Saturday, March 21, 2015

62.3114° N, 150.0869° W

These are the approximate coordinates which shall be my squirrelly home for the next several months.  Better known as Talkeetna, Alaska. I'll pause for a moment to let that sink in.

Yes, it's true.  Your favorite 60-pair-of-heels-owning, insect-phobic, manual-labor-averse, midnight-pizza-delivery-ordering, sofa-loving city kid is taking a summer job in Alaska. And by job I mean not a cubicle in sight.  My awesome amazing superfly (and not just because she's my soon-to-be-boss) friend Stephanie had the right opening, at the right time, in the right place (yes, I'm serious)...so off I go.

The sorta-specifics:

Who:  Me.  And my aforementioned superfly friend Steph, and her husband/my brothah-from-anothah-mothah Jack.  And their ultra-superfly kids, Brandon and Abi.  And their family and friends. And approximately 6,335,976 mountain climbers, cruise tourists, train tourists, tourist tourists, pilots, rafters, drunks, hikers and other curious denizens of planet earth.

What:  Bunkhouse Overlord and Customer Service Diety, with with a side of van shuttling, story telling, story listening, cat herding, smile spreading and general whatever-the-hell-needs-to-be-done. 

Where:  About 2 hours north of Anchorage, near the base of the highest mountain in North America. (Wikipedia, and then Google Image "Talkeetna").  I'll be working for an aviation company who specializes in flight-seeing tours/glacier landings and mountain climber base-camp drop-offs. 

When:  Late April (ish) to early Sept. (ish)

How:  Culling the clutter and putting the things I actually love and/or need into storage, along with my car.  Details not finalized yet, but probably at a friend's house,  Selling/donating the rest.  Getting on a plane with whatever fits in two suitcases.

Why:  Hell that's a whole blog of it's own.  Readers digest version - I need a break from the noise, both literally and figuratively.  I've been a city kid for most of my life; buses, sirens, garbage trucks, midnight construction, honking horns, drunken idiots, barking dogs, all just part of the landscape. For once in too long, I'd like to wake up to the sound of nothing.  Or at least a new and unfamiliar set of noises. I want to smell wildflowers and pine needles instead of exhaust fumes and urine.  I want to smile at strangers and not be eyed with suspicion. I want to spend my days doing what comes naturally to me - interacting with humans, travelling humans in particular. Hearing their stories, sharing their adventure (and in this case, getting paid to make that adventure amazing!), and more often than sometimes, making life-long friends. I want the option to walk/bike ride for an hour and not see another soul. I want for life to be a bit...a Costco-sized bit...less comfortable.  I need to lose a few conveniences to rediscover a few long-buried strengths.  Science says I still have, on average, 42.31% of life remaining, which means I better get going.  So many squirrels...so little time.



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