start my field group is I have the kids sit on the ground. Squatting is unacceptable, sitting on a jacket/ backpack is unacceptable as well as sitting on your feet. I will wait until everyone has their butt on the ground. Now when I was a kid and we were asked to sit in the grass at school everyone just did it, without thinking twice. But I suppose that not everyone grew up in rural Vermont. I tell the children that this is step one, touching the nature. It is often times sad to me how many children have never felt a tree, let alone played in the mud. Many times when I take children on a hike it is their first. A 15 year old going on their first hike to the top of a hill is a big step toward appreciating our natural world, but it all needs to start at step one, touching the nature.

Mountain Mama

I found myself southbound again after an amazing 5 months in Alaska. I felt that other places I've been its' taken a long time feel comfortable living in that place. Alaska was a place that captivated me from the moment my plane landed in Juneau. Southeast Alaska is a place that one remembers with awe it's savage beauty and at the same time gives the place a health respect. After living there I felt that all land was supposed to be like that, big and open. I've decided that I need to live in the mountains. I feel like I can't breath in a city. New York City is fun but coming from Alaska I felt closed in and a little claustrophobic.

 I have a theory that people weren't meant to live in boxes, thousands of years of careful slow evolution wasn't meant to put us behind a computer. Machines, tools and buildings were never meant to become our lives but rather were there to make us more comfortable. While one could use the internet to educate themselves on a particular topic such as politics or why something works, the vast majority of the people who use the internet check their facebook, and snoop on what is going on in others lives. We use it to send little messages to one another which don't ever say anything but make us feel connected. And so those same machines, tools and buildings which made our lives more comfortable have become the norm. I'm not going to argue that I do like a hot shower and bed at night. But I also spend most of my time outside, communicating and connecting to others and nature. Being in the mountains with their vistas and challenges reminds me that the world is a big place that I am part of.

...And They Made Me Their Cook

So I've been nominated as cook the last couple of days from my manager. 

It all started almost a week ago we were on the glacier ending our season and starting to take down some tents. My manager stopped and asked me to cook dinner since the person who normally cooks dinner had to help do other things. So I cooked up some food and they ate it. No biggie. I offered to cook breakfast as well since everyone else was also busy doing other things. It seemed to make sense. I then found myself cooking for them all the time. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. This didn't bother me so much, but it was odd. 

Then everyone and everything got off the glacier and we started to unpack some stuff and I received a message from my manager saying that everyone enjoyed my cooking and asked if I would just cook during the time I was there for everyone. And so for the last few days other than packing up my stuff and tying up some loose ends I've been cooking for everyone. Which is a double edged sword. I really do enjoy cooking for others its' nice to share food and make food for other people but I also have to clean up after everyone. I'm still not too sure how I was volunteered to do this project but I'll take it. 

I've been having to get creative with food since I'm trying to use up what we have. Tonight will be tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches after that, I'm done! Leaving for Juneau tomorrow morning. 

Moving, Again

Drifter: a person who is continually moving from place to place without any fixed home or job.

Yup that pretty much describes me. For the past two years I've been bouncing around the country from job to job seizing opportunities, discovering my passions and just in general having a great time. While it is a fun way to live, it's not without it's drawbacks. My life is in constant flux. To come and go with the changing of the seasons is tough and can often be stressful.

When I first started to do the seasonal employment gigs I had two weeks to pack up everything I would need until September in May. I then put this into my two backpacks and left to go on a cross country road trip, leaving my car in North Dakota and flying from Fargo to Palm Springs. I made a few mistakes. The first being that I packed a little too much of the wrong stuff and not enough of the right stuff. I also didn't pack any 'going out' clothes. I then went home with too much stuff and left for my next job missing things that I might have liked. I've learned a lot since thing, knowing there are things that I really like regardless of where I'm going, for instance, a nice shirt or two and a pair of 'town shoes', jeans are another thing I feel more human with. Also I've learned to pack a towel and pajamas. I've forgotten to pack a towel a few places I've lived and soon realized it is an essential item, and pjs are just nice to have. If I can get it into my backpack, it can go. Otherwise, I need to rethink the amount of stuff I'm carting around.

Another thing that I've realized since moving around a lot is planning. Traveling takes time. I've stopped being stressed about who's going to pick me up and how to get somewhere. I can get pretty much anywhere I need to go now. As long as I get close enough I should be able to take a cab or public transport to get from point A to point B. Prime example: I didn't know who was going to pick me up at the ferry dock until the ship was docking. Most of the time things work out, when they don't I feel that I'm pretty resourceful.

Going back and forth with work/ travel has made me perfectly fine with changing jobs across the country, such as going from Alaska to New Hampshire. Before I used to get stressed and imagine my life in upheaval. But I think that staying in one place now would stress me out more than moving around.

Lets Get Physical

I realize I haven't written here in over a month. Reason why? I've been busy. The season was going very strong and it's one of the better seasons that the company has ever had. With less weather cancellations and more tours we've been working for over a month straight without many breaks. I'm by no means complaining  every tour that comes off the helicopters is $ in my pocket. But walking around in snow and ice all summer has begun to take it's toll on my body, both for the good and the bad.

In the winter time I sit in an office and take phone calls. Not going to lie, it's not the most physically challenging or mentally stimulating job I've ever done but it does pay the bills and gets me a free seasons pass so that I can ski. I do go out on the slopes about once a week which hardly qualifies as a work out schedule. I truly began to feel a bit like a blob last winter even though I didn't gain or lose any weight, just my muscles changing.

In the fall I probably walk with my kids about 10-15 miles a day. Which is a good work out. But I eat crap food all week long. But here on the glacier I walk probably about the same but in snow. Which if anyone has ever walked in snow for a long period of time it will build muscles and change the shape or your legs. Trust me. I go and hike out to the photo spot, sit and wait for people to go by on sleds, then I take their picture and hike back. I do this about 10-11 times a day (round trip) and it adds up. I also lift 5 gallon buckets of poop (20-30lbs) in each hand every morning and carry them to the poop barrels. On every helicopter there is at least a 5 gallon jug of water which has to go to the water 'buffalo' (aka a large water storage container) and each of those weigh 40+ pounds. My arms and legs get a work out every day which is great.

But my feet are gross. From living in rubber boots all summer long in sweaty socks they are terrible, fortunately no trench foot yet. I have also strained a muscle in my foot and can feel a huge knot in the muscle which hurts every now and again but is working it's way out. I also have strained both my knees. Under the knee cap is where they hurt the most. Once again, it's just a strained muscle which has slowly been going away. My last problem: a sunglasses tan. Which is bad. I look a raccoon. But such is life on the glacier.

Glacial Aliments

I'm sure you can imagine that there are a few reoccurring health problems. They affect us all. They are something that we also joke about after hours. I've made a list of some of these problems.

Tourist Voice:
It's a tone of voice, cadence and diction of our speech that we change in order to make ourselves seem more friendly. We have to 'paint on our nice faces' everyday and at the end of the day we don't have to be nice. People say things like 'Well... at least the helicopter ride was nice.' we cannot say back 'Well... at least my last tour was nice.' and so we have the tourist voice that we turn on and keep on all day.

Snap Thumb:
Snap thumb comes from hooking up dogs. The snaps that one has to do and undo in order to get the dog from it's house to the line will sometimes leave little cuts on your thumb. These sting like you would not believe. I had about 15-20 of these small cuts on my thumb. Every time I went to wash my hands my thumbs were throbbing.

Tourist Elbow:
Too much waving. It's like tennis elbow, repetitive motion. The pain is on the outside of ones elbow and feels a bit like a tendon. It's probably the most pathetic pain I've ever felt... too much waving.

Christmas Feet:
Also known as 'trench foot'. Yes this is a serious thing that does happen on the glacier. Peoples feet will go numb from being in the cold and wet for too long. Mine haven't started yet and I plan on keeping it that way. They go numb during the summer and don't come back until Christmas. This is nerve damage. Probably this is the worst thing that could happen up on the glacier.

Poop

It's part of my reality, both human and dog poop. After my first week on the glacier my mom asked me 'so what do they do with the poop?' and I'm sure she wasn't the only one who was curious. So here are... an entire post dedicated to poop.

Every morning at 6am I'm out in a dog yard scooping poop. Dog pee is sterile (aka it's clean) and it doesn't have enough of an impact because it's immediately absorbed through the snow, so we leave the yellow snow. The little treasures get put into 5 gallon buckets and then they are dumped into one of 3 50 gallon barrels. Scooping up after 40 dogs is a bit of a job but I feel that if you get it done in about 45 minutes you're doing good. It's an art to pick up just the dog poop and not the snow. Some dogs enjoy spreading their poop everywhere so that their little section of the yard smells like them. They've claimed it. These dogs are my least favorite in the morning. Usually scooping 3 times a day is the easiest because in the morning you will fill up about 2 buckets of poop, and the afternoon 1- 1 1/2, and at night 2. It's super annoying when you have more than 2 buckets to carry to the barrels because then it means more than one trip.

Human poop is a little different. We have 2 porta-pottys which have been converted to hold a 5 gallon bucket with a toilet seat on it. It's always someones job to empty and clean them twice a day. They go into a different set of barrels. We also add a chemical which breaks up the poop.

These barrels then get capped and a helicopter comes and gets them. A cable is attached to the bottom of a helicopter and the barrels are picked up and brought on down to town where they either go in a compost bin (dog poop) or the sewage treatment plant (human). Yes, dog poop gets helicoptered out.

Tourists

After dogs the biggest part of my job is keeping tourists happy. I make my money off tourists, they are what pays for everything. I never for a second forget that they are the reason why I can be here and living the way that I do.

The town I live in is a cruise ship port. People are all on vacation and they come off their cruise and then go into town and do their shopping thing/ other excursions. You can see the buses full for the tours going by to try gold panning or go to some sort of salmon bake. They go in and out of shops and there are shows that actors dress up in period costume for. After all this town was a bit of a rough place during the gold rush and people enjoy attempting to go back to that time period.

I have been on a cruise before, granted it was to Western Caribbean, but still they are all pretty much the same. In every port there are a series of excursions that you can do and there is usually a town that you can go shopping in. The towns have pretty much the same stores. I'll let you in on a little secret: when you're doing the cruise stops keep in mind that a lot of the shops are all owned by the same people in every port. So a company will have a shop in port #1, #2, #3... they will also have multiple shops in the same town attracting a different audience. The tourists come off the ship... walk around... and then get back on. There are thousands of tourists on each ship.

Now one would hope that if you were paying for an excursion you would be interested in the tour offered. Boy was I wrong! In an ideal world, yes this is what happens, but in the real world some people just look at the price tag and say 'well it's the most expensive it must be good.' and so that is how more people than I imagined get up to Dog Camp and are not actually be interested in dogs. Many people are, but then you have some who are more interested in the snowmobiles. It's very sad for the mushers when they would rather sit on the snowmobile and take pictures rather than pet a dog who is dying for attention. They also are the same people at the end of the tour who are not interested in puppies. I wonder if they have a soul....

Most tourists are nice but then every now and again you get the one or two that just don't get it. They treat you like you're less-than they don't accept 'no' as an answer. They pick on my sunglasses tan and don't listen when I tell them things. Yes I realize they are on vacation but when I say 'It's time to go towards the helicopter site' I don't actually mean 'please take 15 more pictures of puppies and take your gloves off, take pictures of you jumping with a dog team in the background, and go to the bathroom.' Funny how it seems that when I close the box full of puppies people seem to think that RIGHT THEN is the time to take more pictures... even though I've warned them it's going to be closed soon. Tourists do love their picture taking. Another thing they love is to ask the same questions 'When are you getting out of school?' 'Do you live here?' 'Do you have another shot of us?'

I take their action shot while they are sled, and it's moving. As I'm sure you can imagine this becomes quite challenging 'Everyone smile and wave! Now look at me! 3..2..1!' most of the time it turns out just fine. Then there are times when someones hand is in someones face. I will retake the photo if this is the case. However I will not take the photo if your own hand is in front of your face. I counted you down, I warned you, and then your musher told you too. Not my fault. Also the people who will keep their camera in front of their face I will not retake their picture, they will have some amazing video of me taking their picture and telling them to look at me. Then they ask why I have a picture with either their hand or a camera in their face. Tourists will often times take so many pictures that they do what we call the 'virtual tour' which means that they never taken their camera away from their face and just look around... with their eyes. They are constantly looking through the lens of their camera, rather than with their own eyes. You'd rather watch the tour instead of experience it.

Hundreds of tourists come and go and I've yet to have an unhappy tourist. The ones that stick out in my mind are the ones that do something incredibly stupid like ask 'so do you ever get cold up here?' or 'Do you helicopter the dogs in every day and out every night?' my personal favorite 'is this really your career?' or 'so what is your goal in life really?' Well it sure as f*ck isn't to take your picture lady, get back on the helicopter.

At the end of the day we all share our stories, after all we do need to vent about our day. But like I said we all keep in mind that without tourists our job wouldn't happen. With that said we all wake up again and paint on our happy faces to greet the next batch of tourists.

Puppies!

 Part of my job is handing out puppies to tourists. Yes that's right, I'm a professional puppy-hander-outer. There are currently two litters of puppies that have been born on the glacier. One has 8 puppies and is about one month old. The pictures in this post are of those puppies. They're just starting to crawl out of their house, explore their world and play with each other. They are by far the highlight of any tourists time on the glacier. We have a saying here at dog camp which is "if you don't like puppies you don't have a soul". This is of course not true, I'm sure there are very nice people in the world who don't like puppies... and still have their souls.... I've yet to meet one of these people but like I said I'm sure they are living among us. 

The little guys at camp are just cutting teeth and getting curious about things like earrings, necklaces and fur coats. They especially like to try to ruin these things. As of right now people have left with their expensive souvenirs in tack. I fear though that this may not be the case for long.

 Fun fact about me that you may not know. When I need a conversation changer I use the phrase "You want to know what I like? Puppies. Who else likes puppies?" Everyone knows it's a conversation changer, and people will point it out to me. But then people talk about the cute little puppies they've known. It actually surprises me how well that this trick works. Puppies just make life that much better.

Dogs

 I realized that I haven't really talked about dogs yet. Dogs are a very big part of my job. Everyday I get to play with dogs, comfort them, hold them, love them... it's great. You know when you walk in the door after being gone, even if it's only 5 minutes, and your dog is super excited to see you every time? Imagine that happening but with 40 dogs. At 6 am when we wake up and start scooping poop they all bark, wag their tails, run in circles and look at you with those excited eyes 'I love you! I'm so glad you're back!' Not a bad way to start your day.

 There are a couple of types of sled dogs. The one pictured above is a racing dog. They are a little smaller, about 50 pounds or so and they are bred to race. Another type is a large fluffy dogs. These dogs are bred for freight, pulling heavy gear over long distances rather than moving fast. Sort of the difference between a marathon runner and a football player, each strong and athletic in their own way.

Then of course, there are the puppies! There are currently 12 total on the glacier. 8 are 3 weeks old and 4 are about 10 days. The older puppies are just starting to look like dogs but they're still little butterballs. It's my job to hand them out to tourists. It's tough... but someone has to do it.

Small Town, Alaska vs. Small Town, Vermont

Now I've lived in some small towns in my life but nothing like small town, Alaska. And so in this post I would like to take the time to compare my small town in Vermont (aka Belmont... I challenge anyone who doesn't live near me to find it on a map without using the internet, it's almost as fun as where's waldo)

Belmont, Vermont is a sleepy little town filled with quirky, but lovable residents. There are really only two paved roads which go back to ether one or two routes. They meet in the middle where there is a 4-way stop sign. At the four corners there is a church (baptist), library, town green and a general store. The general store has a deli, sells pizza and burgers, a few tourist sweatshirts, and a limited variety of food. It also sells lots of beer. There is a the Odd Fellows Hall which is up the hill a little ways and lives on Star Lake, which is basically a pond. Belmont is the town that tourists hope to find on their scenic driving tour of Vermont. There are about 1,500 residents year round but in summer, fall and winter on weekends the town gets up to about 4,000 (on the high end). There is no cop, instead there is a constable who pulls people over every now and again to remind everyone that he does still exist and does still have authority. But really he's a nice guy and you have to work to get any sort of ticket. and frankly if you're in Belmont you're probably in no rush to get anywhere. There are town festivals such as Farm Days and Cider Days (my personal favorite) where people gather on the green or up at the lake for demonstrations of different things. Things locals like to do are: hunt, fish, smoke weed (after all they are from Vermont), drink beer, ski/ snowboard, snowmobile and generally have fun.

Comparing that description to the current town I sometimes 'live' in. Town has 700 residents and about 20 police employed. Town goes up to about 10,000 residents when a cruise ship or two is in port. There are four bars which mainly get their revenue from tourists wanting to drink something mildly cheaper than cruise ship booze. The four bars stay open at night for the seasonal employment crowd. They are a brewery, another bar which has a mystery raffle Thursday, another which has pin-up style porn on the walls and hosts a weekly dance night, and the last which closes at 5am and opens back up at 7am for breakfast. I've done extensive research already on all the watering holes in this town and have decided the last bar mentioned are where the true locals hang out. The town is mostly paved roads, about 20 blocks and is filled with jewelry stores and fur shops Most everything is based on the tourist industry. Unlike Belmont it is by no means a sleepy town. In fact it is quite lively (having only been here in the summer though I can see where this would not be the case in winter). Town here has a much younger feel, whereas Belmont has been around for a couple hundred years. This town began with the gold rush and has a reputation for being rowdy. There is a grocery store and a hardware store where locals buy pretty much whatever they need. If those two places don't have it, you don't need it. You better not anyhow because it would suck to ship it here.

Both places have their good qualities and both have their downfalls. Belmont I picture on a winters night on new years eve, where as this town I like in the summer for a brew and dancing. Hope you enjoyed a little tour of Small Town, Alaska.

Weather

'Some days are diamonds... some days are rocks... ' -Tom Petty

So not every day is a sunny day out on the glacier. This past week we had a 'weather day' which means that the weather made it impossible for helicopters to land on the glacier. I'm not talking about extreme wind or freezing rain that's falling sideways, nope just clouds. The elevation from town to the glacier is a change of 4000ft, and dog camp is only about 2 miles from town. This drastic change in elevation means that town as completely different weather. When town is overcast it means that the glacier is above the clouds. We can see into the valley and sometimes it is a like a lake of clouds. Other times on the glacier we can't even see the mountain which is right next to us. When the pilot can't see the ground they can't fly, end of story. Unfortunately, tours get canceled. The helicopter base does try to do weather checks on an hourly basis, so they know the moment that they can start tours again. Some days we might have an hour or two canceled, other days canceled until lunch and then some others, canceled all day. At dog camp we just sit around and wait all day, not that we have anywhere to be. These days are not bad, but not good either. It's nice to have a break but its' also nice to make some money, no tours= no $.

Then there's the day that we had yesterday, beautiful, sunny and clear for miles. Tours every half an hour. It was hot, and all the employees were walking around in t-shirts. The heat is reflected off the white of the snow, and since white is the dominant color in the landscape it gets pretty hot. Tourists come off the helicopter in their fur coats (no joke, some people actually wear fine fur coats to go and play with dogs) and helly hansen ski pants and we're in jeans and t-shirts with ball caps on. These are good days, the best tours happen days like this. These days are also the days that everyone gets sunburned, everywhere. Because the sunlight is being reflected from the snow, which is everywhere, you get sunburned in places you wouldn't normally think about. Such as under your chin and up your nose. You feel like a grease ball all day long because you're also sweating. When I get back I'm going to have an amazing sunglasses tan, watch tan and potentially a strap tan from the camera bag I wear around.

Living on a Glacier

So I've been living on a glacier for about a couple of weeks now. The first week I was up with a small crew and we build dog houses all week long, along with shoveled out groomers, walk through 2ft of fresh snow and of course, as always, take care of dogs.

This past week the full crew was up and we transported another 100+ dogs to camp. There are 13 people living on the glacier with me. There are mushers, dogs handlers, tour assistants (that's me!), the cook and our manegment team.

Tours started on Monday and have been going ever since. We have tours every day. We never have a scheduled 'day off' without people coming up the glacier. On certain days of the week there are less tours than others and during those days we are flown down from the glacier (via helicopter!) and we get to have the next two nights in town and then we are flown back up in the morning. For those who are curious my schedule goes a little like this:

5:50am alarm goes off

5:55 roll out of bed and put rain pants/ boots/ jacket on

6:00 grab a shovel and start finding poop, put poop in a 5 gallon bucket. Usually a dog yard of 40 will have approximately 2-3 buckets of poop

6:30 feed dogs if necessary, put eye drogs in irritated dogs eyes and use zinc on any part of the dog that's pink to prevent sunburn.

7:00 breakfast! (eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, pancakes, oatmeal, yogurt, fruit....coffee...)

8:00 first helicopter lands full of tourists! I unload the helicopter of the tourists/ gear and put gear back on.

Next I lead tourists to mushers after they recieve their safety speech

I then go and stand in the 'photo spot' and wait

I take an 'action shot' of them on the sled

I then walk briskly back to the photo tent where I edit and print off the pictures

I hopefully am ready a few minutes before they get back to the camp so that I can get their pictures organized.

I remember that I sell thousand dollar a night condos when I'm trying to get these people to purchase a picture of themselves

I then lead them back to the helicopters 'no I'm sorry you cannot change seats...' and get them ready to go

Once the helicopter lands I help the new tourists in the helicopter and then I put the old tourists, photos hopefully in hand, back inside. I then unload the gear/ load our gear into it.

This process repeats itself every hour. Tours on 'slower' days run every hour, a full day is every half hour.

5:00ish-7pm tours stop. we feed dogs/ water/ poop scoop once last time.

7:30pm we eat.

8pm a crew does dishes/ we hang out.

I usually go to bed sometime between 9:30 and 10pm.

The picture is of what I'm living in. Note the snow is above the door on either side by about 2ft. I'll keep you all posted about what's going on but for now I'm oging ot get my things organized again to go back up to hang out with the 240 dogs!

Getting to Small Town Alaska

I have spent my first 24 hours at my home base for the next 6 months. Once again out of respect for my company I'm not going to disclose the name of the town, if you're interested in knowing my address please just email me, mperry421@gmail.com. I flew into Juneau at about 7:30 and then got to my hotel where I made a few phone calls and went to bed. I didn't wake up again until 5am, 30 minutes before my alarm was going to go off. I was getting up early because there are one of two ways to get my home base and both leave at ass-crack-of-dawn o'clock. The first way is to fly in a small plane from Juneau. When I say small I mean an 8 seater cessna. The other way, which takes longer but is much more relaxing and scenic, also has no weight restrictions on baggage (big plus!) is to take the ferry. I've flown into Rutland, VT before which has about the smallest airport one could ever ask for. The one here in this town is the same size. When sizing up my options I thought about the flight from Boston to Rutland and how it was beautiful, it also got tossed around a lot. I also thought that I hadn't yet traveled by ferry. So my choice was easy. Ferry it was!

Continental breakfast at my hotel didn't start until 7am, which was a bummer because it meant that I had to get breakfast on the ferry. I also like to eat a big breakfast from the continental counter because then it means I have to pay for less food later. At 5:30am the coffee wasn't brewed let alone the bagels set out. So on an empty stomach I set out to discover how one travels by marine highway. Now here is an interesting tid bit of knowledge- if you own a car and wish to drive it on the ferry you MUST be there two hours in advance. However, if you're a traveler with an excessively large bag and nothing else besides yourself you can pretty much arrive 30 minutes before the ferry leaves, even though the website says an hour. So I could have slept another 30 minutes, but what did it matter? I still would have missed breakfast anyway. I had bought my ticket in advance which means that I reserved it and would pick it up when I arrived. The kid who gave me to my ticket was very nice and I asked if I could board and he said yes, if I wanted to. I figured there might be breakfast, or at least a cup of coffee on the ferry so I went straight for the boats. I checked my abnormally large bag and walked onto what was about the size of a cruise ship.

I then saw a sign for the cafeteria, and went to investigate. After going up 3 flights of stairs I saw it, with a big sign that said 'Open at 11:30am.' I was crushed. I had some pistachios and some granola in my bag as snacks that was going to have to do until 11:30. There were people milling about but it seemed to me they were mostly people who just wanted to sleep in the cushioned booths. I walked away feeling a little let down, and surprised. 'Really they'd have this place open for boarding but not serve coffee... huge money loss' I then saw someone come out of a door from the cafeteria with a steaming cup of coffee. I retraced my steps to find that the place where they sell the food isn't visable from those walking around. I then got my cup of coffee, nothing else seemed to interest me so I was going to wait for lunch and have granola instead. This was a good decision. BEWARE they only take cash and there ZERO atms on board. I had enough to get my lunch but not enough to get lunch and breakfast.

After my cup of coffee I found the front viewing deck and fell asleep again. Totally worth it. When I woke up I watched the beautiful scenery as we passed. The mountains were still snow capped and came right up out of the ocean. I saw a whale and some porpoises along with an eagle or two. The landscape was clearly rugged and wile. Nothing for miles, we didn't see any sign of human impact besides the occasional abandoned lighthouse. If you have the chance to take the ferry out of Juneau I highly suggest it.

When it was a respectful time to call others I tried to reach those picking me up in my town. No answer. I left a message. I tried two hours later. Still no answer. It got the point where they were supposed to pick me up in an hour and half, still no answer. I finally call a person who I'd been speaking to in Juneau and no answer, I asked that she try to get a hold of the ground crew in my town so that someone would be there to pick me up. I was stressed at this point. I realize that I'm on this kick about trusting others, to know that they care about strangers... blah blah blah. I still believe this, but as far as trusting others with my logistical plans I generally try not to leave it to fate. Benin has taught me that especially in travel, if you're planning something, you cannot leave it up to others to follow your schedule. So I confirm all hotel reservations, double check flight times, check in early, weight my baggage, speak to those I need to speak to in advance, and so on. I also realize that I should have called about a week ago, or even the night before. Because I didn't calls someone before all I could do now was cross my fingers and hope for the best. I hadn't heard from anyone until the ferry was 50 feet from the dock of where I was getting off. I got a phone call and they said that someone would be holding a sign with my name on it and they were there right now. I thanked the travel Gods and skipped off the ship to get my luggage.

The town I live in is very small approximately 700 people. I can walk anywhere and they even loaned me a bike, which I realized the seat was set for someone who's about a foot taller than me. I tried to lower the seat but it was rusted in place. The rest of the bike looks good (thank you Peace Corps/ Papa Velo for training me about bikes) tires were solid and the brakes/ gears worked, chain needed oiling but other than that it appeared to work well from the time I spent poking it. I also found the laundromat, public library, grocery store and local hardware store. The joke about the hardware store is that if they don't sell it you don't need it, true statement. I left with all the items on my list. Overall I'm happy to be here and interested in exploring my area before I get on the glacier, but still anxious to start working!  

Afralaska Island

It has become clear to me that nobody really knows what I'm doing this summer... even my closest family. I love my family, and I probably haven't given them enough information to begin with. Also I think that my life kind of blends together for my relatives. When I came back to Okemo apparently my co-workers were playing the 'where in the world is Melissa game.' It's been funny to hear people try to explain to others what I'm going to be doing this summer. Rumors include: Working on an island. Studying native flora/ fauna. Musher. Going to New Zealand. And my personal favorite: going to Africa (Lynn accidentally says this instead of Alaska which confuses everyone). So I'd thought I'd clear some things up:

So to re-cap here is what I've done since graduating college:

Peace Corps Benin
Lodging and Welcome Center at Okemo
Waitress (also in the Ludlow area)
Environmental Educator in Beaumont, California
Wilderness Guide in Wyoming
Environmental Educator in New Hampshire
Back to Okemo....
and now I'm off on my next adventure!

Here is the job announcement I found and replied to:

Tour Attendant / Photographer, 

We offer helicopter/dogsledding tours on the Juneau Icefield. 

Greet guests, load  & unload  from helicopters. introduce guests to mushers, action photos and sales. 

Entry level position: TAPS work directly with guests. Must be personable, enjoy working with people, professional in appearance and manner. Capable of working with helicopters and operating tours in a safe, professional manner. Applicants must be physically fit and capable of lifting 50 pounds on a regularbasis. Employees live and work on a glacier for the summer. The glacier camp has helicopter access only.

We are looking for energetic, enthusiastic folks who are good team players. Must be capable of working well with others in a remote environment. All positions are seasonal. Dates vary depending on the camp you are working in but typically run from May through mid September.

Prior glacier travel experience, extended backpacking, Wilderness medicine skills welcome.

 So there you have it. I have edited the above renouncement and left out some privacy information such as exactly where I'm going to be living/ company name. 

The Three Days of Green

 Some thing that I love are: Breweries, Hiking and Beauty. Not in that particular order and for my birthday I got to experience all three! My birthday lies between two interesting dates on the calendar, April 20th and April 22nd. Now I'm not going to explain 4/20 I expect if you are reading my blog you can go look it up if you don't know. April 22nd is Earth Day. I like to refer to this series of days as 'The Three Days of Green'. April this year is also the month of unemployment for me. Ski season ended early and my job starts late. While some would view this as a negative thing I saw it as an opportunity to take an extended vacation. I've been staying with my family in Vermont, and then I came down to North Carolina and am spending a week or so with my brother Jason and his fiance/ my best friend Lynn. They took me to spend some time in Ashville for my birthday weekend.

I met some really great people in Ashville, going from my last blog post. I spent some time with Rachel and her husband Bryan. While Rachel wasn't a perfect stranger, she's Lynns sister and I've met her before I didn't ever spend enough time to get to know her. Bryan I had never met before. I'm glad that I did, they're both great people. Bryan plays in a band and we went to see him play at the Pisgah Brewery. The reason why I love breweries is because they're 99% of the time laid back places to enjoy craft beer. This unpretentious attitude lends itself to attracting people with the same outlook on life. Overall, it was a great night good beer, good music and good people.

 The next day, on my birthday, we went hiking in the Pisgah National Forest with Lynns cousins and their dog (because what is a hike without a dog?). We looked at the weather and saw that there was an extremely high chance of rain. The hike that was chosen was one that was along a river. The original plan was to go until we wanted to turn around. The river contained swimming holes and beautiful scenery. Unlike when one hikes to a destination such as a waterfall or summit there was no specific place to turn around. This made it perfect for a rainy day. When one is hiking in the rain, even for those who like hiking, there is a fine line between enjoyable adventure and painful endurance. If you leave the car and view the day as a hardship to muscle through, you might as well of stayed home. You have to choose that it is going to be a good day. We all did just that, we all decided to enjoy ourselves. When we began it wasn't raining, but about 15 minutes into the hike the rain started, it was slow and then when we decided to turn around it was a soaking rain. The hike was beautiful. I would come back and camp there. Coming out of the woods we felt good, refreshed, and at peace, we were also soaked. When I go hiking I remember what I love about nature, it gives you much more than just beauty or opportunity for exercise. Wild places have a soothing effect on people. After hundreds of thousands of year of evolution people weren't meant to live in boxes. We weren't meant to keep our lives free of bacteria and movement, we evolved to be outside we adapted to the natural environment not the one that we created for ourselves. Now, I realize that it is extremely difficult to live 'off the land' and that I personally wouldn't want to do it. The developed world is a great place. But there is a piece inside all of us that is wild, and instinctual.

On Sunday Jason took me to see the Blue Ridge Parkway. If you haven't ever been there, it is beautiful, and  when you go you're left without a sense of awe I would question if you had a soul. We ended up parking going on a stroll, I'd be hard-pressed to call it a hike (it was only 1/5th of a mile on mostly boardwalk and pavement), to a waterfall. We then relaxed and watched a couple of guys catch trout out of the pool beneath the falls. They were almost catching good meal-sized ones every time. It must have been a man in his 40's and his father. I'm glad to see others enjoying this natural place. Getting people to care about nature is the first step toward gaining the support to preserve wild places. We then ate lunch at the Pisgah Inn, which is a restaurant that overlooks the Appalachians. After our exhausting weekend Jason, Lynn and I returned back to their apartment and fell asleep. Overall a great way to celebrate The Three Days of Green.

People are Good

It's not an Earth shattering revelation, it is in fact what many others think; people are good. I feel that 99% of people are walking around following their own paths are not out to hurt others, and generally speaking, want good things for others even those they don't know. So why doesn't anyone trust anyone else? How come we've gone from respecting to fearing our neighbors? What happened to goodwill toward our fellow man?

Some would argue that the opposite is true. most people don't care about you. Everyone is only out for themselves. Being uninterested in strangers problems is just human nature to protect ourselves from pain, be that pain emotional or physical. That we're hard wired through millions of years of evolution to be this way, basically we can't help it. I know this is not true 'human nature' and evolution of how people view ourselves is not just an individualistic endeavor. The people of Benin proved to me that you could trust others. I did things there that I would never do in the United States. I was able to have an on-going bar tab at a few places I would eat at, I accepted rides from strangers, and I basically hitch-hiked around a 3rd world country. Don't get me wrong life wasn't without it's frustrations, but people there take your problems as their own and try as hard as they could to realize your goals, and share in your happiness when success was found.

What happened in the west? Now people don't even make eye contact with strangers, let alone talk to them. Is it really so hard to make connections with others without technology getting in the way? There's too much fear in our society. There are commercials about identity theft, doing background checks on your friends and hidden cameras which watch your baby sitters. What happened to trusting people?! Growing up, I never locked the door to our house, my babysitters were the neighbors children, and I would go swimming at the local pond with many other people.

Now people are afraid, and that type of lifestyle in the United States is dying. It makes me very sad to see the society become more and more distrustful of each other, to stop looking at those who live around them as neighbors and more as criminals. I feel that you can trust the vast majority of people on the planet, but the distrust that's been perpetuated in society doesn't help foster this reality.

A new goal that I've set for myself is to trust strangers, to reach out, to prove to the world that 'people are good' isn't just some sort of romantic sentiment, but rather a reality.

Opening Camp

 In April my family and I like to go to camp.There are a few birthdays in the month and it gives us an opportunity to celebrate together. Camp is a place to have fun, be with family and relax. normally by April I have what my dad calls 'a case camp-itus'. Which basically means that I miss it a lot. When I have it in my head that I want to go to camp I can usually convince someone else in my family to go with me. This year my Aunt Monique, cousin Nathan, and Lisa, Greg and Sue. Great food, company and good times were had.

Between

I'm waiting for my new job to start. There was no point in continuing to pay rent and live in Belmont when I wasn't doing anything. This seemed like a waste of $300. It also seemed a little lonely.

I'm very social and I need people around me. There was a time when I got back from the Peace Corps when I lived with my mom and she was the only person I saw, not that she's not fun, but when one person is you're entire social life it's a downer. For weeks on end I was home alone with dogs and I was going crazy. I wanted to go places but I didn't have any reason for going, I also didn't want to pay for the gas to get there. I felt better about life once I started work and I could go and visit with people.

Because of those two reasons I decided to leave Belmont and go live with my Aunt and cousin. I packed up my things and said goodbye to southern Vermont until next winter. Surprisingly everything did fit in my car. I was worried about that. Next time I move though, I'm going to need to do some better packing, Including downsizing the two large boxes that barely fit in my car when it's empty. I really don't buy that many things and when I do I'm replacing something. Other times I donate to the places I've been living. The last place I lived I donated a fry pan, coffee maker and a humidifier. It's very possible that I will go back to this place and I don't need to cart these things around all the time.

And so I've begun an unintended month long vacation. Living with my Aunt puts me closer to the rest of my extended family. My cousin was up with her family and a new baby who I had yet to meet. I also got to play with her four year old. It was great to see my family and hang out. I normally don't get to do those things because I work weekends. I'm also planning on going to Maine and New Hampshire to visit friends, then head down to North Carolina to visit my brother and Lynn. Then up to New York city for a couple of days before I head out to Alaska for my next adventure where I will be back east in September.

This between business is great, helps me wrap my head around leaving one place and beginning a new adventure in a new place. At same time though, I do wish that my jobs lined up a little better. This won't be a problem for another year or so if my plans goes accordingly.

Hiking

One of my favorite things to do when it's not winter is go hiking. Normally spring is the worst for it's lack of hiking and lack of skiing. Mud season makes the trails very muddy (surprise surprise). Hiking through mud isn't only obnoxious for the hiker but it's bad for the trail too. If you can avoid hiking when it's wet in the woods you should.

I'm going to drop some Leave No Trace (LNT) knowledge on you right now. LNT are principles and guidelines which help to maintain our beloved nature spots. The thing that LNT principles don't want you to do is leave an impact on an area. Nobody likes getting to a campsite or hiking a trail and seeing it full of litter, or the remains of an excessively large bon fire. Obviously littering, cutting down trees, and picking endangered plants would be considered leaving an impact. But other things which are just as important, such as staying on the trail, only having fires in designated fire areas and also camping at least 300 feet from the trail if you're not camping in a designated campsite also help keep the places we love pristine. One big rule about LNT is staying on the trail while hiking. If the trail is wet many people have a tendency to go around the puddle/ mud. This is wrong. You're actually supposed to walk through the mud or puddle. Think of it this way, the more people walk on the sides of a puddle the more erosion takes place and the larger the puddle becomes. If everyone just walked through it (your boots should all be water proof anyway) the puddle doesn't get larger. When people don't walk through the puddle or on the trail it actually makes the trail wider. Some might say 'well that's ok that the trail is 2 ft instead of 18 inches.' No this is not ok, trails aren't meant to be super highways for hikers. They are meant to get people into the wilderness. If you likes boardwalks and pavement to go Yellowstone and tour some hot springs. Going back to muddy trails. If it's spring you're not recommended to be in the woods at all on the trails. Reason being, it's so muddy that your impact is much greater than normal. When the mud dries it leaves the trail rutted and pot holed for pretty much the entire summer. When this happens on a repeated basis someone has to go in and do some maintenance on the trail. It is easier just to encourage people to not use these trails than to constantly do maintenance on them.

So for reasons stated above, I generally don't go hiking in the spring. But since this year has been an odd year as far as weather, the woods were pretty dry as well, I decided I'd go. A couple of friends I work with I told them that up the backside of Okemo was a trail that starts in Mt Holly, goes up the mountain to the fire tower on the Southface peak and there's 360 views. It's not a very well known trial and doesn't generally get the same attention as others in the area because it's not connected with the Long Trail/ Appalachian. But it is still a favorite of mine just because it was always so close. I've been a few times most recently two years ago with my dog Buster. My friends suggested that we go together. I thought this was a pretty good idea. So we parked a car on one side of the mountain and drove over to the other side to start.

Okemo is a round trip 6 mile hike. It is steep in sections and I wouldn't suggest bringing small children or people who are out of shape on this hike. It is mildly strenuous. We hiked at about a 30 minute mile including breaks. This might seem slow but the trail is very steep and it takes a lot more energy to walk straight up than it does to walk on level ground. Hiking is like skiing and can get very zen, where your mind kind of gets quiet. Being in the woods also is something I very much enjoy and to see the forest waking up after the winter was cool. We climbed the fire tower and found that it was very windy at the top, my ears hurt and it was chilly. Great vistas though. My friends and I walked down the trails and realized in some places that there was still quite a bit of snow/ ice, but it wasn't impassable.

Overall a great day! Much needed break from the stress of leaving the area.

A Winter of Books

While I was in Benin I kept a list of all the books I read and would periodically write reviews on said books. I was reading about 2 books every 10 days, on average. Since that time I have come back from Benin I haven't been reading so much. There are lots of reasons why, one being that I have a full time job, then there is also my ability to drive places, but mostly it's because I have free internet at my house and no TV. But I have managed to read a few since arriving here in December. Here is the winter book review of 2012:

Tell Me Where It Hurts- 3/5 Book about an animal surgeon. He works with doggies and kitties. It's really a pet lovers book. There isn't a plot line but rather a bunch of stories intertwined. The book follows the author throughout a 24 hour period.

Prodigal Summer- A later work for Barbra Kingsolver. 3.5/5 More uplifting than The Poisonwood Bible, it explores different forms of love and relationships within the setting of an Appalachian town. Her writing does get a little too feminist for me. There are male roles in the book which I feel would be a good opportunity for a more gender neutral tone to the book, but the male roles aren't believable.

Last Child In The Woods- 5/5 Great book to anyone who works with children on a regular basis. This non-fiction book was required reading my senior year of college. When I read it the first time I felt that I might need more perspective on the subject of outdoor environmental education before I really absorbed what Louv was saying. Now that I've read it a second time after working for an outdoor education facility I see the challenges that are in school systems and how they are overcome by simply putting a child outside.

Pigs in Heaven- 2.5/5 My co-worker saw me reading Prodigal Summer and thought I might like this book, also by Barbra Kingsolver. This book was published 10 years before Prodigal Summer and you can tell the difference in the writing. While some characters are more believable (primarily the male roles) others are very forced. It's about the welfare of a Native American girl who was given to a white woman and raised by her. It asks questions about what is actually best for the child, who is wrong and who is right. But it ends up being exceptionally predictable and for the ending she tied a nice pretty bow around the whole thing leaving nothing hanging, she might as well have said 'everyone lived happily ever after'. Apparently this book was a companion to the first book she published. The next book in the Barbra Kingsolver line was Poisonwood Bible where she left some sticky ends, and thus the whole of the book was more powerful.

Living With Cannibals - 3/5 A collection of stories about women adventurers. While it was a feminist read for sure it was about women who defied the norm of adventurers and just went ahead and did what they wanted to do anyway. There are many mini biographies of these women and their lives. Quick fun read, when you're about done with one of them, there's another story on the next page.

Lord of the Flies - 4/5 This is the first time I've ever read this book. I'm not sure why we never had to read it in grade school but perhaps it was because the Columbine school shooting and others like it began when I was in middle school, so books portraying violence among children probably weren't high on the public school reading list. But this book reminds me of a teenagers version of The Fountainhead. It's deceptively easy to read, and it's a short novel. Like The Fountainhead the characters are based around one idea or persona and their traits are highly predictable. Each character is one sided and after a single goal. Nobody is conflicted, ever. The point is made stronger because of it, but I felt a hard time connecting to the characters on an individual level. We all want to say that we fully connect with Ralph but I found it hard to do after he gets single minded about the fire. I also feel that we all have a bit of Jack and Piggy in us too.

The Screwtape Letters - 5/5 Mind blowing. Good job C.S. Lewis. This raises questions about Heaven, Hell, religion and how we as people mull about in our daily lives. Each day having the possibility to be toward a positive or negative end. Really good, very creative.

The End

We've come to the end of another winter. I had my last day on the hill yesterday, a great sunny day but conditions dictated that I would not be able to continue skiing on slush. A friend of mine frequently describes the end of winter like the end of summer camp. Everyone knows it's coming but nobody wants it to end. Such is the reality of seasonal employment there is always an expiration date. All of those fun people who you became friends with and bonded are now leaving we're all moving on to other things. Some stick around and become the leaner 'summer crew' at Okemo but most go do other things. You probably all know that I'm going to Alaska. I have friends who go to New Zealand and instruct, and still others are deciding that they need to move rich peoples yachts from point a to point b.

This may sound depressing and I won't lie, it is. Leaving is always depressing. But I'm not someone to look at my situation and only see negative. I'm between things. While I am frequently leaving I'm also going somewhere. The world is once again full of potential I'm packing my bags and putting them in a car and then I will soon by on an airplane first to North Carolina and then to Alaska. A new adventure begins as an old job ends.

Spring/ Mud Season

Here in Vermont we have something the locals lovingly refer to as mud season. Other areas of the country might call this time after winter spring but trust me when I say that mud season is a more accurate representation of the time. Spring comes after mud season.

On the mountain there is usually some spring skiing to be had as the last of the base melts away. But generally speaking once the mountain closes there is little else to do. The mountain closes, and many of the small shops, restaurants and bars also close. There are a few who stay open during these times of little to do, as even the locals don't get out too much. In particular there is one bar that stayed open all year round last season and is now where all the locals hang out, I'd be willing to bet that they sell more beer brewed in Vermont than any other bar in town. You all can keep your PBR and Guinness I'll stick with Long Trail and Switchback.

The roads about here turn all frost heave-y and those dirt roads become pot holed and unmanageable in the 6-10 inch deep mud. People barrel down the roads and the mud sucks their tires places they hadn't anticipated. For those who have never really been around lots of mud, it has a smell. When all the bacteria have unfrozen and been steeped in the snow melt, the leaves that fell late in the fall begin to decompose again, and nothing is growing to help clear the air. You may think to yourself 'Wow that sounds like a terrible time of year'. You guessed right.

The only good thing about mud season is that the locals finally have the state to themselves. We no longer have to pull Hummers with summer tires out of the ditch on a night with only 1 inch of snow, when a local gets stuck it's legit. We don't get to the grocery store in town and see that there is nothing left. We can drive through town without getting stuck in traffic. We can order a beer without a bunch of Jersey Shore tools crowding the bar and sipping on their drinks with those little red stirring straws (just a clue guys, but those are meant for stirring. It's not a milk shake, it's a rum and coke.) Don't get me wrong, I love the tourists, without them I don't get a pay check. But it still is nice to pass the grossest season in Vermont without them.

Life in the Fast Lane

There are some distinct disadvantages to wanderlust. As I'm coming into yet another transition phase I'm remembering all those pesky things that come up and a little piece of me says 'This would be easier if you would just stay still for a little while!' But alas, I'm too much of a free spirit to take my own advice. But since I've in the past few months told you all about how AWESOME it is to be a drifter, this time I'm going to tell you how much it sucks.

1) Jobs never quite line up.

When transitioning from job A to job B it is usually never a smooth transition. Job A ends, rather than you give them a two week notice and can plan for a short time between jobs. Job B begins, usually at an inopportune time. So you're left waiting. You still have to pay your bills, but you're not making any money and it's just a long enough time that applying for unemployment isn't worth it. And so you live on your friends and families couches who've taken you in again. Because of this I have a room in Ludlow, Barre, Brookfield, Emerado and soon to be Charlotte.

2) Jobs never quite line up.

Sometimes the opposite happens. Job A starts before Job B ends, or because you've applied and been hired so late there is no physical way to get there before Job A starts. Some jobs you can leave early and it's not a problem. They're winding down and it's beneficial for the company to let you go early, no hard feelings, everybody wins. This is generally how it happens after you've been somewhere for awhile, if you've been an employee a company isn't as annoyed to give you a little slack. There are circumstances where companies cannot give you that time. Say for example, you're scheduled to be in the backcountry and you can't leave. Then you get to choose which company you're going to screw over. This is a delicate decision, if you piss off the one you're working for you may not get to come back, or if you piss off the job that you're going to you might be in for a long season of kiss-ass.

When there is no physical way to get there say for example it's Friday and they want you in New Hampshire on Monday and you're in North Dakota, companies are very understanding.

3) Gear

Every job is a little different and so you have to plan for the gear you're going to bring. Now after doing this a time or two I have the big ticket items, backpack, sleeping bag, warm clothes. But then there's always that thing that you don't have. This job it's rubber boots, and yes I really do need them.

4) Organization

Being a free spirit doesn't usually lend itself to organization. Filling out paper work and getting your drivers license and social security card, then filling out other forms that you'll see later when you file your taxes needs to be done before you arrive. It's not like you can walk down the street and hand the stuff over a few days before you start.

5) Travel

I have to get from where I am to where my job is by a certain day. If you have enough time they expect you to be there. Now the question becomes, should I drive? If you drive you have to figure out how many days it's going to take you. If you fly now you have figure out a place to leave your car.