Girls Just Want to Have Fun

The passed couple weeks there have been a lot of individuals that have left Mt. McKinley Lodge. Most of them headed back to school. It really makes you pause and realize how many wonderful people you meet. I can't imagine meeting more prefound people in my life. I love every single one of them and am indeed greatful for my opportunity to come up here to Alaska. Here are a few photos from our girls nights. The first one was for Allison. We ate at the mountain view and dressed up a little. The second night was right before Kiara left this last week. We ate at the mountain view again and it was a blast. I'll see Kiara again in Vegas a month or so :]

• ALLISON'S NIGHT OUT
  

From Left to Right. Bethanie, Carissa, Andrea, Joy, Allison, Me, Sadie, Nicole, Rebecca

We only could fit 5 to a table. From Left to Right. Nicole, Joy, Me, Lisa, and Sadie

• KIARA'S NIGHT OUT
  

Kiara, Hayley, Me, Joy and Nicole

Nicole, Kiara, Joy, and I

Nice walks :]

a sweet boy put flowers on my door. How nice of him. The sign is from Kiara.

The view from the Hill Trail.

Just the 4 of us. We went on a little walk up the Hill Trail. It's Derek, Brantly, Sadie, and I

we had a good time:)

This is my neighbor Brantly. You can also see a part of the flowers that derek decorated my porch with. lol

I miss home

I loved spending time with my Nephews.

This is probably one of my favorite pictures i've seen from being home. Of course I haven't seen the one's of Del and I though and I know there were some cute ones.

Bear Encounter

I had hoped to get this posted a lot sooner but then I never got around to it. So- Like 4 nights ago I was sitting in Andrea and Carissa's room bored with like 7 other people. They came up with the idea to walk down the boy scout trail behind employee housing to go to the creek and catch fish with our hands. Here was the group

Bethanie

Mitch

Sadie

Brantly

Me

Derek

Mike

Chris

Carissa

Valadimer

and some other foreigner

We got to the bride and they spotted a porcupine. It ran off into the bushes so being the bright souls they are they started throwing rocks to see if it'd come out to take a picture. Andrea and I watched from the bridge not wanting to get needles from the creatures shot @ us. After awhile we got sick of standing waiting for this porcupine to come out of hiding so Andrea and I walked down the hill to the Chulitna river. We spotted hundreds of fish trying to swim up the creek just off the Chulitna and called the others over to see. Chris Mills took of his shoes, rolled up his pants and climbed into the freezing cold water trying to catch a fish with his hands. Secretly I was hoping he'd catch one so that I could hold it and take a picture. haha but he never did. At least not in time. Derek and Mike crossed the creek and were attempting the same maneuver on the other side. We were only there a few minutes until Valadimer with his bear spray turned around and started yelling Bear! As I jumped off the rock I was standing on I glanced over and saw a very unhappy momma black bear with 2 cubs. As she hurried her cubs up the tree, the 12 of us briskly made our way from the creek up the hill towards the bridge. Trying to not move too quickly or act too scared. The bear came running down the hill as Derek and Mike were trying to cross the creek...so they really just got super wet from having to jump across. we got up top safely, and began snapping pictures of the cute cubs and the bear swimming to catch fish. Unfortunatly my camara was a little blurry but I did get a really nice video of it. After sometime the girls were ready to go, the close encounter was just too close for us, but the boys wanted more pictures and continued to go back down the hill to get some. (Probably not smart) The bear, now irriatated, then comes from swimming in the creek back up the hill and STOPS at the end of the bridge where Sadie and I had been standing. She looked at us then ran back down into the tree's with her cubs. Honestly she was probably more terrified of us than we were of her, but she did have opportunities to get us. The closest she came was about 10-15' from us. AHHHH so scary. But now it's over, and I have a good alaskan bear tail. The only thing that would have made it better is to see her hunting something down like a moose or a fox. haha. Well I'm going to post pictures of this little adventure as soon as i'm on my computer and not the one in Talkeetna's office. [sorry grandma it took so long to post this. I know i told you days ago it'd be on there!] I'm greatful to be alive.

The Workplace

Garett, Yvonne, Sadie, La vina, and I
[the train group]

Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge Employee's on the Train

People awaiting to board the train

Summer 2008 Transportation department
[the best people I've ever met]

The girls! I love all of them:)

Someone forgot to put the Oil cap on.
[Linda Toogood]

so many opportunities

After spending the time I have thinking the passed few weeks I have finally realized what is in store for my life. There are so many opportunities out there that I just shouldn't pass up. I now know that even when you think you have it all figured out things can be durastically changed in one instant. This time last summer-I had thought I'd be getting married by 2009, going to school, and working at the airport. Oh how very wrong I was. Life changes so much after high school, and i'm beginning to be greatful to the awakening experiences i've had to show me not to settle quite yet. Who knows where I'll be next summer...or this winter for that matter. I'm letting life take it's course. Being in Alaska I've taught myself that I deserve to do what makes me happy. Whether it means flying across the world to be a nanny, go volunteer in a 3rd world country, learn a new language, start my own business, drop out of school, work seasonally, travel, or just do nothing that's what I should do if that's what brings me joy and happiness. I'm not ready to get married, i'm not ready for that commitment quite yet. There are many things that I want to do before I embark on that portion of my life. I want certain things in my life that haven't ever been more clear to me than they are now. I want to spend my life with certain individuals that I never even realized before. For the longest time I was taking advantage of those that mean the most to me, and I now know that I need to straighten up. My marriage and love preference in the end is completely up to me. I will see how things pan out in many different areas but I can't look at the upside or the downside too much. I can makes plans all i want-but inside i know they'll change the minute their set. I'm not longer signing on the dotted line till i'm sure of what I want. I love my life. I love my family. I love my friends. I love my Job. I love my home. and I love being outside.

Religion aside- I look at others that are close to me and question if they are happy with their lives. We're all so young and have many opportunities laid out before us. It's just making the decision to choose to participate in the options we have. I've been so blessed to be raised with standards and morals that aide me in goal setting and choosing the right path. Although I may have struggled with that straight and narrow path over the years- it helps make me appreciate those who come to it without knowledge growing up so much more.

Every morning I wake up and question what I deserve, and I feel like I should deserve the best. I should deserve something that has not doubt. I deserve to be happy without question. A good analogy i heard recently is "i feel like i just found out my favorite love song was written about a sandwhich." That sums up what i've felt the passed since the new year. I need to be able to trust those who give me their word. I need to let go, and embrace some choices i've made over the passed 19 years. I have learned so many lessons throughout my life, and I can only hope that the rest of if will be lived without regret, and with many love and joyous moments.

I'll hang on to that which makes me happy as long as it continues to make me happy. I'll let go when the time is right. I'll hold on to the fact that I may disappoint along the way, but those who know me will love me no matter what the decisions I make. Those who really know me will be there for me at my lowest, and embrace me at my highest. I'm greatful for the clarity I know feel.

I know what I need to do. I'm not going to choose that path quite yet. I'm going to wait...and see how things go. I can no longer make rash decisions. I'm an adult, and need to start making choices accordingly. Starting today, whatever I do-I do because it makes me happy.

"the night is darkest just before dawn." -that is what i'm going through, my dawn is now arriving.

Kaynie's Last Day

some type of cemetary we stopped by. It was really weird and there was a charge to go inside. I'm pretty sure it was like $5. haha what a rip off. We just stood at the gate and zoomed in.

Joy and I

Kaynie, me, Chris and Joy

The three of us. We are all standing straight up except me. I'm leaning a little. That just shows how tall Kaynie is haha

Standing on the totem poles. It was quite interesting to get up them!

Today was Kaynie's last day. It was so much fun. I worked in Talkeetna and the 3 came and picked me up after the southbound afternoon train. We drove to Wasilla and saw Rick Tingstad for a little bit. He has the coolest "A-Frame" house...And lots of dogs and little boys. After that we drove into anchorage and it was getting dark so we drove out to earthquake park. It was so pretty but the police had someone pulled over there in the parking lot so the lights from him were distracting. We headed to "joys friends house" to get some sleep. After a quick shower and a nice visit we all craweled in our beds for a couple hours sleep. Kaynie and I talked and laughed for a little while before closing our eyes-it was a lot of fun! We woke up at like 4 to go to the airport so that I could catch my flight- which is a long story in itself. I was listed on the 6am flight but i didn't get on that one or the 6:30am flight. I luckily scored the last seat on the plane from Anchorage to Seattle. From Seattle I got a seat right away and was headed to see Del and Family. It was very nice to be able to spend some time with Del before surprising my parents. I had a great time and i'm glad him and I had the opportunity to talk. I love the boy!

4th of July!

It's tradition I guess to order Chicken Strips from the bar while decorating the coach the night before the parade. So we all sat in the coach and ate our late night snack. Chris is getting up through the roof hatch to decorate around the top of the motorcoach. Dick is in the back of the bus walking forward then its Kaynie David and I.

This is the tour desk. I usually work behind the desk as an expeditor about 2 days a week. This is Sadie, Linda and Allison. Allison is in the light blue shirt becuase she is a Supervisor

Our paper machet fish! It took Ommie a long time to construct but it was well worth it. It placed 2nd in the parade. The theme, a princess fish.

Our motor coach or the parade. Joy is strapped on top in a M&M costume. Ommie is behind her holding the olympic torch. The theme of this was Transpolympics.

The side of the motorcoach and Ommie throwing candy into the crowd on the curb. As you can see in front of the coach is a bunch of transportation department employees marching like we're making our grand entrance into the Olympic stadium. We all had little ribbons and flags. It was a lot of fun:)

It was really too bad that I didn't get to see Fire works this 4th of July. It actually was probably the worst day I ever worked. We had 3 coaches break down and then the fatal accident of my friends was that night. It was a tough day, but i'm glad I have excellent friends and family who were there for me when I needed them most. I love you all!:):) I also hope everyone watched the fireworks for me and thought of my poor soul sitting underneathe the cloudy sky that wasn't even dark yet.

Anchorage

Last week my phone literally fell apart. I wasn't sure if it was going to make it the 2 weeks before going home. To be honest it scared me the thought of possibly traveling without a phone. Luckily...Andrew has been going through a lot up here and had to fly home for the weekend for some family emergency. Since it was Thursday Kaynie Joy and I had the day off. Therefore we were the ones to drive him the the airport. After running some errands each of us made a large purchase, which is kind of funny. I was able to get a new phone, Kaynie bought a new lap top and Joy bough a Wii! Oh man I love the Wii. I want one so bad-it'd be fun to have at the family reunion next week:) My new phone was sort of hard to get used too. It's the double upgrade of my last one so it's still very similar. I'm starting to love it! I still need to send in the mail in rebate-I can't forget to do that! Now I have a few pictures of a couple different things 1) A trip that Nicole, Kaynie, Joy and I took to Talkeetna at 9pm to pick up employee's after they'd spend all day at Moose Dropping Festival! and 2) Chris, Kaynie and My trip to Anchorage on the Employee shuttle to get our passports. and last but not least 3) a trip to Wasilla with some friends I met from Denali. They worked Bell Staff and were sent up for a week to help out after the accident! I loved hanging out with these 3. They're originally from Blackfoot, ID.

Chris and Hayley

Kaynie and I @ Red Robin for lunch:)

Chris and I

Our Little group

The is what happens when someone doesn't put the oil cap back on. This is also Pat.

Joy wishing she was still a driver!

Kaynie riding jump-seat

Jordan, Justing and I

Transpo Vs. F&B

So we had our first game on July 3rd. We beat F&B 26 to 5. It was a shut out lets just say that. And they still had guts to talk smack. My most memorable moment at the game was Nate Pollard and Matt calling out to me saying that I just needed to wait till we play Bell staff when that too will be a shut out game we'll just be on the opposite end of the spectrum. Every fair call they'd favor with the opposing team to get us all riled up! What a game:) It was so much fun I loved it and I can't wait to play another!

Watching the game

The cheerleaders and I

We love softball games. it's amaing how much improvement the 4 of us went through over the passed couple weeks. The first practice was a disaster haha

The group

Becca and I. I love her:)

Me Playing Catcher for the first 3 innings. After that I moved to 3rd base.

Remembering Those Lost

This passed week I have gone through a lot. Frustration set in and I regret that I was actually angry at others when I should have just let things go and mourned on my own. I expected others to be there for me in a time of need, as I have been for them. Unfortunatly you can never predict those individuals who pretend to be something they're not. Going to work the following day was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do. I woke up and called my boss and asked if I could come in a couple hours later-as I only had about 2 hours of sleep. Since I was driving to Talkeetna anyway it didn't appear to be a problem. As I drove passed the scene and saw the skid marks I could help but cry. It was a tough drive alone...I've never lossed anyone that was personally close to me that wasn't family. It's was even more difficult knowing how far I was from any comfort. I probably was not in good enough shape to work, but I knew others were in the same boat as me and I had to suck it up for a few hours and get the job done. I walked into the Guest Services office and everyone starred then looked away quickly. No one asked questions-they knew. I recieved the most meaningful hugs that day. I feel so fortunate to those 4 people who took personal interest in my feelings and emotions. I deal with my own problems I'd like to thing quite personally and it hurt that I wasn't able to express how I was feeling to those who mattered. The only people I could tell was Del and my Mom. I miss so many things about Nate Pollard. I deleted his number out of my phone yesterday...I figured it'd be easier on me to not see his name everytime I scrolled down to send a text to one of my family members (noble).

• I hate that one night you told me you wanted to talk but I was too busy to come over


• I miss the fact that we would talk to our mom's together.


• I miss your hugs that you'd give me as you'd pass by


• I miss the "comment" cards you'd give me at the tour desk.


• I wish I really would've taken time to walk over there on wednesday when you were saying "come here" but I refused because you were with someone I wanted to avoid seeing.


• I miss that times you'd text me for advice.


• I wish I would've had the opportunity to smoke you boys in a softball game.


• I hate that the times you were around I didn't spend more time with you.


• I hate that you were the only one out of the group in the car that i really knew personally and actually had a relationship with.


• you meant so much to me- and many others. Your humor and love will always be with us.


• It's so hard to walk passed your room, and not have you taunt me about shaving my head while giving one of the boys a hair cut.


• It's difficult to know that you're not here.


• It's even more difficult to know I'll never see you again.


• It's harder to know that I saw it coming that afternoon :(

3 lodge workers die in car crash on Parks Highway
21-YEAR-OLDS: Men were returning from Talkeetna; 2 others critically injured.
By SEAN COCKERHAMscockerham@adn.com
Published: July 6th, 2008 12:17 AMLast Modified: July 6th, 2008 02:33 AM

Three workers at the McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge died Friday night after a car wreck on the Parks Highway.

William Bradley, Nathan Pollard and Jerry Luzzi, all 21-year-olds from California, died when their 2003 Infiniti rolled several times at about 8:33 p.m. Friday.
Friends said it was their third year working the summer in Alaska.
Two others in the car, 20-year-old Matthew Holmes and 19-year-old Christopher Niles, both from Michigan, survived but are hospitalized in critical condition, according to the Alaska State Troopers.
The men had been in Talkeetna for the Fourth of July, and troopers believe they were returning to the McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge when the accident happened near Denali National Park, at Mile 131 of the highway.
"They were only two miles from the lodge when they crashed," said trooper spokeswoman Beth Ipsen.

Ipsen said it was a one-vehicle accident and there were no witnesses.
Troopers are still trying to piece together what happened but said all five men were thrown from the vehicle.
None were wearing seat belts, Ipsen said.
Pollard and Luzzi died at the scene, and Bradley died on the way to the hospital, Ipsen said.
Niles was taken to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center and transferred Saturday to the critical care unit at Alaska Native Medical Center.
A LifeGuard helicopter flew Holmes to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage.
Three of the men had been at the West Rib Bar in Talkeetna earlier in the day, but only Bradley and Pollard reportedly drank there, and only had a beer each, said Ipsen.
At least some of them were later seen at the park in downtown Talkeetna, "partying with others the same age who may work with them," Ipsen said.
Because of this, troopers say they suspect alcohol may have been a factor in the crash.
CLOSE FAMILIES IN CALIFORNIA
The three dead men had all attended La Habra High School in California together, said Edna Salazar of La Habra, whose son was friends with all of them.
"There are a lot of families that are close to these families," Salazar said. "They were very outgoing, very outgoing, happy guys,"
She said this was their third year of summer seasonal work in Alaska. In the wintertime, they worked at Mammoth Mountain, a California ski and snowboarding resort.
"They were outdoors types of guys. Snowboarding was their thing when they were at Mammoth," Salazar said.
She said Luzzi lived in La Habra, while Bradley and Pollard were from Whittier, Calif.
Some of the men's friends were at Salazar's home Saturday night, gathering together as details about what happened slowly came out.
Salazar said the parents of the men had already gone up to Alaska to make the necessary arrangements, while the shocking news spread through the community.
Troopers said they believe Bradley was driving when the men left the park in Talkeetna at 7 p.m.
"We don't know for sure who was driving, but based on (reports that) he never lets anyone drive his car, he was probably driving at the time," Ipsen said.
Troopers haven't been able to interview the two survivors because of their severe injuries, Ipsen said. The state medical examiner will perform autopsies on the dead, and the car has been impounded for the investigation, Ipsen said.
Salazar said her family was especially close to Luzzi. Her son knew him since elementary school. He "loved to be around people and people loved to be around him," she said.
"They will be missed terribly," Salazar said.

My Alaskan Birthday!

My birthday was absolutely amazing! It started off by waking up at 5am to catch the 6am shuttle to Anchorage for the train. I was going to be working with Rebecca and Sadie! Sadie had bought me a self heating hot cocoa because she knows how much I love my hot cocoa. It has to be the best invention in the world I think:) So after getting on the train I had cars 1, 2, & 3 and they all decided to sing me happy birthday. It was a pretty easy day which was really really nice. We had to work with a girl who deserted out dept. and went to front desk named Christina. She was taking dinner reservations for the Mt. View Dining room at the Lodge. She has to be one of the stupidest people up here which really isn't that nice but she's pretty lame. It was definatly a birthday ruiner that she had to come with us. But I was really nice to her, she's just a pain to work with for sure. During lunch the on board manager La Vina brought me a free Chocolate SMOOTHIE! I was so tickled. After getting off the train I helped Ommie find this ladies camara who ended up giving each of us a 5 dollar tip...I tried to tell her that I couldn't accept a tip for walking down to another coach to pick up something that she simply just left behind, but she insisted. Since I didn't feel right about not doing anything I decided that I would donate the $5 to the transportation department for our 4th of july parade fund. That way it was going back to those who actually made more effort behind the scene than I had in the situation. We rode with Kaynie from the Mex Depot to Talkeetna where she had everyone on board her coach sing me happy birthday. Sadie, Becca and I helped in the shuttle stop where STUPID skip started screaming at me telling me "You don't know what you're doing" and "stop ruining my operation" He's really dumb though and no one listens to him. He's one of those guys who is given a little power and runs with it. The thing is he had no right to even be in the shuttle lot barking orders to drivers OR ME none the less. He has no say in what goes on in the parking lot...So I was so mad that I decided i'm not even going to help me with his parking catastrophe. The 3 of us girls then caught the first coach out of the lot which was Andrews coach. I listened to my iPod and took a much needed nap on the way home. Sadie and I got home and we took another long nap. After sleeping through dinner at the EDR everyone insisted that I eat at a resteraunt. Being that it was a Ship day (McKinley Express, which is people coming straight up from their cruise to our lodge) All the restaurants were pretty full. We ordered take out and drove down to get it. When coming back to my room I stepped inside a room of like 15 people. We ate and talked for awhile when then they showed up at a huge chocolate cake! Haha dear friends even had a lighter for me to blow out that they held on top. I opened a few gifts from them and then we took some pictures. After that we played apples to apples and it was an all around good time. After a long and tiring birthday I went over to Joy and Kaynie's room to unwind and just relax for awhile before bed. Before actually going to sleep that night I was reassured that they had left the lights on all night to "charge" my glow-in-the-dark stars above my bed so that I could star-gaze. Everyone up here knows how excited I get when my stars are charged enough to shine brightly. Chris insisted that he spend my birthday with me ALL THE WAY up until it was no longer my birthday, so he was able to star-gaze with me. It was an awesome day and I couldn't have asked for a better Alaskan 19th Birthday. Although I missed my family and friends back home, I couldn't be blessed with better friends here in Alaska who poured their hearts and soul into making my day absolutly wonderful. Also-Thanks to all those who sent me Text messages and sweet phone calls throughout the week/day. It is greatly appreciated to know i'm remembered and you care:) Sorry for those I was unable to talk too, as you can tell it was a busy day and I just didn't have the time to answer every call. After all this- I love you all, and thank you for the most wonderful day:)

Sadie is the Best Roommate!

This is my bed. Sadie Beth and Carissa Decorated it for me!

These are the best friends in the whole wide world! I couldn't ask to be associated with more pleasant people:)

Chris and I

Our Alaska Shirts

My sisters Birthday Balloon that made the party what it was! Thanks stephanie:)