Today was the day when Julia stopped dragging her feet about deciding the next step and finally started to take action. The target: Maui's boating world. The weapon: one killer resume, edited by miss Geneva Wilgus; and a killer 5-second over-the-phone schpeel. Relentless, Julia tracked down phone numbers and followed up emails left and right...

OK, maybe it wasn't that intense or exciting, but it felt that way for me after being indecisive for so long. A phone call from Christine, an old neighbor who moved back to Hawaii, was the kick in the pants I needed. It feels good to be under pressure to reach a goal soon- busy season starts very shortly, so I'd better find a spot quick. I do miss working under pressure a bit: I guess old habits die hard.


In the meantime, not too much to report since my last posting. I have visited a couple of schools, including UMaine and the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont. It didn't knock my socks off like I expected, but the trip was a blast. I went with my friend Kyle and got to spend a night visiting my roomie Britt from Alaska (a UMaine alum from NH!). Kyle and I both (figuratively) drooled a little when we drove through the White Mountains, eager to hit the trail again. We got quite a snowstorm on the way back, which was rather exciting. Culinary school is still on my radar, but not as much in the forefront as it was previous to the visit and a chat with Geneva's mom about the difference between a passion and what makes you tick day-in, day-out. I know I love food and cooking, but I think that working in a restaurant likely wouldn't be the best outlet for that passion or the most gratifying career I might pursue.

I also got to spend a week in Tucson, Arizona, visiting my friend Alex from work this summer. We did quite a bit of hiking, which was great. One thing I've come to realize recently is how much I really love hiking. I may not be the most experienced backpacker, but sometimes I feel like the queen of day hikes. I also had no idea how much I'd like the southwest- it's beautiful, and entirely different than other landscapes I've seen. And it's surprising how easy it is to adjust to 80 degrees and sunny... what a shock when I had to walk back to my car at the airport in 12-degree darkness. Brr.


But for now, I'm doing the cold-weather chant. The pond out front looks like glass, but it's not quite frozen enough. Good. That gives me time to get my skates sharpened. :-)

Fall in the east

Hey all,

I've been "home" for a little over a week and a half now, although I haven't actually been at my house much. Since it's been so long since I've gotten to enjoy a fall in Maine (which any Mainer will tell you is the best season here), I've been out and about enjoying it as much as possible before I sit down to figure out what I'm doing next. I went up to Acadia, my 5th national park in the past month, to meet up with my roomie from Alaska for the last few days. She drove up from New Hampshire. It felt great to be camping, hiking and enjoying the simple life outdoors again... but the "mountains" around here look so small to me now!

The road trip was a great adventure involving many things I'd never seen before as well as some old familiars. I drove back down with 2 friends I met at work this summer, both from Michigan. We followed a pretty similar route to my last trip across the country but chose to take more back highways instead of the interstate. Although it may take longer, it's so much more rewarding and interesting and led us to some pretty neat and unexpected places. We met some memorable characters on our way through Canada on the Cassiar Highway, an old logging road-turned-highway that lacked any road lines and, for an occasional 20-mile stretch, pavement altogether. One of my favorite memories is driving up a narrow bulldozer track to a lookout behind an RV park in BC, as recommended by the owner, and having a lazy picnic above the valley with guitars and a bottle of red.

Back in the states, we first stopped in at Willamette and visited for a few days before heading to Yellowstone, probably the part of the trip we were all most excited about. Even after being in a national park around wildlife all summer, the three of us were blown away by what we got to see there. Buffalo, elk, moose, fox, deer, eagles left and right... it put Denali to shame! It's a very diverse park, and we didn't even get down to Grand Teton. As we crossed the midwest, we got to visit a lot of friends from work this summer, which was also really fun. Everyone's feeling rather lost now that our jobs are over and we're back in the real world, so our friends were pretty excited to hear about our adventures. I posted some photos on facebook, so feel free to check 'em out.

I'm about to go sailing with my family for the long weekend, but after that I'll probably start looking at new schools and coming up with some sort of (escape) plan for the winter until I can go back up to Alaska again. I'm thinking of applying to the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, and possibly WWOOFing somewhere farther south and warmer (working on organic farms: http://wwoof.org). Any suggestions? Bye for now!

College-hopping

I'm nearly home! It feels great to be back in the east, driving through little old farms and brick buildings again. Right now I'm visiting my friend Brittanie Partridge from high school at Elmira College in New York. Tonight's destination is Union College and Kyle Bucklin, about 3 hours farther east from here. Peter and I are finishing the trip together after having dropped off my two road-trip buddies from Alaska at their homes in Michigan. I should be home by the end of the week and then I'll post a longer entry about the road trip and what we did along the way. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone back home!
PS- Sorry about not posting in a long time- my laptop stopped picking up wireless towards the end of the summer.

Cold, but not too cold...

Things are starting to wind down at the docks of Kenai Fjords Tours, so I have escaped for two days. That means one for hiking AND one for catching up, which is why I find myself here at a computer at long last. Now that the snow has finally cleared off of the mountains, it's time to hit the trails. Oh, wait- summer's over now. It's cold out at night and the sun sets a whole lot earlier. Well, that was brief- sorry I blinked and missed it!

Well, I've learned up here that I really don't care for hot weather all that much, and that the rain is really neat... but boy, do I miss swimming. I've been jumping into Ressurrection Bay on our tour sometimes when we stop for dinner at Fox Island and all of our 140-odd passengers head up to the lodge for their salmon bake dinner. It is a little brisk, and (perhaps fortunately) I don't have all that much time to wallow around in the waves like an under-buoyant sea otter, so I only kind of get my fix. But at least I have that. I'm glad I didn't apply for a job in a desert!

I've turned into a sea life geek, for those of you who might be wondering how all of this marine sightseeing might be effecting me. Today I was walking down our one main street with Ian, my friend from Willamette who drove up with me, and I was identifying sea bird calls as they echoed out of the Sea Life Center across the street. Geek! I also have an affection for humpback whales and orcas that rivals a child's feelings for the family dog. I don't know what I'm going to do when I leave here and can't see them nearly every day anymore... but I am getting orca call recordings from one of the boat captains. Definitely going to be among my top-rated tracks in my iTunes.

In case you're wondering about my life plan... well, I don't have one. Plenty of ideas are percolating in my head, including working in Hawaii (on wildlife tour boats again, or on a farm) or Nova Scotia (on an organic farm) or at a ski resort somewhere out west, but I've decided that it is, after all, pretty sensible to call these ideas rather than plans because that's all that they are and that's ok. I don't need to make any of them into a plan until it's time and I'm ready. I did call this morning and decline my Antarctica position, since the paperwork and physical/dental exams are near-impossible to complete when you're on a boat for 11 hours a day and you don't get internet and have no phone charger (for now), plus you're Julia and forget (usually just accidentally) to do things that feel an awful lot like chores sometimes. Besides, for my year off I am hoping to do something a little more enriching and meaningful than wash dishes for 10 hours a day, 6 days a week for 5 months. Antarctica does sound like a fun adventure, and I'm certainly not done with the thought of going to the Ice, but perhaps some better option than a dining attendant is on my horizon. Anyways, I'm really looking forward to road-tripping with a couple of Alaska friends back south to Willamette for a visit and then back east to Maine, hopefully with my brother in tow from the midwest on, to take time to explore Maine and hang out with my family and relatives. When was the last time I did that... never? I think it's long-overdue. So that is my only plan so far. But I'll keep you posted. Thanks, everyone, for the ideas and encouragement and wisdom you've sent my way.

Love to all, Jules

Hello, and happy birthday Pete!

My mom just left after coming up for a week-long visit. It was so fun to explore Exit Glacier and the Alaskan coastline with her, even though it was far too brief of a visit. I think that I talked more with her in her first 48 hours than I've ever talked in my life. I feel like I got a great snapshot of everyone back at home in Maine and what they've been up to.
Right now I'm too tired to think, but just wanted to post and say a little hello since it's been a while. I'm thinking ahead to the trip home that'll be in mid-September... hopefully I'll road-trip back with my friend Krista from Illinois. She really wants to see Eugene, OR along the way, so a visit to Willamette might be in store. I'm really hoping to convince my brother Peter to join me for part of the trip at least. I miss him a lot and I'm hoping that we'll end up having at least one adventure together for our year off. He mentioned that he'll maybe go to Hawaii for a bit to work for some family friends, and I'm incredibly tempted to look for a job down there too. A lot of my current co-workers will be down there as well this winter, and it would be easy for me to get a job there with connections through boat people here, so it looks like I have a fun back-up plan if Antarctica doesn't work out. I do have a lot of paperwork and physical/dental requirements to complete before my trip down to the Ice is totally sealed in stone, so I'll keep you all posted. Hope all's going well with my family and friends across the country!

Happy Fourth of July!

OK, I know I'm a little late but regular life gets put on hold for the 4th of July here in Seward. I left work on the evening of the 3rd to find that I was host not just to a couple of friends but a whole ski team! A tent village was promptly erected in the backyard of the fourplex and Kendra's sister and company cooked dinner in my apartment while I was at a barbecue, to the surprise of my housemates. The "spectacular" fireworks in the foggy, dusky Seward sky were made into much more of an event by the rather tipsy and boisterous impromptu choir that formed at our street corner while we watched them.
Upon returning home, I met up with Kendra and Nick and Joel and Nicole, who stayed over and hung out with me for the 4th of July and the Mount Marathon race. The race was amazing! It started when two hardy Alaskans made a bet that the other couldn't summit this 3000-footer and return to town within an hour. The challenge was on, and has continued annually for the last 80 years or so. We only got there in time for the mens' part, but I enjoyed watching it. It was a real Alaskan race- anything goes, as long as you check in at the top and then again at the bottom. People were plotting ridiculous routes up the mountain to shave off a few seconds or avoid the crowd, and fans lined the streets or paths in the woods. Many a ragged, injured hiker was offered a beer on his way down... just a little different than other 4th of July races I've witnessed. I got to meet Joel's whole family, finally- we actually went hiking yesterday with my roommate Andrea.
Hope you all enjoyed your Independence Days, too! My mom's coming out here next weekend, as I just discovered, so that's what I'm looking forward to that very much at the moment. I'm about to get kicked out of the library, so farewell for now!

Guess what?

I'm going to the Ice!

Yesterday I was awoken by a job offer over the phone for a position as a dining attendant in Antarctica! Not just as an alternate in case someone drops out, like I had been told was all that was left this late into the hiring- a primary position, where I will definitely be going! I'll be at McMurdo Station from the beginning of October through the middle-end of February, and then hopefully I'll be bumming around New Zealand for a bit after that.

Sorry, mom- I guess I can get a little farther from home.

Homes

So a lot of you have been asking me about my living situation- great question, because it's been changing a lot ever since college got out.
So, first, Ian and Timm and I camped out on our way up to Alaska, either at campgrounds or at good-looking spots on the side of the road. Once we got past a rather soggy, rainy first night and dried out our gear, it was wonderful. We had some nice campfires and one great spot in particular that was in a valley, next to a river.


I stayed at Ian's for a few nights in Anchorage and then came down to Seward for work. A neighbor's friend, Alan, lives here and had arranged for me to stay at a friend's cabin for a bit. There was even a tiny shower and kitchenette in it that I could use! I got to stay in a cabin belonging to another one of Alan's friends after that- it was very simple but cute, with a small propane heater that I rarely used and an inflatable air mattress. It was about 4-5 miles outside of town.

Next I camped for a little while, also a few miles outside of town. I had company a few of the nights of friends from work who wanted to come hang out at the campsite and take a break from the rather crowded employee housing. The spot was beautiful- it looked out onto the flood plain just below a glacier and was across from a huge, snow-capped mountain. It was quite a sight to wake up to, but was a little chilly at night. I was sad to leave, but it would've gotten old (seeing as Seward's a rainforest)... plus, it was an 8-day camping area.

So... I tried to get a job on Fox Island, possibly to solve the housing question and possibly because it's a really great place and I'd be able to work in a kitchen... but no dice. Instead, I got conned into signing up to employee housing after a spot opened up. It's nice to have a fixed, long-ish term home where I can actually move my stuff in, but there are 19 people in this fairly small building. I do like our neighbors, however, pictured here. I also like that there is a wonderful hiking trail literally across the street from us that goes up to the peak of 4462-ft. tall Mount Marathon. I'm rooming with 2 Mainers (who would've guessed?) and, so far, enjoying my new home. I've been there for 2 nights now.

Antarctica?

One of my challenges at this job, since the tour is very much the same every single day, is to learn one new thing or be exposed to one new perspective on the world each day. This usually comes from talking to some of the hundred or so people that come through each day, to the captain or crew I'm working with, or from reading at night when I'm off work.

The other night, I had a crew of friends over to my campsite as a late birthday celebration. I ended up having a really interesting conversation with one of the guys who works on the island where our boat stops every night for dinner. He had just finished working in Antarctica for the winter (their summer) and then traveling around in New Zealand before coming up here. New Zealand! I've always wanted to go there! I had never met anyone who's been to Antarctica before, so I was really interested. If anyone's looking for an adventure for about 6 months, a job down there would be quite a choice of employment. Hey, that sounds like me. Anyways, Kevin was telling me about his time down there and it sounded- well, cold for one thing- sometimes down to 20 below before wind chill, which can be significant- but also amazing. The adventures, experience, people and opportunity to travel sound unreal. It was really neat to spend a whole night talking about a continent I had never even thought twice about before.

I hope all of you are learning or experiencing something new every day too, even if it's something small! I have a day off tomorrow, so I'm going hiking on Fox Island (where the snow is finally juuuust melting on the hilltops and mountains). Can't wait. Days are long but the wildlife has been amazing lately. We've seen at least 3 groups of 4 or so humpbacks cooperatively feeding the last few days, and they've gotten pretty excited about all the food they're finding. They've been tail-slapping, barrel-rolling, doing headstands and waving their pectoral fins at us. Today I saw one breach (jump all the way out of the water) for the first time! Someday I'll bring a camera and take some pics so all of you can see.

Thanks for keeping up with the blog; much love to all!

Snapshot of Seward

Just to give you an idea of what this place I'm in is like:

Seward, Alaska
Distance from Anchorage: 125 miles/2ish hours(depending on numbers of tourists)
Access: car (one of the country's most scenic drives), train, cruise ship, ferry, bush plane
Snow-capped mountains: 360 degrees!
Nearby glaciers: more than 8
Accomodations: lots of RV/tentsites; small B&Bs; a hostel; a few small motels/hotels
Population: <3000 year-round
Population on July 4th: over 10,000
Town Size: 2 miles long, 4 streets wide
Pubs per capita: 1837495
Churches per capita: 1384955
Industries: tourism, fishing, coal, tourism, fishing, tourism...
Adventurous opportunities: great hiking, kayaking, ice field exploring, Sea Life Center, Kenai Fjords National Park, dogsledding, plane tours
Fun facts: -Seward hosts one crazy Fourth of July celebration.
-Mt. Marathon looms over the town and, when there's still snow on it, makes a great sledding run if you hike up in rainpants. On the 4th of July, the town holds a big Mt. Marathon race.
-Everyone here has a dog. I swear. It's insane.
-Seward is actually a rainforest! The annual rainfall is pretty substantial, so I'm glad Oregon has trained me before I came here.

I'm currently living in a "development" called Camelot, on King Arthur Rd. Fishermen, mostly, put in roads a few years ago and, since it's outside of the city limits, no building permits are required. This means anyone can throw up a house on whatever affordable property they find, so there are some pretty interesting characters up there. The family I'm staying with, and for whom I will soon be house-sitting, run limited power off a generator and use a rainwater system rather than hooking up to city water and power. I don't even know if you can do that down in Camelot. Anyways, I'm living there and house-sitting once they leave into the beginning of July.

Well, the library's closing so I've got to sign off- hope everyone else is doing well! Leave a comment if you feel so inspired- it's fun to see who's reading :-) Or drop me an email if you're having troubles leaving a comment. Love to all!

Food for thought

I stumbled into the wrong part of the Alaska Vocational Technical Center the other day when I was trying to find my CPR class and found myself in the culinary academy. A really good mistake of my life. In asking for directions to the correct building, I was briefly led into a classroom filled with chefs in the making and desperately wanted to stay. Fortunately I was running a little late and wasn't too tempted to stick around and ask questions- ok, I was really tempted to- but I just walked out the door and made a mental note to investigate later.

Now with a glorious internet connection that lasts more than 30 seconds (a hard thing to find in these parts!), I've been able to surf the web a bit and learn more. Checking out the program has left me with 2 thoughts:
1. I want to go to some kind of culinary school at least, if not this one!
2. Damnit. I wish I were an Alaskan resident so I could pay in-state tuition.
So, hmm... maybe I'll investigate this Alaskan residency thing first. I might be staying here for a while, something I definitely would not mind! As long as my employment with Kenai Fjords is long outlived by my stay here, I'd be happy.

Speaking of which, some advice I've learned here so far: small businesses are where it's at. Repeat that ten times now. Working for a small business is far more rewarding. This is my first experience working for a bigger company, and I never realized until now how fortunate I've been with some really amazing jobs. Being inside the office at the dock just pisses me off every time. Small business, man- I'm not joking.

I'm really looking forward to seeing Kendra and Nick and Joel. It can get a little lonely up here- I'm usually either alone or around a TON of people I don't know very well (on the tour boats or at employee housing). It'll be nice to see good friends again and have adventures.

Living situation update: here in Teri and Chip's guest cabin till Thursday night (they are so cool! I should write a whole blog on them), then moving into a tent! There are some good unofficial tentsites down Exit Glacier Road, a few miles off of the Seward Highway, that a few people recommended to me. I'll be able to shower, do laundry and maybe even cook as needed at employee housing. Sweet.

Two more last things to leave you with that have been intriguing to me recently:
Road Trip Nation's Indie Trip Grants
Americorps NCCC

Day One on the job

I went out on one of the tour boats today for the first time. Deckhand training (finally) ended Thursday with the completion of CPR training; and as I found that I had yesterday off, I decided on the spot to go to Anchorage one last time before the boys leave for Valdez. I enjoyed one of the most beautiful drives in the country for the second time in four days, impressed with how much it had changed already. Between snow melt, blooming fields and flowers, it promises to be a breathtaking and much-photographed drive throughout the season.

In Anchorage, I ran some much-needed errands and also picked up a bike that I found on Craig's List. Timm volunteered to ride it back to Ian's house since all 3 of us left little room for a bike, and promptly got hit by a car. Poor guy! Fortunately, he was fine and the front tire just got a little warped, but it's still ridable.

Anyways, I started today with little clue of what to do or expect. Training left me only with a strong dislike of OSHA and pretty strong feelings of impatience to be actually doing something. I got put with a really stellar crew: one guy was actually from Maine, and all were really friendly and fun to be around. My first day was long but so amazing: we saw orcas, humpbacks, a black bear, bald eagles, puffins, mountain goats, seals, sea lions, massive glaciers... we unloaded at the Fox Island lodge for a salmon bake dinner and skipped rocks on the most amazing beach. Every single rock is perfect for skipping. I've heard they have a big rock-skipping contest there at the end of the summer. Sounds like my kind of place! The day was long, but I got 2 free meals out of it and enjoyed my time. My water bottle is currently full of freshly-melted glacier water!

For the last few days, I have been noticing all of the other opportunities around me in Seward that sound very tempting. There's a culinary academy and jobs through the National Park Service doing trail maintenance, and I'm sure I could find a job cooking if I wanted to. I miss cooking a lot and I'm not a huge fan of all of the overhead at this company, so we'll see. I'm definitely going to get what I can out of it, but not overlook other doors that might open up along the way.

I'm spending tonight (um, squatting) in employee housing- there's an empty bunk and my friends who live here offered it up, even though the company is still trying to tell me that they're all full. That's ok, though- I have a cabin on and off that's 3 miles out of town, owned by a really nice couple who already feel like they're my foster parents. I'd rather live there when possible and scramble for a couch/throw up a tent when it doesn't work out than live here in what feels like an overcrowded dorm. It's nice to have my own space to come home to away from where I socialize.

Into the unknown?

Now that I've arrived in Anchorage, aired out and cleaned out the car, and showered, I'm heading off to my summer job in Seward (about 2 hrs. from here) in the morning. I feel like the real adventures are finally going to begin once I leave behind my last 2 Willamette buddies for a town I've never been to and where I don't know a soul. Heck, I don't even know my plans for housing starting tomorrow morning! More than anything, I'm feeling super curious as to how things are going to play out and settle down. It's been a long time in limbo since classes ended and I'm ready for the next straight patch of road. Sometimes I feel like the turning points and corners of a journey might be the most exciting, but it's nice to be able not to think about the next step, sit back and reflect as well.
I'm going to try and unplug as much as possible this summer, but post occasionally, so best wishes to all of you! Hopefully I'll get my feet up some of those great mountains I've been admiring for the last two days- I'm dying to hit the trail. Thanks for all of the stimulating conversations and adventures that have helped lead me to this crazy-amazing place I'm at now- I've learned and grown so much lately, thanks to many of you!
Love, Jules

PS- Latest music for me has been Nickel Creek, the Dixie Chicks and the Wailin' Jennys (bluegrass/folk), Braille, Zion I and Common (hip-hop/rap), Third Eye Blind (thanks, Timm and I-town) and Rage Against The Machine!