I actually wrote this on my computer on Wednesday night but this is the first time I have been able to upload from my computer. Hope you enjoy.
We left Anchorage this morning headed for the McKinley Chalet Resort in Denali, Alaska. What an exciting day. We are finally going to make it to the final destination for the summer. The day started out so beautifully; relatively few clouds, the sun rising above the Chugach Mountains and the temp in the low 20’s. We had breakfast at the hotel then got the truck all packed and ready. We left about 9:30 and drove north up Highway 1. The traffic was not too bad as we left Anchorage and only got thinner from there. We drove through Wasilla where we changed from Highway 1 to Highway 3 “The Parks Highway”. It is a nice town and they even have a Super Wal-Mart. After leaving Wasilla we drove into the clouds and snow. Gradually the road started getting more and more snow on it until it finally had succumbed to the elements and was covered. We had snow off and on the whole rest of the trip, we can’t complain though, it is so beautiful, who cares! All in all, the trip was fairly uneventful, except the 4 moose we saw. Two of them we saw were together and it appeared as though it was a momma and maybe a 1-2 year old calf. It was definitely smaller than the other one, but it wasn’t small by any means. These animals are absolutely enormous. If a grown man were to stand next to one, its back would be as tall as the man, and the head would tower over him.
We arrived at the resort around 2:00 in the afternoon and met Kevin’s boss, Curtis. The head of landscaping was also here and we met her, Jeanne. Jeanne showed us our rooms that we would have for the first few weeks and introduced us to the other 3 people that were here. All 5 of these people are year round employees and live in the town of Healy, AK which is about 11 miles north of the resort. Two other men showed later that night as well that are also on the maintenance team. So, altogether there are only 5 of us actually living here on site as of right now. Over the next few weeks we will all work to get the rest of the employee housing open and ready for the rest of the employees to show up. They will start filtering in, in about 3 to 4 weeks and we should be fully staffed by mid May.
Now concerning our living arrangements, I have to say, they are not the most wonderful of situations, however it could be worse. The water is at least on and running in the bathrooms but there is no hot water and the water is not suitable for taking a shower let alone drinking. The water has been shut off all winter and was just turned on Wednesday so we have to allow time for all the crud to blow through the lines. The hope is that by the weekend we will have hot water to take showers. For the time being we can drive to the little town of Healy and take showers there. There is a gas station/truck stop there that has a laundry mat and shower house. They are much like the shower houses at a camp ground so we are used to that sort of thing. These arrangements are only for the next 2 to 3 weeks and will only improve from here. The room we are in is a typical room for employee housing but we will not be in this particular room for the whole season. Since there are only 5 of us (other than the managers that will be arriving starting Thursday) on site and using only 4 rooms they only opened these 4 rooms in one dorm. We are hoping and praying we will get into the 900 housing which are the suits where 2 rooms share one bathroom. The rest of the buildings use the common “bath house”. Unfortunately the 900’s are reserved for supervisors and returning staff, so it is doubtful we will be one of those.
We arrived at the resort around 2:00 in the afternoon and met Kevin’s boss, Curtis. The head of landscaping was also here and we met her, Jeanne. Jeanne showed us our rooms that we would have for the first few weeks and introduced us to the other 3 people that were here. All 5 of these people are year round employees and live in the town of Healy, AK which is about 11 miles north of the resort. Two other men showed later that night as well that are also on the maintenance team. So, altogether there are only 5 of us actually living here on site as of right now. Over the next few weeks we will all work to get the rest of the employee housing open and ready for the rest of the employees to show up. They will start filtering in, in about 3 to 4 weeks and we should be fully staffed by mid May.
Now concerning our living arrangements, I have to say, they are not the most wonderful of situations, however it could be worse. The water is at least on and running in the bathrooms but there is no hot water and the water is not suitable for taking a shower let alone drinking. The water has been shut off all winter and was just turned on Wednesday so we have to allow time for all the crud to blow through the lines. The hope is that by the weekend we will have hot water to take showers. For the time being we can drive to the little town of Healy and take showers there. There is a gas station/truck stop there that has a laundry mat and shower house. They are much like the shower houses at a camp ground so we are used to that sort of thing. These arrangements are only for the next 2 to 3 weeks and will only improve from here. The room we are in is a typical room for employee housing but we will not be in this particular room for the whole season. Since there are only 5 of us (other than the managers that will be arriving starting Thursday) on site and using only 4 rooms they only opened these 4 rooms in one dorm. We are hoping and praying we will get into the 900 housing which are the suits where 2 rooms share one bathroom. The rest of the buildings use the common “bath house”. Unfortunately the 900’s are reserved for supervisors and returning staff, so it is doubtful we will be one of those.
I think that is enough for this posting so I will stop for tonight. I will update as I have more to share. I will get more pics on later.
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