Actual Termination Dust

I looked back, and it was August 25th when I saw powdery snow on one mountain top. Yesterday, Sep 11, ALL of the mountains from here to Carcross had fresh snow. The level had to be down to 5000 feet, so the taller mountains had a lot of snow. It is still a powdery look, like sugar sprinkled on chocolate, but it won't all melt in one day this time. The temperatures are staying in the 40's and 50's down here at sea level, so probably colder up high.
We got a good bear viewing yesterday, as well as a good (meaning not too high) goat viewing.
One benefit of the rain is that the waterfalls are more spectacular, and more numerous.
Peggie won at cards again last night. Since Jane came back from Sitka to replace Karin and Rhonda we have adopted her scoring rules, which means when you don't make your bid, you go set 10 points. Before, if you didn't get your bid you just stayed even. The new scoring method somehow benefits Peggie more than the rest of us.

Yeah, it's real rain!

I believe Bill mentioned something about the rain here feeling more like fog and it doesn't really get you wet and is more of a mist than a fog. Well.....remember, he LEAVES Skagway most days.

It does rain here, it is wet, it has lots of drops, windshield wipers are necessary and there are lots and lots and lots of big puddles. People like to come into the shops to get out of the rain...that's a good thing. Modern technology means that raindrops are not absorbed into most jackets...they bead up and slowly fall to the floor...or people come into the shop and shake out their jackets and umbrellas...that's not such a good thing.

Now we'll see what happens. Bill mentioned all that about the rain and how it really isn't much of anything and since then it has been pouring. So now I've let you know about the rain and how it really IS much of anything so maybe now we can return to more of a mist.

Yeah, I vote for that!

How do you spell excitement?

Peggie is going out to celebrate Maria's birthday tonight. Maria is one of the locals who work the quilt store during the winter.
Don and his company are getting to dine on one of the cruise ships tonight. Sorry Karin.
I will get by somehow. Don't cry for me, Argentina.
The rain today was nearly endless in both time and distance. My wipers whipped back and forth for the whole trip up. At the ranch, it was barely sprinkling. When we went back to pick up the riders, the sun was out there. One of the two riders got tossed. Her horse had been spooky, all the horses were, and at one point she found herself on the ground. Just like when I fell, there was no sense of time between being on the horse and being on the ground. She had been uncomfortable on the spooky horse, so she decided to walk. Put yourself in this place. You are out in the woods in the Yukon. Your horse has just tossed you. The other riders are some distance away. You look to the side and you see a wolf. You see a WOLF! That is how you spell excitement. The wolf went away before she got herself together enough to take a picture. She didn't say so, but this is where I would have started walking real fast.
Shortly thereafter, we saw a flock of Dall sheep, over twenty, on the hill near Spirit Lake. We haven't seen Dall sheep in a long time. Then, 15 miles later, we came around a corner and there was a moose by the road. Moose sightings are very rare, so good one.
Every time the sun found a way through the clouds, however far away, the colors were breathtaking. The colors are now spanning the spectrum and showing up everywhere. There are still lots of green trees, so the color should continue for a while.
It is still raining in Skagway at 6pm.

untwisting

What we decided to do is share the job. Barry and I will each get half a salary. That seemed more equitable since neither one of us could pack up and leave early. There are still only 6 ship days and we will most likely have a total of 7 or 8 runs to split, compared with 20-24 in a normal pay period.

When I researched the weather patterns for Skagway, I learned that about 30% of the annual precipitation falls in Sep and Oct. Sure enough, since Aug 12 we have had just a handful of rain-free days. But this is not Tucson rain. The mist or intermittent setting on the wipers is the most valuable setting. Never high speed. The rain falls more at night than during the day. So far the wind seldom blows while it is raining, so awnings provide shelter. But shelter isn't necessary unless you have to stand in the rain for a long time. The droplets are very small, often it just feels like heavy fog rather than rainfall. Oh, and there is fog! At the summit, which is almost 3300 ft, the clouds lay in at about 2000 ft. So for miles the fog can be so thick that visibility is 40-50 feet. Not so good for a sightseeing tour. I tell my passengers that this is the place where you can see Russia on a clear day.

But once we get north a few miles the fog clears and we can see the changing leaves. I am just in awe. It literally gets better every day. Good thing, too, 'cause the bears are hiding. I am told that the leaves will fall, but then the snow starts on the mountains, and that that is a beautiful sight, also.

Peggie's store is busier than ever. It seems that the people taking the bargain priced cruises are more likely to be quilters, or something. Anyway, there won't be any winding down for her.

Don has his operation running more smoothly, so he is not working so long and hard. Once in a while he 'has to' go along on a run as the extra jeep.

Yesterday I overheard the first of the "if I don't see you, have a good winter" conversations. I guess that will happen a lot. I remember in the spring hearing a lot of "hey, good to see you came back" type greetings.

Right now it is raining, and I have to go get ready for work. I think I will reretire soon.

Yet another twist on TWTWS

Yesterday Dave called a company meeting. Remember that is three of us. He reminded us that at the beginning of the year, we signed a contract to work this last pay period (half of a month) at a 20% reduction in pay, because there are four days with no ships. Okay, we both (Barry and I) knew that. But Dave throws in a new twist. He wants one of us to voluntarily take a lay off. He has looked at the pre-booked tours and decided that he won't need both of us on any of the ship days. So on the one hand, that is perfect because, as I said, everyone in town is ready for the season to be over. But on the other hand, (trust me on the math, here) continuing to work nets a 13% pay raise when calculated per day, plus the opportunity for tips, plus both of our wives still have to work. So working makes sense, too. What to do. If I take off, I will have lots of time to get the trailer ready for travel. We can play hard on Peggie's remaining days off, maybe complete the bucket list. But I don't need that much time to prep the trailer, and I'd throw away enough money to buy all of our gas on the way home.
We have three days to volunteer, but if neither of us does, then Dave will be forced to make a management decision. That is a pretty good reason not to volunteer, right there.
But what will Dave do if we both want to take the lay off? That's a fun scenario, too.
All over town, employees are bailing out, and here is Dave trying to toss one overboard. TWTWS

Semi-hare-brained

Today is a three-ship day, but two of them leave early, so people tend to buy fewer tours for fear they won't get back on time. What do they think, that we run out of gas or get stuck or something? Sheesh, we are all professionals here.

So I opened the office and played Maytag repairman until noon. Nada.

I was going to replace the taillight on the truck, but Don was free too, so we had to go do something.

Stop giggling, nothing crazy has happened yet!

We both have wanted to hike the trail beside International Creek (it is called that because it forms the border between BC and Alaska) because there are numerous waterfalls and runs into a pretty little alpine valley into a lake. So we decided to do that. The only warning bell that should be sounding is that we are together so there is nobody to rescue us if necessary. We saw a couple of goats on a vertical cliff on the way up the valley. That was cool.

When we got to the pullout, we got water bottles and jackets and set out down the trail. It was a steep trail. We both commented that it would be harder coming back up. Halfway down we came to a point where we could see that the lake on the right drained via a creek to the lake on the left, a fact not obvious from the top. Somebody had placed almost enough rocks to make the crossing possible. Nobody fell, but Don swung a boot through the water unnecessarily. We got up to the first waterfall, but there was no way to get to the bottom, so we went to the top. Then we wandered around for a while until we found a pretty pond. I sat down on the tundra or whatever you call that soft plant and found a nanny and kid to watch on the opposite hillside.

When we decided to go back after hiking about a mile and getting only a half mile away from the truck we wanted a zip line or bridge. We were level with the parking lot, but had to go down about 200 vertical feet and back up about 200 feet. Vertically. And we were at high altitude, 3000 feet or so!

Anyway, it was at this point that my little toe reminded me that it was broken, and my thighs remembered how heavy my feet are, and my lungs got real small. Don said his glutes were complaining the loudest. But we persevered. The climb (I said vertical, didn't I?) was accomplished in only four stages.

One of the friendly officers was at the customs gate and she said something like "Oh, the two of you are together, huh?" Her tone suggested that she thought we might be a problem together. Afterwards Don told me that he had told her he had to pull me out of the sand on Friday.

So now we are home safe and sound. Fresh-caught halibut is baking at Don's, Peggie is fixing asparagus and potatoes to go with it, and I am posting. I always get the hard job.

Ruminations on ending the season

Welcome to the blog, Anita. Thank you for letting us know you are here, and for sharing.

You made me think a bit. Skagway, when you are working, is like Tucson in February, too much to do and too little time. Working half time might allow for all the interesting things to do and see. So much is dependent on the season that you can't do it all on just a visit. Working full time here is just like working full time anywhere, you get too tired to do everything that sounds good at first. For instance, there was a blues musician here recently, and more recently, bluegrass. Both sounded like fun a month ago, but come the night of, and you're just too tired to stay up that late and battle the smoking crowd. (They don't have Tucson's nearly universal ban on smoking here) On the other hand, it would be hard to stay here all summer with no job. As we have said before, life is expensive here. Compromise: a necessary evil.
We will not get to do everything in the short time left. We have not ridden the train yet, nor gone on the helicopters. We haven't hiked up to Dewey Lake, something we wanted to do in May. We haven't overnighted in Whitehorse, but mainly because there is nothing so special there that we needed to. They have the most pathetic Walmart in the world.
Everyone you talk to now is in agreement that the season is a month too long. I don't know anybody who wouldn't end it today if they could. Note to cruise lines: take two weeks off each end of the season and sell the same number of berths on fewer ships; win-win.
I talked with another driver today who said he is done, not returning next year (after 5 years), then said that is the biggest lie told in Skagway.