On July 3rd, we watched fireworks from the fast
ferry! This guy who owns a construction company was funding and setting off the
fireworks show from his boat on the canal, and this guy we know, Jess, knows
someone who knows the captain of the fast ferry, so we got on! The fireworks
started early, while we were still walking down to the dock. There was no wind,
so by the time we got on the ferry, the cloud of smoke from the fireworks was
completely blocking the show! For a bit, it looked like some kind of wizard
battle, with the clouds lighting up in red and green; eventually, there was so
much smoke that even the flashes of color disappeared.
Fortunately, we were on a boat! We drove out onto the canal,
around behind the smoke, and were among the privileged few who actually saw the
whole darn fireworks show. And we’re talking half an hour of constant showers
of light!
It was so
beautiful. I had never watched fireworks from the water before. The mist was
shrouding the mountains, which loomed along the canal like Alaskan gods. The
water looked like silver cloth – looked like water in a high-quality video game
– unreal.
It was all just magical.
*
The week after, Steph and I got on an Alaska Excursions
zipline tour on our day off! We were driven up the Dyea Road to the base camp,
which is also the camp where they keep the puppies you meet when you go
mushing. We then got on a big all-terrain vehicle up the mountain to the
zipline camp! We met Jay and Freddy, our tour guides; like most of the tour
guides around here, they’re around our age and pretty cool. We did two baby
ziplines, and then nine big ones, through the forest and over Grizzly Falls. It
was totally exhilarating, especially when the guys taught us how to go upside
down, front flip, and fireball, which you start like a front flip and then grab
your knees so you rotate around and around. I was pretty good at it, if I do
say so myself! ;)
*
Last weekend, my parents came to visit! They arrived on
Thursday afternoon and met me at the theatre. We walked around town, got dinner
at Olivia’s, went grocery shopping, and then pretty much called it a night. The
next day, we took the hike to Lower Lake and did the Lower Lake Loop, which was
narrow and rocky going at times but very beautiful and not too strenuous. After
we headed down and got lunch at Fish Co, we did a little window shopping and
then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening chillin’ in the lobby of the
hotel, reading and talking and taking advantage of the free wifi. On Saturday, Tess
and Steph joined us for a great breakfast at the Station. Then we rented bikes
from Sockeye and rode out to Jewell Gardens, the botanical gardens outside of
town where the week-after-the-solstice party had been, and picnicked and
shopped in the gift shop (I got lots of presents for people, yay! And a journal
for myself… whoops…). We rode a little farther down the road and back, checked
out the Skagway River up close, then visited the historical cemetery and Lower
Reid Falls before heading back into town to return the bikes and grab ice cream
(bringing my stamp card total to nine!). On Sunday, we walked around a bit more
and checked out the museum, which was pretty impressive, and then I saw them to
the ferry! It was so great that they were able to visit.
*
Last week, I had the morning off on Tuesday, so I took
myself on a little lunch date. I walked
out to Jewell Gardens and got lunch at Poppies, the restaurant there. I love eating in restaurants alone. I
ordered the tea service, which included their house blend English Rose Black
Tea, which was so delicious – mildly
floral, excellent black tea without the cream and sugar, and then rosier and
sweet and full once I added cream and sugar. The tea plate included a small
salmon quiche made with carrots from the gardens, which was warm, light, creamy
and salmon-y, with a perfect flaky crust; an open-face cucumber sandwich with
herb spread from the gardens, which was creamy yet fresh, with the cucumber and
herb spread mild and perfectly blending; a cheesy herb scone that was airy,
tender, and flavorful; a rhubarb begonia bar with rhubarb and begonias from the
gardens and a crumbly begonia crust, which was sweet, deep, tangy, chewy,
crumbly, red, and helped me to like
rhubarb!; and carrot cake with carrots from the gardens, which was freshly
carroty, a little dry but pleasantly so, and with a lovely cream cheese
frosting. All in all, utterly satisfying, and I enjoyed sitting there alone,
journaling, writing a letter, chatting with the server, and looking out the
window wall at the gardens.
*
On Thursday, our house had Christmas in July! We made a
family dinner with salad, flatbread, spaghetti, garlic bread, and Kahlua fudge
pecan torte; we strung the kitchen with Christmas lights from Meridith’s
bedroom. Tess, Steph, Meridith, Bill, Jimmy, Nate, and I sat around the small
kitchen table and enjoyed both dinner and each other’s company. After dinner,
the four of us gals exchanged final Secret Santa presents – we’d been giving
each other small presents for two weeks, but this was the grand finale! Meridith
gave me some silver eyeshadow made by a local artisan, which I’d been ogling in
Dejon Delights, and a super fun, cute sundress from Klothes Rush (ARGH
UNNECESSARY K), which fits me perfectly! It was really lovely just having a
family night, spending time with each other and making it special J
*
And today, we had a company party! Chris, who has lived in
Skagway for fourteen years but has been coming here for much longer than that,
is a Temsco pilot and chief investor in the theatre company. He graciously
hosted us at his house way up on the Dyea Road. The house is eclectic, cozy,
and beautiful, and the atmosphere was casual and fun. We all hung around for
hours, eating ribs and bean dip and burgers and little sugary delights from
Bites on Broadway and carnie cones (aka waffle cones stuffed with
chocolate/marshmallows/rollos/peanut butter cups, wrapped in foil, and cooked
over a campfire), playing Nerts (a speed-based solitaire-style card game which
I totally won twice in a row), playing music, enjoying a hot tub (woo! I have now
put on my bathing suit exactly one time this summer!), and generally chatting
and having a good time!
Now I am exhausted, both physically and socially (haha), and
ready to post this blog, watch some Star Trek, and go to bed! This week will be
busy, but it is also my birthday week, which makes it the best week of the year
by default! End of July, here we come… J
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