The Road North

Our drive up was pretty sweet. We went to Nate and Erica's house in Oregon on Monday, had dinner, played with the kids and spent the night. On Tuesday we stopped in Seattle and went to the "Pike Place Market" which is this huge farmers market type of place. (Its the place they throw the whole fish across the room when someone buys it.) We kept going back to the booths with fruit and honey samples. We even had some REALLY good smoked salmon to get us excited about Alaska. We crossed the border that night and and camped at some lakeside campground. The next several days all blend together because we drove between 10 and 12 hours each day and stopped every 250 miles in Canadian Towns we've never even heard of. We got rained on several nights in a row and off and on during the days. Each night we camped by a river or lake. We saw some cool things along the way, deer, caribou, bison, and 1 moose. Unfortunately we didn't see any bears.
We got to Alaska on Friday the 14 and spent the night by a beautiful lake that looked even better with the long sunset behind it. Maybe its our American pride that makes us have a biased opinion, but it was the most beautiful place we saw on our journey. On Saturday we went to Palmer (one of John's old mission areas) and spent the night with His grandmother's cousin that lives there. The ward he served in got split right after he was transferred so we had to go to 2 different wards on Sunday to see some of the families that he used to know.
On Sunday night we got to Anchorage and stayed with John's cousin Lindsay. We spent all day Monday calling and looking at apartments. On Tuesday we made our decision and moved in on Wednesday. Its a decent little one bedroom and it costs a little bit less then what we were expecting to pay. Most of all we like the location because it's right between out 2 jobs. (Its only a matter of time before John gets a job at Merrill Field.)
While looking for apartments online, We were also looking for a job for John. (On craigslist, all the pilot jobs are grouped in the "transportation" area.) So while looking for a pilot job we came across a job as a deckhand on a day cruise. The add said they where hiring several people to work full time till the end of September. At first we only joked about doing it but then decided to actually apply. Needless to say, we both got the job. (go to www.26glaciers.com to see more about the cruise.)
While we're working we live in a little town named Whittier and work 6 days a week going out on this boat. In the mornings we go down to the boat at about 9:00, set everything up and make sure that everything is ready for the day. Then we'll go home for an hour or so before coming back for the actual cruise. The boat leaves at about 1:00 and we quickly serve a lunch of fish, chips, coleslaw and applesauce. After cleaning up after lunch our job is to make sure that everyone is following the rules and being safe. We make several different stops at glaciers and wildlife like sea otters, sea lions, porpoises and whales (if we see them). Then its back to the doc at about 5:00. After everyone leaves we clean the whole boat and restock everything for the next day. It's a lot of work but it's pretty fun, and we get a lunch on the boat when we work.
So we're having fun and making a little money before we have to get serious and get real jobs.