Denali - The High One

Pictures and details to follow.

In the meantime here is the list of wildlife we saw with our own eyes!

Moose
Caribou
Wolf
Grizzly Bear
Black Bear
Porcupine
Orca
Humpback whale
Sea Otter
Stellar Sea Lion
Dall porpoise
Dall Sheep
Mountain Goat
Golden Eagle
Bald Eagle
Great Horn Owl
Snowshoe jack rabbits
Fox
reindeer (domesticated caribou)
marmot
squirrels
Puffins
Magpie
dozens of other birds

Here we go......

We leave in 45 minutes. The bags are in the truck and the pillows are next to the door.

Hip Hip Hooray!

The job

One last update on my job.

The woman I replaced is back. She is doing some projects that are related to my job. Rather than train me she is just doing them. Whatever. She said to my boss that she and I would have a number of months to work on things before I need to submit the projects again. FINE, whatever.

Today she sent me an email saying that as part of my continued training she would be reviewing the work I have done for the last 10 weeks and provide feedback on what I did.

WHAT???????????? THEY WILL PAY SOMEONE TO COME IN AND CHECK MY WORK? WHAT???

A couple of weeks ago I said to my boss that I had visions of the bitch coming back and grading my work and marking it with a red pen and telling me where I have made an error or how I could have come to the same fucking answer using her preferred method.

Fuck that. I have worked at a bunch of places, I am in my 30s and pretty much a job hopper like my peers. We hop job to job to up our pay, it works real nice that way. So in all of my jobs never ever has someone returned a few months later to check my fucking work. NEVER. Come on if I'm making huge errors or doing something wrong. A. Accounting would call my boss. B. Patients would call and complain that I'm fucking up their billing. C. Doctor's would call and complain that I'm fucking up their billing.

Last week my boss said to me that she hasn't heard one single complaint about me and really she only hears positive feedback.

So I forwarded my boss the email (which she was copied on anyway) and said that I guess my visions were not too far off base.

So yay me, I get to work a full day and then come in during the night and weekends to train; FOR A NUMBER OF MONTHS.

Again fuck that. Just because the bitch is a spinster doesn't mean I want to be away from my life outside of work as much as she does. I have someone to come home to.

Alaska – The Plan

We arrive in Anchorage on Thursday near midnight. Cousin Tom will pick us up at the airport. We will head to Tom’s place in Palmer, home of the giant cabbage. We may not be able to partake in Tom’s adventure as the spring has been unusually cold and the boat isn’t in the water. That is just fine; I know there are a million and one hikes alone just outside his door. We hope to cook a nice dinner for our host and just hang out. Maybe visit his garden.

We head back to Anchorage on Monday to pick up our camper. It is suppose to be a truck with a camper queen bed and kitchen and bathroom. We have requested a cd player, cross your fingers for us.

First stop south to the Kenai Peninsula. From what we’ve read the best 127 miles of campgrounds and hiking trails, totally undeveloped and without services! The drive from Phoenix to LA is quite like that, but without the campgrounds and hiking and a total pain in the ass. We’ll arrive in Seward when we get there; leaving enough time to do much of the following prior to Friday morning mid-day.

Take a long boat trip out to see Kenai Fjords National Park.
See Exit glacier
Spend some time in a bar in Homer

Friday Morning at the latest:
Take a 6 hour ferry from Whittier to Valdez across Prince William Sound. The ferry stops for wildlife and a picnic at an island.

Time permitting, kayaking in Prince William Sound with god willing orcas! Can you imaging kayaking near a whale?

From Valdez we will drive the 8 hour trip to Denali National Park. On Saturday we have to pick up our tour tickets for Sunday’s 6-8 hour guided bus tour of Denali National Park.

Weather permitting we may skip the Prince William Sound trip and go back to Palmer for Tom’s trip which includes a flight seeing tour and kayaking.

Also weather permitting we may do a flight seeing tour of Mt. McKinley

We need to be back at the airport by 6ish on Tuesday.

I can’t wait to post what we actually did, with PICTURES!!! I can take 900 pictures!

We hope to hike every single day we are traveling and hopefully see lots of amazing beauty and wildlife.

7 days

6 sleeps from now I will be on a plane to Alaska! Ok first Seattle then ALASKA.

I have a million and 1 things to do and what am I doing? Wasting time online. Hooray!

Doing

Working on birthday presents for Matt.

Writting lists in my head of things we need for Alaska.

Dreading the return of the bitch who still holds the title for the job I do.

Not blogging as I have nothing of note to say.