A few days ago I had my first Yukon tour. This means we drive our passengers up into the Yukon Territory to one of our vendors, called Caribou Crossing. This is about 2 1/2 hours away, so it's a long time with your guests, and a lot of touring. I was super nervous, so I tried to study and asked the returning drivers a lot of questions. It ended up going okay, it could've been better, but it also could've been way worse. I don't think I talked enough, but I'm pretty sure my people didn't realize that. That's the great thing about this job, most of your passengers have never been here, so they don't know what they don't know (did that convoluted sentence make any sense?) So they are pretty easy to please. Plus, no one wants to hear a tour guide talk for 2 1/2 hours straight; I know I wouldn't. So it's okay if you take breaks and are silent for a few minutes at a time. I had my next Yukon tour 2 days later. This tour went a thousand times better! I talked to a returning driver who helped me out and gave me a lot of information to talk about, and told me what he talks about at specific points during the trip. Plus, my group was amazing. I have had pretty good groups so far, none of them have sucked =) I always have so much fun with them. I love talking to random people and finding out where they're from and what they do. So I've been pretty lucky, but this group of passengers I had on my second Yukon was probably my favorite so far. I believe I had about 40 people, which is a lot; our coaches only hold 47. Big groups are good and bad. So far I like big groups better because that is more people that laugh at my corny tourist jokes =) However smaller groups are nice because it's more intimate and you get to know them better. Anyways, we were all getting along very well. They would ask questions about me and my life and vice versa. They were kinda rowdy so I asked if I had any trouble makers on board. Well one guy, named Ed, raised his hand, and told me his name was "Mr. Ed the talking horse". I knew from then on that this was going to be a fun day. I was with these people on and off for about 8 hours. My tour went really well, I had enough to talk about, and the tips weren't too terrible either. My passengers were so amazing that I actually did not want to drop them off at their ship. I wanted to hang out with them more! One lady told me when she got off the coach that she really enjoyed it, she loved the information and I "made her vacation". This was the biggest compliment I have ever received, and I felt almost honored (as cheesy as that sounds). You don't realize it until you do the job, but it's a lot of pressure being a tour guide. You really can make or break someone's vacation. These people pay hundreds of dollars per ticket and they are depending on you to help them have a good time. So that is kinda scary, but I think I'm doing an okay job so far. At the end of all of my tours, there are always quite a few people who say that they had a great time, loved the information, said I'm a good tour guide, etc. It makes me feel really good about myself because I was super nervous when I first got here about being a sucky tour guide. But as most of you know, I can be pretty outgoing when I want to be, so I just talk and joke around with my passengers, all while giving them valuable information. So I always have a good time on tour. Overall, I am loving my job. I feel completely spoiled that I get paid to live here all summer, see amazing scenery and hang out with tourists all day. This is the life =)
Yesterday me, Alisha and Trent went up to Whitehorse, which is the capital of the Yukon Territory in Canada. It has around 28,00 people I believe; much bigger than Skagway, but still a small town. (For those of you that don't know, Skagway only has about 900 year-round residents... tiny!!) Anyways, we wanted to get out of town for the day, so we drove up in the afternoon and hung out for the day. When we got up there we had sushi for dinner. Yes, sushi. I actually love it! Then we went to a couple stores and finally went and saw The Hangover 2. Sooo funny. I don't think it was as good as the first one, but still hilarious.
The drive is about 2 hours each way, so it was kind of like a mini road trip. We pulled over at a couple picture stops we go to on our tours, because we felt like being tourists for a second. First stop was Emerald Lake. Prettiest lake I have ever seen! It is even brighter in person. It gets it's color from something called marl. Marl is decomposed shells and clay mixed together that sits at the bottom of the lake. So when the sun reflects off the marl, it makes this beautiful color.
Alisha and Trent
Here is one of the bald eagles we saw, also very cool.
So we had a pretty good day. It was nice to get out of town for the day and do something different. After we got back we hung out at home for a couple hours and then you'll never guess what we did?? Had a bonfire, go figure. There was probably about 10 of us or so. And guess what we drank? Booze. What else do people do at bonfires? =) But it was a fun time, just all chillin' around the fire, talking and relaxing.
Today is kind of a day off. I have a transfer to do at 4:30, that will take about 10 minutes and that's it. So I'm just sitting here, being lazy with Alisha. We like to lay in our beds, laptops on our stomach, and alternate who gets to play music lol I love her, she's an awesome roommate and a great friend!
Well that's all for now. Stay tuned for more of my Alaskan adventures!
