Keeping Up With the Adventures

I have made several attempts to reestablish this blog but none have taken hold. I start one direction and then I lose interest.

So, the question at the heart of the matter is: what do I want to blog about?

And the answer was: nothing.

I had even attempted a YouTube channel. You can see the videos, I'm not taking them down. But I lost interest in that as well. 

So I let everything just sit. I did nothing.

And then a random notification came up that someone had left a comment on one of my videos. Specifically, my video about traveling to Europe when you're plus sized. 

The comment read, "Thanks for posting this. I am going to Europe in a few months and am having crazy anxiety about it being plus size myself. I feel a bit more confident after watching this." 

And all of a sudden, I realized that I had done some good with my silly little YouTube experiment. Someone felt better after listening to what I had to say. I could not have been more flattered about that.

Which got me thinking, maybe I should keep using my voice and sharing my experiences. I'm not saying that I could change the world or anything, BUT I've already made a tiny difference, who's to say I can't do more?

This blog was at it's best when I wrote about my adventures. So I am bringing the focus back to where it used to be. I'm talking weekly updates, either looking to future adventures or ones I never wrote about. 

And there's so much to say!

Here's a look to the past:
*Hawaii
*moving to rural Alaska
*driving the Alaska Highway to move back
*Iceland
*the teardrop trailer experiment
*Disneyland
*Santa Monica/UCLA
*London
*Paris 
*Rome
*Las Vegas
*Stanford University area
*New York City/Columbia University

My upcoming adventures:
*Paris 2018
*Venice 2018
*Ljubljana, Slovenia 2018
*Vienna 2018
*Portugal 2019
*Spain 2019
*Morocco 2019

There might even be a Mexico trip slated for 2018 with my family but that is still in development. 

I'm not going to cover all of these adventures, as some of the colleges involved professional development for my teaching career and not that exciting but I am excited to bring my blog back to what it was originally designed to be...that feels good.

If you are interested in the video that started this post, you can view it here:




It's good to be back! Check for my updates on Sundays, starting this Sunday!

PETA Doesn't Go to Alaska

Background: Alaskans wear fur. They've been wearing fur since they crossed over the land bridge from Asia & Russian. You can't even bat an eye at it because there's a whole rich history of Alaskan Natives and hunting, sewing parkas, etc. It's a subsistence way of life up there and it's not for the "politically correct".

This story is about fur....or rather about my attempt to sew rabbit fur baby booties. 

First of all, being immersed in a new culture is somewhat intimidating. I was going to title this story: The Whitest White Chick in the Room but I decided the PETA title better suited this specific story. 

I went to Akiak wanting to learn about the Yup'ik culture. I knew that there was a long history of white teachers coming to teach Alaskan Native children and expecting them to adapt to the white ways. There was one story I was told of a woman who's teacher use to make them wipe their feet every morning before coming into the classroom, not because their feet were dirty but because he told them they were removing their Yup'ik ways and to leave them behind when they walked through the door. When I met this woman, I expected her to be much older than just 20 years my senior. 

I didn't want that for my students. I was NOT going to be that person. I was not that kind of white teacher.

**Side note: did it matter that I was white? Yes. I looked different than my students. Not just my skin color but my hazel eyes were something that brought on a lot of comments. I know that many people want to see past race and it shouldn't matter what color my skin is, but when you go to a place, where people who look like you mistreated a group of people because they weren't like you, it makes you very conscious of your skin color. There is a lot of mistrust of white teachers in that area. And I'll tell you something truly frightening: in my new teacher orientation for Akiak: two white teachers there ended up being accused of sexual abuse. One was accused by his own daughter, and the other from several female students in the village. So as much as we want to say, "Hey, don't blame me for the sins of the past!" all I can do is let my actions and respect shine through because I still saw teachers using their white privilege (sadly, even more than those two really bad ones) to put native children down.**

I was going to be as respectful as I could be and be open to new adventures. But I would be true to myself at the same time. I was told that I should be quiet and reserved because that was expected of women. Well, I'm loud and quite a talker so that was out. I later realized that was bad advice anyways. Humans want people to be themselves and not pretend to be anybody else.   

So, back to my story:

I was invited to a sewing group where we would be sewing rabbit fur baby booties. This was amazing! A chance for me to learn some domestic skills! I didn't know anyone who was going to have a baby to give the booties too but that didn't matter. 

Before I left for Alaska, I had become a vegetarian. I knew that it was going to be pretty ridiculous to try and maintain that kind of lifestyle so I had given it up. But I did find some irony in that fact when I got to choose my rabbit pelt. It was already skinned and treated (you can send away for pelts already to work on) so it needed to be cut into the pattern for the booties.

You use a knife or a razor blade to cut the pelt after you trace it. You were suppose to make little cuts and the goal was not to lose the rabbit fur off the skin. You wanted as little amount of fur coming off as possible.

Our instructor told us this and looked around. She nodded at several of the other ladies as they brushed off the few rabbit hairs that come off of the pelt. 

Then she looked at me.

Me, who was covered in rabbit fur. It was all in my lap, my sleeves, in my hair, eyelashes, and it kept trying to blow in my mouth with I talked. I kept having to blow/spit the fur out as ladylike as possible. 

A couple of the little girls in the room kept coming over to me in attempts to brush the rabbit fur off. They had never seen so much fur come off of a skin before. They were giggling as they shook their head's at me. 

Then the principal's wife had to leave early because the fur coming off of me got on her and she started having an allergic reaction to it. There was just so much of it. 

Probably didn't help that I thought the whole thing was hysterical. 

Or maybe it did.

I think it did leave an impression on the women that night. It would not be the first time they'd be shaking their heads at me. (Like the time I didn't want to sew the hem on the sleeves of the shirt I sewed so I stapled them instead. Olinka busted me for that one.) 

Whitest white chick in the room.

That's me.

Leaving California

Greetings all!

I have been thinking about what I really want out of life...and the time has come for me to write. I am starting to gather my stories about my life in Alaska. Some of those stories, are already here on my blog but some have never been written. I am posting the first story which is about my leaving California to Alaska. 

I would love to have your feedback. It's long, about 5 pages. But my idea is to one day bring these stories together in a book. This would be the first chapter.

Leaving California

What would make a person leave all the comforts of society, their friends and family to trek over 3,000 miles, to a land isolated and wild?

That question has been asked countless times throughout history. There are many different answers, many different reasons. However, I can only give you my answer to that question…and it’s not just one reason. Nor is it very complicated.

The one thing I always wanted to be growing up was something special. My biggest fear was that I would end up boring. I didn’t know how I was going to achieve this life of mine, but I lived with the mantra: “Don’t be boring.”

My 2 kitties

And yet, somehow, I found myself at 33 years old being boring. My life was stagnant. My long term boyfriend had replaced me with a younger, skinnier, more complacent model; my demanding mother was making me feel guilty almost daily if I didn’t help her take care of my baby niece because she had a bad back and lacked the energy; I had lost my best friend over a falling out involving her attachment to my ex-boyfriend; and the only thing going right in my life was my career as a teacher at my local elementary school.

Because my ex-boyfriend of 10+ years hated to travel, I had not been on an airplane in 10 years. I never went anywhere. Even my weekend trips to visit my grandparents brought on feelings of guilt for leaving my two cats alone by themselves. I was sure I would find them strangled in the blinds when I returned.

I was miserable, overweight, and the worst of it all was that my life was boring. I was two issues of a cat magazine away from being a sad middle aged, single woman cliché of a crazy cat lady.

Then, the bottom dropped out from under me. The economy in California in 2010 was horrible. And for a public school teacher, it was worse. Teachers were getting laid off by the thousands. I received a “pink slip”. This was a letter saying that at this time, the district could not guarantee that I would have a teaching job for the next school year. It was a scary time for many of us.

I don’t remember the exact moment it popped into my head that I wasn’t tied down to California. I remember joking with one of my colleagues and the school secretary about moving away to Alaska (which had always been a secret fantasy of mine, moving off some place wild & crazy) when they were teasing me that it was a horrible idea. The thing was, the reasons they were giving me weren’t turning me away.

Here are the reasons they told me Alaska wasn’t a good idea:

     1)   It was cold. I actually hate the heat. I loved the idea of moving some place with snow.

     2)   It was dark. Saying this to a night owl is not going to dissuade them. I never minded the dark. I always had more energy at night anyways.

   3)   There were mostly men there. Well, saying this to a newly single woman afraid of becoming a crazy cat lady was making Alaska sound pretty good. Plus, I had just found out one of the PTA parents had started telling people I was a lesbian, which would be fine except that I wasn’t. Trust me, if I were a lesbian, I’d be quite proud about it.

Now that the idea was in my head, I wondered how feasible would it be for me to actually go up to Alaska to teach? I knew that most states would accept my teaching license; California was known to be one of the good states. I needed more information.

After a few Internet searches, I had learned that teachers were the number one migrant workers in the state of Alaska. It would be very easy to switch over my California teaching license to Alaska. There was actually a whole website devoted to helping teachers find jobs in Alaska (Alaska Teacher Placement or ATP). The site offered information about teaching in rural villages, or in the bush as it was known, along with information about teaching in cities, known as teaching on the road system. There was a message board where you could ask questions from teachers who had traveled up there. There were lectures and videos about what to expect. There were even job fairs in several different states.

It’s a delightful feeling when you realize “Hey, I actually could do this.” Because this crazy idea I had about leaving my stagnant, pathetic world behind and do something wild and unthinkable could really happen. The only thing holding me back was me.

I decided to check out a job fair. There was a job fair in Seattle and one in Anchorage. I decided that before I would move to a new state, I at least wanted to spend at least 24 hours there. I signed up for Anchorage, booked my flight & my hotel.

My 1st view of Alaska

Keep in mind that I hadn’t traveled in 10 years. In everyone’s eyes, this was so completely out of character for me. People asked me who was going to pick me up (a taxi), how would I know where to go (the job fair was at the hotel), and what was going to happen if I needed help? (I’d ask for it?)

People didn’t understand that this wasn’t out of character for me. I was letting people hold me back and for the first time in my life, I was letting go and doing something that felt right for me. I was being true to what I wanted and taking one step closer to who I wanted to become.

That being said, I am not a stupid woman. I researched and made a cheat sheet of every district in the state of Alaska. I had index cards held together with a metal ring listing: where in Alaska the district was, if it was rural, if it paid well, and if the teacher housing had water & electricity and if I would consider teaching there.

I knew that some districts were more dangerous than others. I decided that I didn’t want my lack of knowledge/experience with the weather to kill me. Any place where I had to chop my own wood to survive was not going to work for me. I needed a community of other teachers. I wanted my house to have plumbing but I was on the fence as to whether or not I wanted a roommate.

Armed with my resume, teacher portfolio, and my district cards, I arrived in Anchorage for the job fair. The flights went fine and the taxi ride was smooth. The mountains in Alaska took my breath away. I had never seen a place more beautiful. There was snow on the ground but the locals weren’t even wearing coats. I thought that was odd. Weren’t they cold?

My only mistake was something no one had told me. In California, if it is cold outside then you should wear a sweater because of the drafts, even when indoors. In Alaska, there are no drafts. I was dressed too warmly and I was hot most of the trip. (And for the record, I didn’t wear a sweater during my years in Alaska at all.)

I had to submit my fingerprints before I could get hired to teach. So, I found a place that would do my fingerprints in Anchorage, and then I hopped on a bus hoping to save some money. Now, I look back and am impressed with the guts it took me to get on that bus. Not used to traveling, and certainly not used to taking buses, I met each activity with the determination that everything was going to be fine. And it was.

View from my hotel room

Actually, I was treated with so much kindness from the locals. The woman at the fingerprint place looked up the bus schedule for me to make sure I got back okay. I was digging out my change for the bus when the driver waved me to never mind and just have a seat. I was short some dollars at the hotel store and the girl behind the counter waved me off and gave me a discounted price. I went back and paid her what I owed her and dug the rest of my change out of my pocket for the bus driver but still I was impressed. Another thing that struck me, was whenever someone got off the bus, they all thanked the driver. People weren’t just faceless entities in Alaska. We were all people trying to make our way and were treated as such.

I was liking Alaska.

It was time for the job fair. I walked around to look at the districts that were there. I had so wanted to apply to Juneau or Anchorage…but Anchorage was only looking for Special Ed teachers or high school math…and Juneau wasn’t even there. In fact, none of the districts on the road system were there…only districts from the bush.

I wouldn’t find out until years later that I had been mislead. Job fairs for Alaska were really only for the bush (rural) districts. The other districts are so sought out by the great candidates that they didn’t start looking for teachers until the end of May and/or June. And this had been April. That’s one of the secrets no one mentions, most likely to get people like me to come out.

But at that time, I knew nothing of this. I didn’t know that if I waited, I could have interviewed with those more desirable districts. I really believed that fate was guiding me to a village in the bush. So, I pulled out my cards and submitted my resume to the districts that fitted my requirements.

Out of those districts, I had 3 job interviews that day. I had met a couple who used to work in one of those districts who tried to warn me that the district I had just interviewed with was the worst district in the state of Alaska, but I thought it was tacky to bad mouth your old district, so I ignored them. It turns out to have been the district I chose and they were absolutely correct but for different reasons than they had said anyways.

Anchorage, Alaska

Of those 3 interviews, I received 2 job offers. Right after the first offer came through, I also got a letter from my current district saying that I had my job back for next year with them. I now had to choose between staying in California or moving to an Alaskan village, 400 miles from Anchorage on the Kuskokwim River, accessible by either boat or bush plane. No one wanted me to leave and I also knew that while my job was safe, each school site was going to lose one teacher. My friend, Annabelle, was going to lose her job.

But I didn’t want to stay. People warned me to take a leave of absence for a year. The idea was that if it didn’t work in Alaska, I could come back. But I knew if I had that safety net, I wouldn’t make things work if it proved difficult. I needed to not be able to come back. I needed this to work. I needed to make it work.

I threw caution to the wind, I saved my friend’s job, I stood up for myself, and I resigned after 4 years with my district. I accepted the position in Alaska. And I turned down an interview with Anchorage (wow, that would have been a completely different experience!). The HR director came up to me at a meeting and said, “Lara! What did you do!?!” I replied, “What was best for me.” Then he held out his hand and wished me well.

I was leaving my broken heart, my guilt, my fear, and my doubts behind me. I was taking my 2 cats and going out into the unknown. I had no idea what to expect. But for the first time in my life, I knew I had the smarts, the drive, and the courage to find out what fate had in store for me next. And the possibilities were endless.

Driving The Alaskan Highway

First of all, I have to give a shot out to the company who produces The Milepost. I used the book and the website for maps, road conditions, and places to stay. It's called "the bible of North Country travel" and it was the only resource I used.

My mother and I met up in Anchorage. We spent two days gathering supplies and planning our trip. If it was just humans involved, I wouldn't have worried so much. But since I had cats and a dog, I wanted to be sure all was ready. 

Me & My New Car!!

We stayed at The Puffin Inn in Anchorage. I stay there every time I am in Anchorage. I really like their jacuzzi suite. Plus, I could bring Dakota there and there never have been any problems. Funny story about that...there is a weight limit on the dogs. I had been bringing Dakota there since he was a 35 pound puppy, and so I never knew about the weight restriction. And when I came in with a 110 lb Dakota, no one said anything to me. The manager told me that he knows my dog and knew he was a really good dog. And Dakota has never caused any trouble there, but it was that little act of kindness that made me realize how special Alaska is. People are truly kind in Alaska. I will miss that. 

That Saturday, I got to pick up my new car. After living in teacher housing for 3 years, that car was the fanciest thing that I have ever seen. And it was mine! I couldn't believe it. It was so pretty and clean. I knew that wouldn't last long. Not with a 3,000 mile road trip with 2 adults, 2 cats, and a dog. 

I am going to note at this point that those two days were the only nights I shared a hotel room with my mother. She's allergic to cats and while it worked out for Anchorage, we didn't want to tempt fate and have her react to the kitties. 

Day 1: Anchorage, AK to Tok, AK; 328 miles; Glenn Highway

The first day out was pretty uneventful. Fitting all of our luggage & the animals was tricky. I might have freaked out about that. It was tricky, but once I got everything in and the animals were settled, I relaxed. 

I will say that Alaska has a nasty habit of renaming highways with the same name as another one. Then they rename the old highway Old _____. There was a couple of times that day where I had to ask myself, "Wait....did I want Old Glenn Highway?" I was glad I went over the route that night before. And if anything, that first day taught me to go over the map more carefully each night. 

I had called ahead the night before to reserve a room. The books all recommended it. What I didn't know until we got on the road, was that the season was 5 days away from starting. So not everything was open, BUT what was open (and enough of hotels & gas stations were open so we didn't feel the pinch) was pretty empty. So rooms ended up not being an issue. 

The highlight of the day was when I saw a sign for something called, "Glacier View ____." I thought, "Why would they call something Glacier View? Is there a glacier nearby!?!" And I turned a corner and saw to my right.....yeah, that's a glacier. I was beside myself! I didn't know I was going to be driving by a glacier! How cool is that?

Driving past a glacier

I guess there was something that happened. Gas wasn't an issue, but there weren't any rest stops on the road. And there was a long stretch of road with no bathrooms. So, at one point, I had to pull off and go behind a tree. I was a bit nervous doing that, but I took Dakota with me and figured he'd protect me. After that day, I was careful about going to the bathroom when bathrooms were available. But as the rest of the trip had rest stops, it wasn't an issue. 

We arrived at Tok, Alaska. And it was going to be my last night in Alaska. We stayed at Golden Bear Motel & RV Park. And the people who ran it were so incredibly nice. The rooms were nice but the restaurant wasn't open yet. But we went to dinner at a place called Fast Eddy's. 

At this point, I should note that we hadn't been driving on the Alaska Highway yet. We drove the Glenn Highway that day.

Here are some pictures of Day 1:

Poor Moose

We stopped here for lunch

My favorite picture.....

Golden Bear

We ate dinner here

Day 2: Tok, AK to Whitehorse, Yukon; 387 miles; Alaska Highway

That was the day of my phone interview at 5:00 p.m. (4 p.m Alaskan time). I had checked my cell phone plan and the website said I would be roaming. My goal was to hit Whitehorse by 3 p.m. I figured I could spend an hour getting settled. 

I'm an idealist at times. 

A couple of points to note: Day 2 is when we crossed the border into Canada. We were in the Yukon Territory of Canada at that point. Canada posts signs letting you know that now the signs will be posted in kilometers instead of miles. Oddly enough, Canada does NOT post when you've entered into a different time zone, but more of that later.

On this leg of the trip, part of the road had been washed out right before Whitehorse. By the way, even though the roads are paved, it's pretty gnarly. We had a to take a detour off the bad road, and the condition of the alternate road made me really curious to see why that road was deemed the better choice. There was a truck that had in big letters: FOLLOW ME on it to represent the pilot car. 

Our detour

At this point, it was 3:30....and we were still a ways from Whitehorse. I had a nagging suspicion I was going to miss my interview. 

Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon Territory and is quite widespread. I had asked the hotel if they were easy to find the night before. They weren't. It was by sheer dumb luck I found the hotel. 

I had tried calling the hotel, only to find my cell phone would only work if I dialed 911. It was now 4:00 and time for my interview and I had only just pulled into the hotel. 

Actually, I noticed the clocks said it was 5 p.m. and that's when I realized I had crossed into a new time zone. 

It turns out, I made my interview. I called from the hotel room and the school called me back. Everything went smoothly. I mean, I didn't end up getting the job, but that's okay. Everything worked out.

We stayed at the Best Western Gold Rush Inn and it had the softest bed I had ever slept in! There was one ugly incident that kinda ruined it for me. I had to take Dakota out the front door to walk him. And he's a really good dog. We turned this corner and he started barking at this one woman. Now, for all I know, she eats her babies. But a rep from the hotel was giving her some tour and came up to Dakota and started pushing him back with her body saying, "Oh I know, you are just an obnoxious malamute!" 

I wished I had said something to her. But I was just one part shocked at her behavior and the other part of me wanted to get my dog away from a woman who bothered him enough to bark at. But other than that, everyone else was really nice. I am still mad that woman said that about my dog. For all she knows, the other woman was pure evil. Dakota is NOT obnoxious! My mom actually complained to the hotel about that woman insulting my dog. 

Here are some pictures of Day 2:

Crossing the border...

Canada has spots to pull off & throw trash away

The bridge warned parts could break off

Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear

Canada has different candy...

...and money!

Day 3: Whitehorse, Yukon to Watson Lake, Yukon; 282 miles; Alaska Highway

Even though this day was the shortest drive, it was my least favorite. We hit a snowstorm on the way to Watson Lake and I did not like driving in the snow. I was worried when I saw the temperature dropping to 32 degrees. I did not want to deal with icy roads. 

This day was a turning point for me. I realized that I didn't want to do half day trips. I wanted to drive longer on my trips. I didn't want to be on the road 8+ days. 

I also didn't care for the hotel as much. It was my least favorite. The room was the pet room, which was nice, except that it smelled like it was the pet room. And people kept walking past the room with their animals, which would freak out my animals, so I didn't get a lot of sleep that night. My mom, on the other hand, really enjoyed her stay in her room. We stayed at the Big Horn Hotel in Watson Lake. The people were nice and it was easy to find.

Here are some pics of Day 3:

Yeah....sure it's paved....

Bear!

At one of the rest stops

Snow storm!!

Big Horn Hotel

Watson Lake

Day 4: Waston Lake, Yukon Territory to Dawson Creek, British Colombia; 613 miles, Alaska Highway

This day was my favorite day on the trip. As we were leaving the Watson Lake area, we stopped for some gas. The ladies working this one store had warned my mother that we'd be seeing lots of animals and the bison were particularly dangerous because they have no fear of cars. I took this to mean that they stay in the road and don't move. My mother took it to mean they charge your car like rhinos. I thought buffalo were more like cows. Turns out I was right.

We saw: grizzly bears, black bears, buffalo, moose, goats, sheep, elk, caribou, deer but no eagles. This was the day I had to stop my car to let a black bear cross the road. I was laughing the whole time in disbelief. Dakota growled at the bears & buffalo. He growled at the bear crossing the street. 

We stopped at this great RV park/lodge. It was called the Toad River Lodge and it had an amazing collection of baseball hats from all over the world. The hats were all on the ceiling. The picture doesn't do it justice, because there must have been thousands of them!

It was also the first day I saw any signs of spring. Which was lovely.

It was a long drive. That last 100 miles was tough. We all wanted out of the car! We stayed at the Super 8 in Dawson Creek, which was very nice. It had the best morning breakfast we had during the whole trip. But that's the next day.

Here's a lot pictures for Day 4:

Grizzly bear (there were two of them)

Canada & British Colombian Flags

The bear crossing the road

This marks the end of the Alaskan Highway. It has taken me several hours to post Days 1-4. I will continue this post with Days 5-7 in a couple of days. Feel free to leave me comments!!