07/23/11

UP!  Coffee in the main office?  YES!  OH!  And it’s actually GOOD coffee not some watered down crap that is disguised as coffee!  Outside soaking up the sun and the view of the mountains.  And Alaska (heart).  And today?  Well, Amber Pants is angry because her best friend from 19 years ago is right down the street somewhere and she can’t visit him and his wife and his 3 kids.  Nope.  Supposedly I’m some sort of threat.  Tsssssssssss.  Lame.  Maybe I’ll distract myself by driving the coast and looking at glaciers.  OR!  I can distract myself by talking with this older gentleman from New Mexico who is also on a road trip!!!  Bill Baggett!  And noooooooo, he’s not a hobbit silly!  Two hours!  We talked for TWO HOURS about life and stuff and it was amazing!!  Best quote I am taking away with me:  “It’s not how many breaths you take, it’s how many times your breath is taken away from you.”  Yes.  Perfection.  In all aspects.  Thank you Bill and I hope you are still having amazing and awesome adventures!

And now I drive!  Anchorage Coastal Trail for a walk.  I’d like to call it hiking, but it was paved and flat and there were people using it to exercise and ride their bikes to work, so yea, it was a walk.  OMG!  I’m in ANCHORAGE!!!!  AH!!!!!!!!

Now we will drive down the coast toward Girdwood and see what all this hub-bub is about………OH!  Um.  Yea.  Breath.  Taken.  AWAY.  It is indescribable!  Amazingly big and gorgeous and, AH!!!  Give me adjectives!!!!  How is so much beauty packed into this space??!!!  It’s real windy though!  I can’t even drive the speed limit because I’m worried Leeloo is gonna get thrown off into the ocean!  Somehow I made it all the way to the turn off to Girdwood and I get the call!  Coast is clear.  Come hither!  YAY!!!!  Gimmie Draper family now!  GO!  Oh…crap…that means I need to get away from Girdwood FAST!  DOH! 

4:00 pm:

This is the point in time where I meet the two most amazing people on earth!  Nick and Stella Draper!  And of course their aweshum daughter Lotus!  Nick is the best friend of my best friend (from 19 years ago) and I have also never met him (Nick) in person…until…NOW!  YAY!!!!!  And they’re letting me into their home.  They don’t even know me.  Who ARE these people??!!  <3

Off we go to Chickaloon (?) to a commune thing where we will proceed to hang out and play and have drinks and be happy!!!!!!  YES!  I also got to ride in a VW camper van.  Yep.  Mines!

Late:

Sleep.

07/22/11

Today.  I’m sad.  I hafta leave Fairbanks and ALL of the amazing people I met here.  How does that happen??!!  I’ve been here for what, 3-4 days?  BAH!  So connected.  So quickly.  And I wish I could have more moments with them to sit and talk and laugh.  Next time?  (sigh).

I’m going to Denali and either sleep in the hostel or in a campground…OK!  GO!  Before you change your mind and never leave!!

BUT!  No.  Amber just keeps drivin’.  Denali is packed and I just need to move and think.  I’m not supposed to show up in Wasilla until Saturday after 4 pm.  Yea.  It’s like that.  Schedule conflicts we’ll call them.  Somehow…even though Wasilla is 8 hours from Fairbanks I end up there.  WHA??  How did this happen??  Alright then.  Shhhhhhhhhh!!!  Don't tell anyone I'm in town!  I'll get in trouble!!  Shhhhhh!!!  Let’s find a hotel and sleep in a real bed!!  Wheeeeeee!!!  Ooooooooo!!  Shower!!!  And CRASH!  Sleep!

07/21/11

I’ve been pretty much landlocked for weeks now and this Panda needs water (specifically ocean) in order to survive.  That and sun and crushes and laughter.  Today?  We will go to Chena Lake…and when I say “we” I actually mean me, by myself. 

76 degrees in Alaska today.  Hawt.  First things first though:  vitamin water and energy drink thang in a can!  GO!  I end up at the corner station, go in, get ma’ stuffs, walk back out to get into my car.  Yea.  You know where this is going, huh?  Jacked up red hot truck pulls out from the pumps with 2 dudes in it…rolls over behind my car.  Passenger dude leans out and says, “I love you.”  HA!  WHA??!  I smile and do the stun gun laugh (it didn’t work—he’s still talkin’).  Dude:  “That’s not a bad opening line is it?  How ‘bout I follow it up by taking you out to dinner tonight?”  Well, dude.  That’s pretty good, but Imma busy tonight, sawreee!!!  Truck pulls slowly away (thank goodness, because I couldn’t get out with yer big truck in back of my wee lil’ Honda Element). 

Ok then.  Let’s do this lake thang!

It’s beautiful here.  There are small lakes all aboot and each one has different things going on.  I pulled up to the first one and there are 3 military dudes fishing and a family in an RV having lunch.  Hiked a wee bit on the back dirt road, then drove around to the swimming lake.  And lakes here are pretty much pond size…GAH!  Swimming lake covered in a blanket of screaming and running children!  AH!  No!!  The beach part is fairly small too so it may be awkward for me to just plop down by a family and run into the water, huh?  Plus………..the children………..they are EVERYWHERE!!!!  GO!  I found a path that went through the woods and connected to another small lake.  Took some pictures, walked back, got in my car and drove to the first lake!  This un’s quiet and if I sneak through the woods area here no one will even know that I am here!  I sat on the edge of the lake at a picnic table for…ever!!!  It was amazing and quiet and the military dudes completely ignored me!  YAY!!!!!

Back to the cabin!   Hanging out on the deck with a PBR and some sunshine!  AH!  Eat Amber!  1 cheese stick, a bread roll, and ½ bag of single serving Fritos do not constitute a healthy diet!  Stop it!!! 

Today is Thursday.  I’m pretty sure Ryan came home after work and then we went out?  I don’t remember…AH!  It’s not written down anywhere and I didn’t log anything on the Facebook.  I’m gonna assume that we went to the Marlin again.  Hmmmmmmm…(shrug)

I do know that we were up late again because the sun was still out, but it was midnight.  Awesome. 

WAIT!  NO!  Phineas Gauge was THIS night!!!!  We did go to the Marlin!  Ryan played!  Phew!  I remembered!!!  YAY!!!!!  Duff dude was THIS night.  Ok, so the last part of 07/20 was wrong...please re-read as if it's the 21st.  Gosh!  Probably should have done this earlier, huh?  Whoops!

07/20/11

10:30 am:

UP!  Ouch!  UP!

Imma gonna drive to Chena Hot Springs today all by myself and see what these are all aboot!  Wheeeeeeeeeeee!!

Hike!!  Total hiking mileage=8!  Imma tired!  Gimmie hot spring now please!

So I got my ticket to get into the hot spring before I started hiking.  Now I walk into the lil’ vestibule thang and start looking at all the signs ‘cause I don’t want to get in trouble for not doing something right.  (snarf) Yea, Amber…nice try sweetheart.

Gentleman at the counter says “Ma’am.”  Yes?  “You can’t go in there without a ticket.”  Yes, I know, but your signs continue down this hallway and I’m just reading all 40 million of them!!!  I have a ticket though.

Signs read.  You know what sign wasn’t up???!!!  “Ma’am.”  Yea?  “You have to remove your shoes before you go in there.”  Oh.  Sorry.  “Ma’am.”  AH!  WHAT??!!  “I need to see your ticket.”  Oh.  Right.  Sorry.

I got my boots off and a kind gentleman sitting on the bench (also taking his shoes off) informed me that I should take my socks off too or they’ll get wet.  Thanks!!!

I turned around shoes and socks removed, ticket given to attendant, signs read, and asked if I was clear to go in now…and that I didn’t want to get into any more trouble.  He said yes, I was fine…this dude has NO sense of humor.  Tssssssssss.

Locker room!!!  Strip down to my swimsuit and see a sign (YEA!  ANOTHER ONE!!) on the wall that says no cutoffs…hmmmmmm…I look at one of the women who just came into the locker room from the spring and ask her if my shorts were ok (they’re cloth “sport” shorts from the 80’s with white edging).  There was some debate between her and her entire friend group and they finally decided that they meant denim jeans with frayed edges.  Phew.  Ok.  She told me I was supposed to take a shower before going in but that there was no one on the outside who would notice.  She did tell me that I should NOT under any circumstances take a shower after I had gone into the spring…since you know it’s sulfur and smells like death!!!  Ok!  READY!  Give. Me. Spring.

Have you ever been in a hot spring?  Holy smokes!  That stuffs HOT!!!  So here I am slowly getting into the water (there’s a sloping walkway that leads to the floor of the spring pool), I spy a place that is fairly empty (there are about 20 people in the spring) and sidle over to it.  It is AMAZING!!!!  Everything immediately relaxes.  UGH!  Nice.  I hear a couple talking to another couple and he points to a corner and tells them that it is REALLY hot right there…hmmmmmmm…ok…….hotter than here???!!  Imma gonna go see!  I slowly walk over to the area and am like “tsssssssss, whatevah dude.  This ain’t……AH!  GGGGGAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!”  Ok.  Yea, that’s hotter.  WAY hotter!  Ouchie.  It’s very difficult to be alone in a hot spring and discover this super hot area.  You can’t really look at a complete stranger and say “OH my gosh!!!  AH!  Careful!  It’s wicked hot right here!!” [laugh/giggle/smile]  You think I did that, huh?  Well, typically I would, but it was hot and I was getting delirious from the heat, which translates into “quiet”.

I see that there is this fountain shooting up from the middle of the spring and decide to investigate by slowly walking through shoulder deep boiling water…on my way there, the kind gentleman catches my eye (the one that told me I should take my socks off) and beckons me over to him.  Now, I ain’t no prude or embarrassed about stuff so easily, but when you’re in a hot spring in a two piece swimsuit alone with 6 military dudes hanging out on the rocks off to the side and a single man beckoning to you, yea, I will get a little on defense.  Cautious.  That, and I laugh louder in short bursts like a laugh stun gun.  It works wonders!!!  I think if I concentrate on it I will soon be able to burst eardrums with it.  That is my superpower!  Wheeeeeeeeee!!

So, I’m gonna chance this.  I’m pretty sure nothing will happen in broad daylight with a bunch of other people around.  I walk over towards him…….

“Honey.  What do you think you’re doing??”

“Wha?  Oh my gosh!  WHA?  What did I do now??!!  I read all the signs!!”  [laugh stun burst]

“You get into trouble wherever you go don’t you?”

“WHAT??  What did I do??”  [pitiful scared face…’cause now I think I really DID do something wrong]

“Oh, Honey.  Why do you think you’re in trouble??  You’re alone.  You’re beautiful.  Do you see how many couples are here?  Did you see how many of the women pulled their men closer when you stepped into the pool?  Did you see how many of those men were desperately trying to watch you?  Trouble.  Pure trouble I tell you.”

“Um………..you’re weirding me out, dude.  If you saw all that, then…well…let’s just say you’re creepy.”  [this is what I thought]

“Um…oh.  Whoops”  [laugh stun burst]  “I guess I’ll just go over here then and try to blend in.”

“There’s a rock over there that you can sit on and still be fully covered by the spring.  Don’t go over there though.  Please.  I don’t like the looks they’re giving you.”

“Oh!  You mean the 6 military dudes leering at me?  Funny.  I was just thinking it would be fun to swim over there and plop down right in the middle of them…NOOOOOOO!!!  ‘Course I’m staying away from that!!!  I ain’t stooped!!!!  Thanks for the info on the rock.  BYE!  I’ll try not to cause any more trouble.”

“hahahaha.  Yea.  You can try.”

Alright.  Imma done with this hot spring.  The fountain was cooler water…it was nice!  So, here I am getting out of the spring (just as a tour bus unloads a gagillion tourists)…and I feel a bit dizzy.  It’s late afternoon and I hiked 8 miles then went into a hot spring with ZERO stuffs in ma’ belly.  Uh oh.  Now wouldn’t that be the icin’ on the cake?  Trouble all right.  Passing out on the ramp to the hot spring=fail.  I made it though!!  Changed and ready.  Get outside, quick!  Where it’s 76 but feels sooooooo refreshing!!!

I got a breakfast bar, vitamin water, and a soda pop at the lil’ store there and proceeded to have a tailgate party at the Chena Hot Springs resort parking lot!  Classy!!!  As I was sitting there the military dudes walked by [great.].  One of them stopped and looked at me then proceeded to ask me if I was going horseback riding that day (Chena has horses that you can ride).  I told him no…”oh, ok.  Well, if you were, we were going to also and you look like you should be riding a horse.”  [walks away]

A.  What?  B.  WHA??!  C.  WHAT???!!  Ugh.  Imma out.

7:00ish pm:

Well, I was a’posed to meet Ryan at the Big I (The Big International) in Fairbanks right now, but I’m running a little late and now……..I have been captured by Owen, Aster, and Enigma!  These are the kids of the landlord who were playing in the yard when I opened the trunk of Leeloo…they spotted my hoop and of course, I had to take it out for them!  They are AMAZING!!!!!!!  Kids just blow my mind!  Owen’s like what 5?  Maybe?  He was all like, hey, look at me with this GIGANTIC hoop!  I can work it!!  WOW!  Um…hey guys?  As much as I would love to hang out with you for the rest of the night, I really need to get going…says the pied piper…

And NOW!  Big I with Ryan, Brandon (B.G.—which is now his new nickname?), Morghan, and Malory!  Some crazy drunk woman came up to us and asked if we had a minute to try and be nice to her…um…ok…GO!  She talked with Malory for a while then asked where to find the Natives…for um…well, you know. 

Malory and Ryan went over to a table to sit with some other people and as I was turning to go with them the dude next to me captured me.  How does this happen??!!  AH!  It was cool though.  He’s going to Deadhorse (Northern Alaska) to work on the pipelines.  He works on scaffolding…some people have pictures of their friends and family, cool stuff that they’ve seen, etc. on their phones.  This guy?  200 pictures of scaffolding projects that he’s worked on.  And guess who got to see ALL of them and the story behind ALL of them???  Yea.  This lady.  Oh geez.  It was quite interesting to begin with…but after the 50^th picture they all kinda started looking the same.  Shhhhhhhh.  Don’t tell him!  He was lonely.  I smiled a lot and said “mmmmm.”  “mmmm hmmm.”  “Oh!  WOW!”  “Cool.”  “Oh!  Gosh!  I’ve got to go see my friends since I’m just visiting and haven’t seen them in 20 years.  Sorry.  It was really nice to meet you.  Thanks for showing me your work!”

Sometimes, I miss Barbara.  She would have totally thrown interference for me after the 5^th picture.  Dear Amber Pants, try not to be so frackin’ nice to everybody!!!

At the table where I get to meet the infamous Todd!!!!!!  In person!!!  We’re friends on the facebook thang, but had never actually met.  Oh, internets.  You amaze me!!  I also got to meet Walter and Andrew.  Then we played a game “3 questions” which was really fun and eye-opening.  Like Truth or Dare but better…you have to give 3 answers to a question that someone makes up:  What would you not sell for cash?  What would you have done differently in your life?  Etc.  Try it.  It’s awesome!

Ok.  Now we need to go eat some chocolate mousse at a picnic table.  AFTER we reprimand Andrew about spending all of his birthdays ALONE!  BAH!  NO!!!!

Marlin!  Again!  I think Fairbanks just works and drinks.  That’s it.  I (heart) them.  Imma gettin’ tired though!  Oh my gosh!  It’s so crowded here tonight!  Phineas Gauge is playing tonight!  YAY!  I walk up to the bar to get a beer and this dude turns around and pays for my drink and Walter’s drink.  WOW!  Really??  Thanks Zane!!!

Upstairs on the deck we get to hang with Max and then………wait for it………..JEREMY!!!!!  YAY!!!!  He is also a friend in cyberspace whom I have never met in person.  And he’s frackin’ awesome too!!!  Wheeeeeeeeee!!!  Zane came up to hang with us for a bit too (he’s a DJ…supposedly real famous like too).  I went down to get another beer and some douchetube (Tony) decided to invade ma’ space and then follow me back up like a wee lil’ puppy dog.  Oh, and then?  He decided it would be fun to shake his booty in my general space…no.  nope.  That makes me angry.  Please don’t make me angry.  Please?  Ryan came to the rescue though claiming that both Malory and I were his wives.  HA!  Whoa!  And somehow that made him stop and go away.  Weird.

Phineas Gauge played and it was aweshum.  This is Cabin Rap.  Check them out.  Pure Alaskan art.  Thank you. 

Now we get to go home?  Nope.  Not until the military dude in the bright red Duff t-shirt finishes harassing us…thank you Nic for running interference by slamming yourself right next to me and crushing me before drunk crazy dude got to me.  (hearting)

NOW!  Home!  With Jeremy and Ryan and Chad came over (he’s the landlord)…somehow we all managed to stay up until 5am.  WHA??!!  Yea.  Fairbanks style. 

Sleep.  Goooooooooosh!

PS.  My theory:  Alaska doesn’t have many females and those that are there are tough and possibly gay.  If a new female appears out of nowhere, the males look her over and proceed to process this—Girl.  Babies.  Mine.  GO! 

Thank you to all of my loves in Alaska who kept me safe. 

07/19/11

Oh gosh…up!  Ugh!  UP!  UP!  UP!  10:30am…is there coffee here???  Please??  OH!  YAY!!!!!!  And I don’t wanna know how this mug was “wershed”, nope. 

So today?  Ryan’s at work and I’m in the Cabin soooooooo…let’s go do some laundry shall we?  ‘Cause, damn girl (cue: All American Rejects) youza gots stinky in the last week!!!  And ready!  Loadin’ up the washer annddd…BAH!  Out of  detergent??!!  Aw, man!  And the machine is broken!  WHA??!  Who has a broken soap machine at a laundry mat??!  Oh, but wait!  There’s this dude who just walked in with a big ol’ box of detergent.  The real kind too, not the hippie stuffs that Amber uses!  Annnnnnnnnnnnd…go, Unicorn!  May I?  Yes, please?  I did offer him cash for it, but he wasn’t haven’ none o’ that!  So.  I’m here in the laundry mat getting’ my clothes all clean and I actually contemplate crawling into one of the machines in order to clean myself.  Obviously that won’t work because I’m too big and may possibly drown after hitting my head, but still…it’s real tempting. 

Laundry done!  And you know what’s fun to do?  Well, most people after they’re laundry is done and folded just put it in their basket/bag and take it home.  Amber?  Well, she’s got ta’ put it in her closet which is her car which gets rather weird if there’s a busy gas station in back of you and you have to put your (ehem) stuffs into the plastic bin…and not just all willy-nilly, but actually organized and folded and rolled and stuff.  Luckily it didn’t have to be color coordinated!!!  GAH!!!

Off to Starbucks to get some real coffee!  Blog writing on the tailgate of the parking lot and a thought occurs to me.  Obviously, running water is scarce in Fairbanks, so there must be somewhere I can take a shower?  Maybe???  So I look up hostels thinking I can just charm my way into a shower…then I go out on a limb and look up “showers in Fairbanks”.  Oh internets.  You and the www impress me every time!!!  Yes.  Other people have had this issue and yes there are public showers in Fairbanks!!!!  At the laundromats!!!!!  Of course, I pick the one Laundromat that DOESN’T have a shower.  Tsssssssssssss.  Drivin’ now.  And I’m getting the lay of the land so I don’t need my phone map thingy as much after 1 day.  Hmmmmmmmmm.

B&C Laundromat!  Almost right across from the Marlin!!!  YAY!  Of course I go in first to make sure and ask her all the questions…how long, how much, is soap included?  15 minutes--!!!!!  WHOA!!  That’s long!!!  $4.50!!  Awesome!!  No it’s extra…that’s ok, I got my own stuff! 

It was the MOST AMAZING SHOWER ever.  Yes.  And no, I did not contract any sort of weird disease or foot fungus thing from it (thank goodness!!).

Clean!  Brush my hair out in the parking lot then stroll over to the coffee shop to get (yea) another coffee and write in my blog again!  This is where I met Patrick.  He has a ton of old school tattoos.  Like Black Flag and Misfits and Exploited and such.  For some reason he needed to sit and talk with me.  He’s learning how to tattoo and his friend is about to pick him up so he can practice on him…oh.  And now we’re gonna look through your gajillion photos on your camera so you can show me all your work…oh…whoop…you don’t have your shirt on in that one.  Awwww…tricky!!!  Don’t get me wrong.  This dude was super nice and obviously had been through some massive turmoil in his life like his neo-nazi tattoos that he had covered up because well it’s just sickening, Amber, how I was back then, but I’m ok now.  I love all humans.  Good for you Patrick!  You went from dirty nazi punk to crazy friendly smiley punk in his 40’s.  I heart you.  I hope you’re still ok.  He told me he was “better now”…after he realized that plotting to kill his ex’s boyfriend wasn’t such a good idea…Yea.  That’s who I sat with for 1 ½ hours and who I said no to when he asked me if I wanted to go out to lunch with him the next day.  Well, he gave me his phone number anyway because “I have the heart of an angel.”  Ok.  Byyyyeeeeeeeee!!!  (waves enthusiastically)

8:30 pm:

Boatel, which is a bar in Fairbanks, with Mallory and Ryan!  YAY!  Mallory works in the hospital and lemme’ tell ya’, she’s got some stories!  There is one about a woman who had some pain and they found out that she had…well, if you want the story let me know.  It basically involves a potato and a human area that should not hold a potato for oh say 2 months…there is also the story of the grotesquely overweight dude who had some side pain.  They had to surgically remove his remote control from his fat rolls.  Yea.  Ew.

I got to meet Anna this night too!  She’s a trained massage therapist and when I jokingly said, ok.  Gimmie, she wouldn’t let me say no.  And wow.  My shoulders carry a whole lot of stress and tension and all sorts of other stuffs.  It hurt.  YOUCH!  I went in to the bar to get her a thank you drink since she wouldn’t let me pay her…unfortunately that fell through since Coop (some great big dude at the bar) decided to buy us both drinks!!  Coop got a hug (he’s big) and Anna gave him a lil’ massage…HIS shoulders hold WAY more tension than mine!  HA!  Of course then after about 15 minutes the bartender came out with drink tokens for us…one more round from Coop.  WHOA!  Thanks buddy!!  Um……..BYE!!!  [waves enthusiastically again].

Pile Ryan and Anna into Leeloo.  Remember, I sleep in this car, so both backseats are up.  The passenger has a nice comfy seat sittin’ on ma’ pants.  YAY!  We ended up at a bar in the woods where you can pay $6 for a burger and then cook it yourself!!  WOW!!!  Ryan done got fed!  Phew!  Anna played the guitar on the porch while we sat around and drank and talked…and then it got cold…and then we were all tuckered out!

2:00 am:

Drove Anna home.  L  I miss her.  Drove Ryan and I to the Cabin.  SLEEEEEEEEEP!!  Please!!  OH MA’ GAWD!  It’s still light out!!!!  AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!  [Alaskan Amber]

07/18/11

Up!  And it’s 50 degrees this morning!  Which is wicked cold for me right now!!  I did not sleep in all my clothes last night, so I really really really don’t wanna unbundle myself from my cocoon.  No really.  I don’t.  Maybe I’ll fall back to sleep again…2 hours later…UP!  Fo’ realz!

Oh.  Ma’.  GAWD!  ALASKA!!!  It’s REAL!  And the feeling is just like the Yukon but even more so!!!!  It’s the last frickin’ frontier, man!  And I’m here!  Crossing the border!!!!!!!!  WHOA!!!!!

Rest stop.  This was posted before on the internets, but I thought I would just jot it down here for documentation.

I’m taking pictures because, yea, it’s amazing and BIG!  Everything is SO BIG!  Sky, land, mountains, everything.  I’m having trouble breathing it’s so amazingly gorgeous.

I pull up and park across from a truck towing a camper.  Bring out my phone to take some video, start recording in the car by letting you know where I am and what I’m about to show you, look up and see an older dude staring at me, then waving at me, then walking over to my car.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough space on my phone to capture the entire conversation (secretly), but this is what happened:

[4 dudes about 60 years old all esscited to talk with me]

Hi! You on your way to college??
Nope. I'm traveling.
You're from MAINE??!!!!!
Yep.

You drove all the way here??!!

Yep.

Do you know people in Alaska?

Yep.

Oh!!  Where??

Fairbanks, Wasilla, Girdwood.

Hmmmmm…you alone??

Yep.

Traveling??!!!!!

Yep.

[Dude walkes up to another dude 10’ away]

She’s ALONE and going to Alaska!!

Uh oh.

Yea!!!!!  She doesn’t even know.

Nope.  Someone like that shouldn’t be traveling in Alaska alone….does she understand??!!

I don’t think so.  She’s just so………..Gawd.

Yea.  She knows people there right?!

Yea.

Let’s just hope they’re guys and they take care of her and protect her while she’s visiting.

God, I hope so.

[Right stage:  Amber is 10’ away and within hearing distance.  WTF??!!!!!]

The best part about this is that they were genuinely concerned about me being a girl and going to Alaska alone while at the same time giving me leering looks and hand gesturing how “hilly” the road and mountains were.  Then…staring at me as I walked back to my car and drove away.  Creepy.  I’d say that the tourists from Minnesota may be a wee bit more scary than the Alaskan dudes.  (shrug) jus’ saying.

FAIRBANKS!  Ah!  Thank goodness.  Gimmie crushes please…oh, but I haven’t had a shower in what 3-4 days?  And I’ve been sleeping in my car that whole time?  Mmmmmmm.  Yummy.  Crush anyway.  GO!

Ryan.  Gimmie.  Ryan works at Julia’s Solstice Café in Fairbanks and he may or may not know that I’m arriving today.  Whoop!!!  Ahahahahaha!  So, I just drive up, park, walk in and ask if he’s working.  And YES!  Ryan!!!  YAY!!!!!!!!  I knew Ryan in Pennsylvania.  That was in 1992.  I was um…5?  (snarf)

I also got to meet Morgan and Brandon.  Brandon is the only person that I have ever randomly met who knew that my arm band was an ouroboros.  He is also the only person that I have ever met that instead of stating “Wow, you have a firm handshake!” said “WOW!  You have a MANSHAKE”!!!!  hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!  Nice!  So Ryan doesn’t get off of work until 7:30 so I gots to make myself scarce and perhaps tour this city called Fairbanks!  That’s in Alaska…in case you forgot…that I’m in Alaska!!!!!  Wheeeeeeeeeee!!!

1:30 pm:

Being a tourist by first going to the Fairbanks Convention & Visitors Bureau.  The woman there let me know where to go and what the most popular sites were around town.  Ok, so Fairbanks IS a city.  There are almost 100,000 people in Fairbanks, but this is kind of a muddled number because they just “recalculated” it by including the villages (which are the really small settlements that surround Fairbanks).  In comparison the population of Portland Maine (city) is 64,000.  Of course Maine’s total population is about 1.3 million people whereas Alaska?  They got around 700,000…and their state is the size of ½ of the United States.  Whoa.

Hungry.  I stop into this cute little place and order a veggie burger!  YAY!  Sit outside to enjoy the fact that…yea…I’m in Alaska, get my food, take a bite and ugh.  Semi-warm microwaved veggie burger.  Gross.  (sigh)

Walked around a bit taking photos, passed by some “Natives” sitting on a bench and heard one of the BEST comments…”WOW!  Honey!  Don’t make me get up and trip!!!!!!!”  Aweshum.

The ice sculpture museum gave tours and a short video on how ice sculptures were done so I went into the shop to see when it was and how much…unfortunately, the 2 dudes were a wee bit more than creepy and I didn’t feel like sitting alone in a dark room with them hanging around so I skipped it.  Meh.  Be safe Panda Pants.  Trust your inner warnings.

Ok, so now it’s about time for Ryan to get off of work…almost…well…in 2 more hours so I betcha I can take a nap here in the visitor’s center parking lot and no one would notice.  Yes!  Score!!  Nap!

7:00 pm:

Ryan’s off of work and we’re gonna go to the Marlin, which is the local “dive” bar for Fairbanks where all the cool kids hang out!  There’s an upper deck that’s all fenced in with plywood…I guess they had an issue with underage peeps scaling the 1^st story and getting booze, so they put plywood up to discourage it…and on said plywood?  An amazing feat of graffiti!!!  That I had JUST seen posted on the Facebook!!!!  WHOA!  Weird! 

We hung out here all night meeting a ton of people including Danny, who had this amazing black, neon green, and bright pink Hawaiian shirt on.  If I make fun of you, you know that I like you and feel comfortable with you.  Danny didn’t get that I guess and asked Ryan why I hated him so much.  (snarf).  Whoop!

2:45 am:

I drove Ryan home because, well, it was better than lettin’ him drive!  And to sleep the sleep on the floor of the Cabin.  No running water, outhouse, no heat (good thing it wasn’t winter!!).  Perfect.  Alaska…and it’s STILL light out.  And no, the sun will not go down today.  (heart)
You drove all the way here??!!
Yep.
Do you know people in alaska?
Yep.
Oh!! Where??
Fairbanks, wasilla, girdwood.
Hmmmmm...you alone??
Yep.
Traveling??!!!!
Yep.You drove all the way here??!!
Yep.
Do you know people in alaska?
Yep.
Oh!! Where??
Fairbanks, wasilla, girdwood.
Hmmmmm...you alone??
Yep.
Traveling??!!!!
Yep.

07/17/11

6:00am:

And…….I’m up! brrrrrrrrrrrrr!!  And cold!  Good thang I slept in all my clothes last night.  And there’s a wee lil’ creek right by my car down this embankment!  What better way to start the morning than to splash wicked cold water on your face and neck and head from a creek…in the YUKON??!!!  AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!  Perfect.

There’s a woman and her two small children across from me at the campsite and when she walks by I say good morning!  She walks over and starts talking to me.  I guess her and her kids are just traveling for a week down to Liard Hot Springs in BC and they are camping out while they do it (she’s native to the Yukon!!!!).  I offer her my small pile of wood and kindling, since in the Yukon all of their campsites offer free firewood!  And…I’m tired of carrying it around!  She’s very excited about it.  Yay!!!

“No Hunting Sheep”…don’t do it in the Yukon!  There are signs up, so don’t chu do it!!

And this day, July 17^th 2011 was one of the most amazing days on my trip.

Ready?

Driving on the highway (which is paved right now), crest a wee hill, and there standing in the middle of the road?  Full grown wolf.  And I had to stop, because she was smack in the middle of my lane staring me down as I got closer and closer.  And I stopped with her right in front of my car.  She looked at me for a moment then trotted around to the driver’s side door.  I, of course, had fumbled for my camera and took a couple shaky shots out through the windshield.  When she stood beside the car……..her head………was level with the window.  And she waited looking me dead in the eyes and quivering at the jaw just barely.  So we stared at each other there in the middle of the highway with no one else around.  Finally I broke my gaze, because I was feeling the need to just open the passenger side door and invite her in.  She would have been the perfect companion for the rest of the trip…other than the fact that she probably would have eaten ma’ face off.  But I’m sure it would have been out of love.

I started to slowly drive away all blurry eyed and shaky.  And what did she do?  She started trotting after the car!!!!!!  AH!!!  Gimmie!!!  Don’t you tempt me so, missy!!!  And drive.  Away.  With a sad heart, yet also with a stronger one.  A wolf.  In the Yukon.

And the rest of the story?  Well, it gets boring because, really!  What could compare to THAT??!!

Drove to Tok to see if a hotel room was in my future.  Naw, twasn’t.  $130.  Ouch!  Drove back to a campsite and camped out with some whiskey and cheesesticks.  Oh, and all of the campsites in the Yukon are either on a lake, river, or creek!!!  They don’t have showers, but if you’re feeling up to it you can jump in the water for a nice refreshing…OOOF!  Damn that’s cold.  Ok, maybe you should just toss it on your face and leave the rest to nature.