Life in Alaska

So i woke up Tuesday morning with the light shining through the window at 5:00 a.m. I was feeling much better than i had the two days before. The pepto bismol must have helped somehow. Well when i woke up, i had a beautiful view outside of my window. I couldn't have been happier with where i was living. I had a perfect view over the tongass narrows and looking out and seeing the tall mountains. I had to be to work at 7:45 for training so Jason, (my manager, also cousin by marriage) picked me up and took me to the yard. It was a bit stressful since i was the guinea pig and first one to be tested driving a bus in an area that i was very unfamiliar with. When I got driving, it was totally different than i had been used to. The bus that i was driving was an old GMC motor coach with NO POWER STEERING! It was very new getting used to cranking the wheel and exerting all your strength in trying to get the bus to go where you wanted it to. I kept getting irritated at myself and wasn't having the best day. However, after i got finished driving and passing my road test, i decided to go pick up some lunch at the gas station and go eat it on the shore of the tongass narrows. Picking up some hot wings and a deep fried burrito i was off. The tide was very low so i was able to walk down to the water and found a wonderful large rock to eat on. As i was walking i realized that there were clam shells everywhere around me. But to my confusion, I couldn't find a single live clam. What was going on? As i finished my lunch i headed down to the water to wash my hands and looking in the water i saw a huge star fish about 1-2 feet in diameter. IT WAS HUGE! I didn't exactly know if it was a starfish, or just some kelp/plant thing. So i kept walking around the shore line and to my amazement i found another starfish. This one however was on the shore and wasn't able to make it back to the water before the tide went down. I took some pictures and went over by another huge rock. As i approached it, I realized there were tons of starfish all over the place. It was spectacular to see. It ended up making the whole driving experience go away.

The Drive

Well it all started on sunday at 5:30 a.m. I showed up at seven peaks nervous, but ready for the trip to begin. I left Seven Peaks parking lot with 7 buses at around 6:30 a.m. and off I went for a summer full of adventure and excitement. I headed up through Idaho, going past Burley and on up to Boise. Ate at Fuddruckers in Boise and then I was up for driving. After about 4 hours of driving through beautiful country we stopped at a rest stop in Oregon. From there we had another 2-3 hour drive until we reached Kennewick, Washington at 8:00 that night. It was a very long day. Waking up Monday morning, I found myself very sick. Due to the improper lack a nutrition the day before, my stomach had been stuffed with m&m's, jerky, gatorade, and whatever other junk foods you could imagine for a 15 hour bus ride. But being sick I didn't feel like eating anything or doing any other activities. Starting off at 6:00 a.m., I headed out for another 5 hour drive to Seattle. The scenery was remarkable. The terrain had changed from sagebrush, to pines, to firs. Driving through the mountain pass the lakes and rivers were crystal clear. I finally arrived at the airport with even a worse case of stomach problems. Going into the airport I was determined to get rid of the stomach ache, and i did. I went to the closest store, bought pepto bismol tablets and popped 4 of them. It did the trick, no more stomach problems. I sat at the airport for about 4 hours and then the flight was off to Ketchikan. After a 2 hour flight I finally landed in Ketchikan, Alaska. How amazing it is!