One week in the books in Alaska. I’ve seen a moose, I’ve seen a bear, and I’ve seen poop on a toilet. The moose I’ve already mentioned and the bear I don’t want to talk about right now. The poopy toilet I could talk about at length but this website really isn’t the forum for that type of discussion.
I’m making eight dollars an hour doing housekeeping at the Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge, but they could stop paying me altogether and I would stay. I’m not here for the money. The work is not bad. In fact, most of the time the work is fun. Today Jeff and I lay down in the maid’s closet for an hour waiting for people to check out of rooms, and towards the end I got to drive a Kawasaki Mule and empty ash buckets. Sound exciting? It is. But that isn’t the best part. The best part is that the sun never really sets, I’m surrounded by young people, we go cheap excursions, we have all our meals cooked for us and never have to do dishes, there’s always someone drinking or watching a movie or playing poker or throwing around a frisbee, there’s amazing hiking, there’s wildlife you can see in few other places on earth, there’s mountains everywhere, and I’m learning how to slackline like a madman. But better than all of us is the cohesion that takes place during a seasonal job. The accelerated bonding that occurs when many like-minded (for the most part) people of generally the same age are thrown together in a strange and beautiful place, made to live in dorm rooms and sit around picnic tables where often there is nothing better to do than gaze at the surrounding mountains, crack a beer, and shoot the shit.
And the best part of all by far has to do with Craig, the guy who guided our rafting trip yesterday down the Upper Kenai River into Skilak Lake. Craig has been living in Alaska since he was five and guiding rafting trips down the Kenai River for 10 years. In his spare time he base jumps, heli-skis, fishes, surfs, and basically does any activity as long as it’s outside and rad. During the trip he joked about how he was already retired, and you could see the longing burn in the eyes of the guests of the Princess Lodge, knowing he was telling the truth and wondering if they had squandered their lives. But they were good-natured. They were happy to be on the water. Happy to get away from their structured cruise itineraries. They said, “It’s so great that you found something you love that you can get paid to do.” And now, sitting in my bed after a day of work and watching the sun that never really sets on the building opposite mine, I realize what is truly the best part of being here: That for one summer I can live like Craig. I can get paid to live in Alaska and go on rafting trips and take hikes and see bears. I can get paid to hang out with friends and meet new people and drink and play foosball. And I can get paid to clean a few toilets.
This entry was written by , posted on June 15, 2009 at 9:57 pm, filed under Alaska and tagged alaskan rivers company, cooper landing, craig brown, fishing kenai, skilak lake, soldotna. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.