Sunny Prince of Wales and Sketchikan

I have 1 hour to get this blog posted before the mall kicks me out so here goes! I left off with the day before we left for another “business” trip to Prince of Wales. I biked to the grocery store to buy groceries in prep for Kelli’s visit and a new water bottle because Owen said he wouldn’t talk to me until I stopped drinking out of a pasta sauce jar. I overheard someone saying that the jökulhlaup, which means flooding of glacial waters, had happened at the Mendenhall Glacier. So after grocery shopping I biked over there and it was crazy! Huge trees were halfway covered in water, paths were closed, logs were floating down the river. Awesome.

Flooding at the glacier

Underwater garden

I saw a porcupine!

Saturday morning we flew to Ketchikan on a commercial plane then took a float plane to Prince of Wales. It was sunny and hot. I’m dead serious. I’m so excited I’ll just come right out and say it- the next four days were also sunny and hot. A freak of nature occurred. Anyway, the float plane ride was fun, except for this super strange Christmas song that the pilot played which included a verse about tampons. There was a maggot-covered mushroom at the Hollis bunkhouse, in case you were wondering. Di, Mark and I did respiration work for a few hours then went grocery shopping. This time I restrained myself but still bought peach rings, chips, chocolate Chex Mix, and chicken wings. Di and I then ran 9 miles to the bunkhouse we were staying at for the next two days. It was a great run along the ocean, and we talked the whole way. Later that night the three of us pigged out on beer and two different types of pizzas. Before bed Peter, one of the guys staying at the bunkhouse, and I baked surprise brownies for Mark (it was his birthday a few days ago).

Our pilot

Near our bunkhouse in Craig

Sunday morning Di and I lit candles in the brownies and presented them to Mark- he had no idea we were doing this! Despite the fact that he saw us buy brownies and candles (he thought they were gummies), the scent of brownies filled the bunkhouse the night before, and we asked for his lighter to light the candles. We pulled it off! Plus we got to eat brownies with breakfast. That day we drove almost two hours to get to our work site. We took lots of pictures of “extreme respiration” as per the request of the creator of the measurement equipment. After we finished work, we drove around on remote back roads looking for the town of Naukati, which Di and Mark claimed had a general store that they had seen in a video. I was praying it sold icecream. Finally, after an hour we found it! No icecream but we did get delicious cream sodas. I felt like such an Alaskan. On the long drive home, we munched on snacks from the feed bag, as Mark calls it. Had a kick ass dinner of fruit salsa, chicken, and chipotle-sour cream in tortillas that Di made.

 

Working hard or hardly working?

Berries from the side of the road!

In cream soda heaven

Found a starfish!

View from near the bunkhouse

On Monday we moved out of the Craig bunkhouse and into a Forest Service cabin at Polk inlet. We had a long day of work involving lots of mosquitos, a possible high off of DEET, and a bear sighting! Di almost walked right up to the bear when I spotted it in the woods. Di and I went for a short run and then went swimming! We cooked shishkabobs over the fire for dinner. I had a field day taking pictures that night.

Referring to a cafe along the side of the road

Our cabin is off to the right

So pretty!

Tuesday morning Di and I woke up around 6am and ran for an hour! I thought I was going to hate it, but it actually was awesome. I swam again, the water was freezing but it woke me up for real. It was another long day of work. At one point, a huge stick, maybe 6 feet long, had gotten attached to Mark’s backpack and he dragged it for a little bit before turning around and realizing he had a tail. At another point, Di tripped in the woods and just fell to the ground and stayed there for awhile. I packed all my stuff up because I was getting dropped off at another bunkhouse for the night- I was leaving a day early to get back in time for Kelli’s arrival. Anyway, we were all outside ready to get in the car but we somehow all just sat down and started eating chips. Finally we drove to the Hollis bunkhouse. I made dinner for the three of us, then Mark and Di left to go back to Polk Inlet. I watched an episode of Game of Thrones with people at the bunkhouse.

On Wednesday I took the ferry from Prince of Wales to Ketchikan. It was a three hour ride, pretty fun. I read, listened to a guy playing a harmonica, and napped. Once I got to Ketchikan I navigated the local bus system like a pro and paid only $1.50 to get to and from downtown! I wandered around with my huge backpacking backpack and got the usual comments- “That must weigh as much as you!” I precariously navigated tiny, busy tourist shops with the pack. I was wearing a Cornell hat and shirt, and that must have been the magic combo because two different people approached me saying they researched at Cornell or had relatives that went to Cornell. Both of them shook my hand and one guy said his mom would be so happy. I came across an interesting group of drunk guys that swore they could show me the most kick-ass view in town, I found it on my own, thank you very much. I also responded to the name “Red Boy” ( I had a red shirt and red hat on) which was actually referring to an old man. When I was so tired from carrying my pack that I could barely stand upright, I got lunch at a little burger shack. Since the government was paying, I went hog wild and spent $20 on a burger, fries and a milkshake. Livin’ big! As I was about to leave, this guy, maybe in his upper 20’s, came up to me and shot the shit for a bit and then asked if I WANTED TO MARRY HIM!!?! He said that I was so cute, I should move back to Washington with him… It was so strange. I did not know how to respond. So between the drunk guys and the marriage proposal, I thought Ketchikan lived up to its Sketchikan nickname. To be continued, the library is closing!

A cute street in Ketchikan

Down at the docks