50 Years

August 3, 2009
Blog
I met a couple today from Dallas, Texas. They came here 50 years ago, as college students to celebrate the statehood of Alaska. They came back to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary and the 50th year of statehood of Alaska. I was privileged to listen to a few of their stories – 50 years ago the roads were REALLY rough. In 1959, they went into a bar in a small town and met the governor of Alaska – he was real, real downhome and they enjoyed him – thinking at that time that here in Alaska it was evidently no big deal to be a governor – not many people here and certainly no women they could find. They took lots of slides (pictures in those days) and she remembers that when she walked from the grocery store back to their cabin she was followed one evening by a pack of wolves. We exchanged names and addresses. I want to talk with them some more. We’re going to call each other once I’m home and I’m going to interview them. They think it’s no big deal – and they say they don’t remember much but it was delightful to just listen to them remembering each little thing.
Another woman took my favorite trail today – Horseshoe Lake Trail – and I’d asked her to watch for “my” moose. I didn’t tell her anything more.
She returned to report that she certainly found “my” moose and she let me know that a half-grown calf was skittering along in the meadow – she barely saw the calf. GREAT! The moose calf and his mom are gone from Healy – but the moose and her baby here seem to still be all right – in spite of the grizzly there recently. Thank Heaven!
There are continuing wild fires here! Now there are more than 650 fires, having already burned more than two million acres. The largest fire is about 10 miles north of here. Word (gossip) is that there are only 300 firefighters out there and that some of those have been flown up from the Montana Hotshots. We can now see great plumes of smoke due north – this is the only fire that is still considered totally non-contained. The worst fire season was in 2004, when more than six million acres burned and there were more than 700 fires. Tomorrow the temperature will be up to 80 degrees, the hottest I’ve experienced since I’ve been here – and not good at all for firefighting. Today was clear and crisp – absolutely perfect weather here. The wind was blowing from the south. When the wind blows from the north it gets really murky here.
Today I worked from 12-9. Tomorrow I work from 8-5 and then I head off with my friend, Marilyn, to the Stampede Trail. That’s about 5 miles north of Healy – the trail made famous by Chris McCandless – written in a book by a Corvallis author – can’t remember his name right now – Into the Wild. We’re driving with a picnic dinner.
We’ve been given forms to nominate the co-worker who most exemplifies service as a Princess employee. That’s really hard. I finally decided to nominate Srdjan. He is 28 years old, from Serbia. This year he brought along his little brother. He tells us that in Serbia you can work very hard but you will never gain financial stability. He is a college student during the year. He holds two jobs here – one at Princess and one across the street at a gift shop. So he works 16-18 hours most days. He never shows up to work tired or grouchy and he never stops working. He also helps ANY member of the team who needs help. He has a heavy accent and he mentors several students from Serbia who are also working here. I watch him with the guests and he is very helpful, very concerned and makes things go smoother for the guests. He’s sincere. He’s also a delight to work with. Yup, I guess it’s him. I wonder if I can nominate more than one?