The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Skiing!

The snow is falling and the mountains are turning white. Many of the resorts have been opening up here and there over the last couple of weeks but I was personally able to get myself some turns just this week. Some time on the snowboard as well as the skis was much needed to get myself back in shape for the season. I'm looking forward to a great year in the mountains!

Icy and Delicious

One Plank

Freshly Groomed

Two Planks

A small glimpse of Jordanelle Reservoir.

Well That Was Neat...

I had an interesting drive down the canyon today, as I was making said drive I happened to look towards the mountain tops and I dare say I saw something quite peculiar. Atop the mountain it appeared to be a pillar of a rainbow. So I guess it would be called a rainpillar... raincolumn? I don't really know. But all in all it was quite majestic and I must say that it was one of the singular most beautiful sight I've ever had the pleasure of clapping my eyes upon. I have never seen such a spectacular display of refracted light, how it happened I do not know but it will remain in my thoughts for years to come. That is all.

Gobble Gobble!

Here we go! Obligatory Thanksgiving post! I have so much to be thankful for! Good friends! Good food! Good family! (not necessarily in that order) I am also happy to be working, even though I had to work on the big TG it was ok because we had thanksgiving at work! We had all sorts of goodies that I got to eat at nine in the morning because that was when I could eat it. I didn't want to get too full because I had to return to the feast being prepared by the lovely and talented Liz. So after a hard day of work that is exactly what I did. Straight home to TG number two and it was even better than the first! So Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there and I hope you all have something to be as thankful for as I do!

Dutch Ovens for dayzzz...

Two Smokers full of turkalurk.

The Master Chef!

The Willing Volunteer.

L Approved.

 

Desert Dan

`Hey-O! It has been some time since my last post. Let me tell you, a lot has happened! And by a lot I mean that I have started working again... that's really all. I just got y'all excited fer nuthin. But, with the reinstatement at Park City Transit I have been able to gain material for this bloggy mcthingy that I've got going here. So! This here story is about a man named Desert Dan. A local of PC who is know for his eccentricity and also because he used to live in a Desert.

Desert Dan set foot on my bus this morning at 7:19am. Even at that early hour he still had that classic smell of old booze about him and from his staggered steps I could tell that maybe there was a little bit of that fresh booze smell as well. He sits down near the front. Being the only passenger on my bus he has no one else to talk to but me. "Is tomorrow Thanksgiving?" he asks me. "No," I say. "It's next week." "Whew! I thought I was going to miss it!" At this point he gets a misty look in his eyes. I can tell, he has been waiting to talk to someone, to tell them anything. With the slightest encouragement I'm certain he will be happy to regale any number of stories. So cautiously I ask, "any plans for the holiday?" "Well I found a twenty dollar bill, so I'm heading to the liquor store! But first I've got sort out some business first. The kind of business that started last night and needs to get finished this morning! Ya know what I mean? Nah! You're just a young buck. What was I saying? Oh yeah, the best thanksgiving I ever had was by myself. Desert Dan they call me, because I used to live out in the desert. Five miles from the nearest town. I called it Indian Springs because there was a secret spring out there that nobody knew about but me, see? Well one year I was so broke all I could afford was two cans of chicken noodles soup, a bottle of white wine and a whole bunch of LSD. I tell you that was the best Thanksgiving I have ever had! Oh my, the only thing that could have made that better was Karen." At this point he got quiet for a minute or two, obviously lost in thought. So I asked him, "who was Karen?" He snaps back to reality, "WHA!? How do you know about Karen?!? She was a dem fine woman she was. Dem fine. Best looking gal I've ever known. Dammit son! Now you have got me thinking about Karen! Well, this is my stop. I'll let you know how my business goes if I see you again." "Good luck!" I say. He exits the bus and staggers away to finish his business. I hope it goes well for ole Desert Dan. If I see him again I'll be sure to tell you all how his business went.

Oreos

Last night I had an existential moment... with an Oreo cookie. I know that is a bit unusual but I don't think you get to pick and choose when to have these kinds of moments. But before we discuss this existential moment we will take a step back and look at the path leading up to this moment.

Since my last post I have been doing a lot of nothing. Not to say I've been idle, but I'm not moving in any particular direction. I'm in a hibernation period. Waiting for my next job to start and enjoying my time living off of my summertime fat. This consists of a large amount of alone time mix with adventure. Whether those be inside adventures (video games) or outside adventures (climbing, hiking, fishing) I have a lot of time to myself. I have a simple life, but even with my level of simplicity there is plenty to mull over. Is the snow going to be good this winter? How long am I going to be here? How is my money situation during my unemployed time? An idle mind comes up with all sorts of crazy ideas. But I have been in SLC for almost two weeks, two fun weeks, but occasionally I get the travel jitters to move just for the sake of moving. Sure enough, my dad calls me up and asks if I want to come home. Mind as well, I'm not really doing anything here and during the week my main squeeze is busy at school. So next morning I'm at the airport and on the plane home. Reunion. Family is excited, I'm excited, good food and hugs all around. Fast forward to the evening. Everyone else has gone to bed and I'm the last one awake with the tv buzzing quietly in the background. What to do before I go to bed? I saw some Oreos in the pantry earlier... bedtime snack for sure! So I pour myself a glass of milk, settle in my chair with the package of Oreos ready at my side. Cookie number one. Dip in milk, bite cookie and savor the flavor. A classic bedtime snack. Oreos two and three are just as delicious, but instead of dipping and savoring I'm dunking and devouring. I can't even remember the last time I had an Oreo. Four, five and six all go down in a similar fashion. I realize I'm getting a little out of hand. Just one more cookie I tell myself. I reach into the package and pull out Oreo number seven. The fated seventh cookie. As my fingertips graze the delicious morsel it feels different than the average Oreo. "What the?" I look down at it and sure enough this little guy has been made backwards. Smooth side of the cookie out. What an interesting little flaw. I've never seen this in any of the thousands of Oreos I've

eaten before. Or maybe I've just never noticed until now... and then I got to thinking. This is amazing. Unusual. Different. I daresay I was intrigued. I did some research on Oreos and they have a long history that begins in 1912. But the most curious thing is the name. Where did it come from? "Oreo?" From everything I could find the origin of the name is unknown, but many believe it comes from the Greek word "oreo" which means beautiful. And this little Oreo was beautiful in it's own way. It lives in a world of perfection. Every Oreo made exactly the same way. Broken Oreos, malformed Oreos, and all the other misfit Oreos never make it into a package. I assume that they all just go into a cookie pit of despair where they are ground up and turned into some kind of delicious Oreo powder. But THIS Oreo persevered! He made it past all of the sensors, the watching eyes of the Nabisco production line (both human and mechanical) and made it out into the world! Even though this Oreo looked different, it was flipped, a little off kilter, it still had the gumption to get in that Oreo package. It would not be sent away to the Oreo dust graveyard. It stood up and screamed, "I'm an Oreo! I may not be as perfect as the others! I may not have equal sides! But I will be the Oreo you deserve!" This little Oreo was a warrior. A revolutionary. He would not sit idly by in a world where only the best of Oreos get to fulfill the dreams of cookie lovers. He was truly one of a kind in a world of replication and repetition. And I'll be damned if that was the best Oreo that I've ever had the pleasure of eating.

Just Call Me Goose

It's official. I am no longer in the Great Land. I have left Alaska behind and flown south to warmer climates. Just like a goose. It's nice to be back around fast food, friends and my truck again, yet I will miss some of the things up north. For example.

Rivers full of fish.

Even the dead fish.

Curious bears.

Hungry bears.

The Rainforest.

Coworkers and friends.

These lovely ladies.

New friends.

And old friends.

It was a wonderful time up in the AK and it will always have a special place in my Hobo heart. But I can't complain about the ride home because once we got above the clouds it was about as gorgeous as you could hope for. 

Flying above the marshmallow sea of clouds.

No More Boats

It has happened again. The last cruise ship of the season has sailed off into the sunset, not to be seen again until April. The town of Ketchikan expels a long awaited sigh of relief as they transition into the long winter. For many of us, we will be leaving in the morning. For others, they will stay behind and keep an eye on the town. Preparing it for next years fleet of cruise ships. It is the cycle of the seasonal worker. We get the best of whatever town we are in, we watch it bloom, blossom and flourish all season long. Only to abandon it once it loses its shine, leaving it to the real locals to nurse it through the off season months. A fair weather fan is all I am. But like a loving mother, I know that Ketchikan will always have a place for me should I ever want to come back.
I ended this season as well as I could ask for. I had a wonderful tour. In fact, there was a film crew there. They were making a new promotional video to show on the cruise ships, meaning thousands of people are likely to see my furry face as they voyage through Alaska next year. On top of that I had a very lovely lady from Dallas Texas who was in a wheelchair because she only had one leg. She was an absolute delight, complimented me many times and convinced her son to push her in a wheelchair race with another chair bound guest. Later in the day I had a family from Sydney Australia, I must say that they had the two most polite children I had ever had the pleasure of meeting. A six year old and a four year old. They started every single sentence in a little Aussie accent with, "excuse me mister bus driver sir." It was absolute gold. They asked me all sorts of things, how to drive a bus, if they could be the bus police man, where I came from, why are cruise ships so big, and things of that nature. They were also very willing to tell me stories about their lives, where they lived, when they went to school, how old their parents were. But every single time, "excuse me mister bus driver sir." Undeniable adorable.
So I sit here writing this, enjoying the sounds of raindrops on window panes, I am sad to leave this place behind but happy to have been able to be here at all. I have made new friends, seen old friends and I'm happy the way this all turned out. I am the luckiest kid in the world and I love my crazy hobo kid life.