Rivers, Mountains, Bays, and Glaciers! (It's long....)

It's been far too long since I've written and so many exciting things have transpired! The last couple weeks have been amazing and summer is in full swing! We've been blessed with great sunny days (minus a week of downpour) and we've really been quite adventurous on our days off! I've fallen even more in love with Alaska the past few weeks (if that's possible), but also have been having a hard time at work. I've been really struggling with my job because I really don't enjoy it that much. I think it's time for me to get out of being a waitress, but it's been hard because it's so easy to make lots of money in a short amount of time. However, I'm learning that no amount of money is worth being miserable at your job. So I've been searching and putting resumes out around town to try something new and luckily I got something! I've recently started a job at a company called Exit Glacier Guides. They are an Alaskan adventure company who leads tours on Exit Glacier. They do Ice Hiking (walking around on top of the glacier), Ice Climbing (repelling down into the crevasses of the glacier), and do helicopter tours of Godwin Glacier. I will do office work for them (my specialty) and so far I LOVE it! It's the most relaxed placed I've ever worked and all the people I work with are SO nice! It's like a big family and it's such a great change from the grumpy and often sour people I can encounter in the restaurant business. So I will be finishing up working full time at the Brewery in a week or two here and I am still deciding if I want to stay a night or two a week to keep saving a little extra money for after summer. We shall see! That's all that's happening in the working part of my life. I'm happy with that! But now of the adventures....

In the past few weeks, we've really been having fun being Alaskan adventurers! It started with white water rafting! There is a river here on the Alaskan Kenai Peninsula called 6 Mile Creek (in Hope, AK) that is known for it's world class rapids. It has some of the best white water rafting in the world. However, it's one of the most dangerous as well. It has Class 4 and Class 5 rapids (class 5 is the highest it goes). We booked our trip (I have to admit, I was a bit nervous, ok really nervous). Our day started with a "swim test" which including throwing yourself into the fast running river swimming down (we were outfitted in special dry suits to keep us warm) and them swimming your way to shore. Let me tell you, this was the hardest swim I've EVER done! You are swimming your heart out and you barely go an inch. But I made it through the swim which meant I was safe to go on the rafting trip (in case I fell out of the boat). We loaded up on the rafts (4 people plus one guide) and were on our way. What happened next was the most exciting and crazy thing! We made our way down the river encountering rapids with names such as "predator, jaws, pearly gates, and suck hole". While going through the rapids our guide would yell commands to "paddle forward, backward, etc". I made it through the whole thing! It was AWESOME! And at the very end, when the river gets smooth, you can jump out, float on your back, and coast into the shore! It was so much fun! However, no I can't imagine rafting on a class 2 or 3 and feel excited. LOL! :)

The following week, we took it easy. It was pouring rain and we both felt like we needed time to relax, sleep in, and be lazy. After that, we were ready to get back out there! I had just bought a bicycle and I love it, so I wanted to ride it to and from whatever we were going to do! So we rode into town, did some errands and decided to hike! We decided with a hike up the famous Mt. Marathon! David hadn't been up it yet and lucky to us the trail had been recently marked by all the foot prints of the 4th of July Mt. Marathon race. So we trekked out way to the top (well pretty much to the top) sweating the whole way! It was really awesome. We had a great view from the top and I even ran quite a bit of the uphill trail (who knows maybe next year I'll be running the race!). The following day, the be gentle to our sore legs, we scheduled a kayaking tour on Fox Island ( an island out in Resurrection bay). The company had given David 2 comp trips so we got to go for free! :) It was a beautiful day on the water. We kayaked for about 2 hours, saw a humpback whale lunge feeding in the distance, beautiful scenery, and got up close to the cute little puffins! The day also included an all you can eat salmon and prime rib dinner ( was included on the boat tour to get to the island). We also got spoiled with king crab! We paid to share a half pound of crab, but ended up getting double! It was our lucky day! After those 2 days, I was exhausted, but I loved every second of it! 

  
Almost to the top of the Mountain!

          Yoga 3,000 feet up! 

     Resting our feet at the top! 

   Enjoying a beer on a sunny day! 

       Getting ready to kayak! 

          Out in the bay! 

Another week of worked passed (slowly and painfully at the restaurant) and then it was our weekend again! Luckily I started to work a few mornings at Exit Glacier (which I love!) and as part of my job I need to be able to explain the trips we offer and sell them. So in order to do so, they asked if I'd like to go on the trips myself. I squealed with excitement and gladly said yes! So Monday, I was scheduled for an ice hike and Tuesday an ice climb. Monday went amazingly. We hiked about an hour and half up to the glacier and then suited up with warm clothes, helmets, and crampons. We made our way to the ice and spent about 2 hours walking on and exploring the glacier. It was so amazing and beautiful. I was in a group with a very sweet Indian family who I got to know along the way. They had a camera with them and took some pictures for me, we exchanged emails, and they'll give me the pictures once they are back home in New Jersey. They were so friendly and started calling me "their ice family". They wanted to include me in the family photos too. It was fun! The day ended too quickly, I could stay on the glacier all day. But lucky me, I got to go back up yesterday! However it was to ice climb! We began the day an hour earlier and I brought the boys at the shop pastries from the local bakery which were gobbled up in 5 minutes. We trekked back up the same hour and half incline to get to the glacier. This time we were equipped with special boots and more gnarly crampons. We made out way to the first crevasse in the glacier and the guides set up the ice climbing gear to safely repel us down into the crevasse so we could climb out. The crevasse we started at we had explored the previous day and at the bottom about 80 feet down was a beautiful glacial blue lake. The guides teased me which then secured my harness that all new Exit Glacier employees had to do an "initiation dunk". I told them if they did that I'd quit. LOL. 

Exit Glacier view from the hike up!

       Cinderella's slippers ;)

                Ice hiking!

             More Glacier....

   Smaller Crevasse of the glacier

So there I was, repelling down into the huge crack in a glacier. On the way up hiking, I was thinking of how excited I was to do this, but now that I was being lowered by a rope and my new boss, I was TERRIFIED. My heart was beating fast, my legs started to shake, and once I lowered to the point I'd start to climb from I froze. I just clung to the wall frozen. It was a really weird experience that I've never had. I've been nervous or scared before but I've never locked up. So there I was, feeling like I was in an "on the job interview" and my boss had to coach me, help me relax, and be a cheerleader so I could make it up. So I took what felt like an hour to take deep breathes, relax, and trust myself and the technique so I could make it up. And sure enough I did it! Slowly, but surely I made my way out of the crevasse. I kicked my crampons into the ice two baby steps at a time then hacked my ice axes into the side of the ice cliff and climbed my way out. After I made it out I felt so proud of myself. I knew all along I could physically do it, but I didn't expect to get to mentally locked up! After the group all got a go on this particular crevasse, we loaded up and found 2 others. The second one I repelled into was so beautiful and had a little ledge you could stand up on once you repelled down. I stood there for a few minutes just experience the sensations of being inside this beautiful blue frozen giant. Then again slowly and more confidently I made my way out of the glacier. I lost my footing about half way up, and fell a foot or so, but it was good to feel how my guides totally had me on the rope and how safe the equipment really was. After that, I felt I trusted not only myself more, but the guides who were repelling me down. I made it back up the second one and then completed the 3rd ascent much more relaxed and confident. 

All and all it was the most terrifying but amazing thing I've ever done in my life! And as I thought, I cannot wait to get out there to do it again! It was so amazing! I met the coolest couple who live on an island in the Bahamas who were in our climbing group. They were British and it was so fun to talk to them. The wife was so funny and was just as nervous as I was the whole time. She repelled and the whole way down was yelling any and all swear words she could come up with. When I was frozen at the bottom, she encouraged me to do the same! So I did, and felt a little better. However, in the middle of my nervousness and panic, I decided that the I was feeding the glacier all my anxious energy, so I decided to tell the glacier how much I loved it and respected it. I complemented the glacier on it's beauty and gave it a hug and a kiss. After that I felt like I could climb out of the glacier and I did! Maybe all the glacier needed was a little acknowledgment and love?  :) The easy going and fun British couple also took some pictures of me climbing and repelling so once I get those I will post them, I am sure I will look terrified! 

So that was the past few weeks of adventures! The rest of the week includes work and more work, but I am looking forward to phasing out of waitressing and moving more into the job at Exit Glacier! I am also, starting to teach yoga outside at the park and have had a few students come! I hope that if I leave the brewery I can offer more yoga at times that more people can come to! So far teaching yoga is really awesome and people have expressed ore desire for evening classes (which is why I want to leave the brewery). So we will see how the next few weeks play out!  But I am sure they will work out perfectly, just as everything this whole summer has! I continue to fall more in love with Alaska everyday and can see myself coming here for many more summers to come! I'll be posting more pictures from rafting and ice climbing once I receive them from the sweet people who took them for me! :) 

I hope you are all awesome! I miss and love you! 

Love, Jillian