Saturday, August 30, 2014

The DSLR Saga

When I first took this job in Sitka back in mid-April, my goal was to buy a DSLR camera with my second paycheck. My savings had dwindled to a frightening level after 3 months of winter travel. But I had my mind set on purchasing my first professional quality camera after having fallen so deeply in love with photography from my last job in Nome. It was like learning to paint with oils, and then moving away and only having crayons to use.

Well, my second paycheck came. Then my third. Then my fourth. Unexpected expenses arose, student loans nagged to be paid, the cost of living out here was more than I anticipated. I realized I couldn't just spare an entire paycheck to throw to my frivolous dream of owning a nice camera. So I got a second job.

As I've mentioned before, waitressing is not exactly my cup of tea, but I've always been taught that sometimes you need to do some things you don't like in order to get to what you do like. This summer has been a good example of that, and it feels good to know that I'm finally reaching my goals AND I've worked my butt off for them. It really hasn't been that bad, either -- I love my 40 hours a week as a park ranger enough that I can put up with 15 hours of hell on the side.

What's more, I'm a strong believer in having the right tools for the job (even if that job is just a hobby at this point). As I'm looking to explore media more for my graduate studies, I see this as an investment in my future. Taking all these factors into consideration, you can see now how badly I've been wanting to get this camera. I promise, I'm not completely crazy.

Well, some 12 paychecks later and 5 months into the summer, I finally made the big purchase today.  In two weeks when it arrives, I will be the proud new owner of a Nikon D7000, with an 18-105mm lens. It's a huge investment, but I'm hoping it will pay off.

Despite the mini-heart attack I had when I first hit the "purchase" button, I feel so good! I can't wait to receive it and start posting the millions of photos I plan on taking my last few weeks in Sitka! Thanks to everyone who has morally supported me through this crazy summer, given me all sorts of great camera advice, and helped me remember why I'm here. I love you all!

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Where to next?

It’s getting to be that time of year where people are starting to ask me the dreaded question: “Where to next?”

It’s an exciting question, to be sure, but unfortunately for the asker, not one to which I have an answer.

I had one of those shower epiphanies the other night, thinking about this question. It occurred to me that around this time last year when I was living in Nome, I was considering the novelty of not going straight home after my season ended, for the first time in my life. I remember the giddiness I felt when I bought a one-way ticket to Anchorage, and quickly soon after, plans formed to spontaneously move to Washington state for no particular reason, and then take a road trip across the country with my boyfriend. These dreams crystallized into reality.

I had no idea how these experiences would change me, or even that they did change me, until recently. I realized in the shower tonight, that these experiences now define who I am. A year ago, if you’d asked me “where to next?” I would have said, “back home I guess.” But today my answer is a confident and content “I don’t know!”

Of course I have some ideas. But the novelty of living on the road without a plan is somehow different, now that I know what it’s like, and have been essentially living out of a couple backpacks and a duffle for almost a year.

You might be surprised (and relieved [looking at you, Mom and Dad]), but believe it or not, I’m starting to feel ready for grad school. My wanderlust remains strong as ever, but an even stronger part of me has an urge to reach for something greater. I’m starting to miss the structure and directness of school, and I’m beginning to see how easy it would be to hit a dead end if I stop trying to achieve.

Maybe working at the pub is helping with this too. Not to say there’s anything wrong with waiters and bartenders – I have high respect for many of them who have clearly come up by their bootstraps to get where they are in life. But there’s also something maddening and saddening about the fact that some of them will never be anything but bartenders and waiters. It’s not that difficult of a job, and I can see how it would be easy to just go from place to place working at restaurants for quick money once you have the skill. I don’t want to do that though, tempting as it is. This experience has been a good kick in the butt to get myself into gear for higher aspirations.

If we’re going to be completely honest here, I probably have at least another year of vagabonding ahead of me, if not more. I don’t mind at all – in fact, I’m looking forward to a little more wandering, now that I’m so used to it and have learned a lot. But wherever I end up this fall, my main goal is to research my higher education and further career options. I’m ready to get focused again.

So, for real: Where to next? Well, I told you: I don’t know! Of course, the answer is more complicated than that. I’ll go here and there, figure out some things in my personal life, go home and visit the family, hopefully pick up a job somewhere for the winter to support myself while I look for grad schools. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that all realities start with the seed of an idea. Last year, that idea was to wander the country for a while, and look what happened. This year, I’ve planted the seeds of higher achievement into my brain, and hopefully if I nurture them enough and refrain from the entangling distractions of life, they will grow into fruition and I’ll find myself a little more ahead of the game.

We shall see. Please don’t hold me to any of this. Like I said, I’m partially going on a shower epiphany here, and we all know where things in the shower usually end up (down the drain).

Friday, August 22, 2014

Picturing Sitka

It's been a long 3 weeks. We had something like 6 inches of rain in one weekend and it rained almost nonstop for 2 weeks straight. And I hate to think that something as simple as the weather can affect my mood, but I have to be completely honest and admit that that much rain definitely put a damper on my attitude for a while. That's part of the reason I haven't felt like blogging, but I am so far behind I thought I would throw these pictures up anyhow from our last sunny day, whenever that was.

The sea walk, with Mt. Verstovia in the distance

Crescent Harbor


Mountains across from the park


Fireweed and mountains

World's Most Beautiful Trailer Park Award goes to...

Can't get enough of those mountains



Modern totem pole
One one of my days off last week, I finally managed to get some decent salmon footage as well. The spawn isn't quite at its peak yet, but it's still absolutely incredible to witness and I had way too much fun throwing my GoPro in the river all day. Here are some of the shots I got (and make sure to watch the video in HD):





Perhaps tomorrow I'll try to actually write a post (rather than just throwing pictures up) and put into words some of my reflections and observations from the last few weeks. Until then, enjoy the photos!

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Living Alaska

I forgot how much I love late summer in Alaska. There is so much to do; the scenery is ever-changing; salmon are schooling at the mouth of the river; and the rainforest has exploded with a buffet of wild edibles. Salmonberries, blueberries, and huckleberries weigh down the bushes and color the landscape with dots of blue, red, orange, and yellow.

I've vetoed blueberries for the rest of the season though, ever since I picked an entire 32-ounces worth only to find they were infested with horrifying maggot-worm-things. STUFF OF NIGHTMARES. Apparently that's normal here, and all the locals told me just to flood them out overnight or "chew really well." I'm going to just say no, and stick to salmonberries.

Salmonberries are, of course, named for their likeness to salmon eggs, which I have also seen a lot of lately. Over the last few weeks, I've been fortunate enough to get out on a friend's boat several times for some salmon fishing in the nearby coves around Baranof Island.

Out on the water, Alaska is a whole different world. Humongous sea lions roll out of the way as we cruise along at our top speed of 7 mph in the tiny vessel. Murrelets and auklets dive into the crystal clear water when we pass by, while gulls fly in closer to see if we have any fish to spare. Sometimes a seal will poke its head up, with just its eyes blinking curiously above the water's surface. 

A very skinny, very far away brown bear
My favorite thing by far, however, are finding brown bears on the islands. They usually look up and sidle into the forest when we cruise by, often disappearing before I'm close enough to get a good picture, but so far I've seen several every time I've gone out. It kind of drives home the fact that there are a LOT of bears out here, despite the fact that I never see them when I'm on land.

Even though it's always been cloudy and rainy when I've gone out, the scenery never fails to disappoint. Southeast Alaska was born for the rain, and as much as I love sunshine, the rain fits this place much better.

All the light blobs are jelly fish!
Our last fishing trip was the most exciting. A small group of us puttered two hours out to a hidden cove near a Forest Service salmon weir, where we were sure to land some pinks before they launched themselves up the waterfalls to the river. We tied the boat off on a buoy and rowed to shore in a little inflatable raft, carefully balancing the four of us along with our fishing poles and backpacks.

As we got closer to shore, we realized that the water was jam packed with jelly fish! Huge, amorphous globs of flesh-colored jellies were congregated in the cove, some caught in the tide pools, and others moving more intentionally along through the gentle current. I still have no idea what species they were, or why there were so many, but I managed to get some awesome GoPro videos of them, nervously holding my camera underwater and hoping they weren't the stinging-type.
During our couple hours on shore, there were at least two bears that came by, both of which I missed. The first one was sighted by some nearby Forest Service workers who happened to be on bear watch, and phased it away with an airhorn; apparently it walked right by where we had left our backpacks up in the trees. The second bear was wading through the fish weir, and by the time my friend called me over to see it, it had wandered back into the depths of the woods. It was one of the few days I was actually really glad to have my bear spray on hand. 

By the end of the day, we had only caught two salmon, but they were huge and had enough meat on the fillets for several days worth of meals. The next day, we grilled them up with a honey mustard marinade and a side of fresh salad. YUM!
 
Other days out on the boat have been equally interesting, though we don't always come back with fish. The first time out, I was set on filming the sea lions underwater with my GoPro, but they stayed too far away to capture on camera through the silty water.

That time I almost got frostbite
On top of that, I also got some first-hand experience (no pun intended) on how cold the water is here. It didn't feel too bad, but after we got back on shore, my last two fingers didn't get the memo that the rest of my hand had warmed back up! They were completely numb for about 45 minutes until I got home. Once there, I ran warm water over my fingers and rubbed them vigorously until the bloodflow returned, but they stayed slightly tingly and sensitive for about half a day afterwards.

So Southeast Alaska right there...
Really though, Sitka is by far the most incredible place I have ever lived.  There is so much to do and see and experience. Clearly, others feel the same way as well,  as evidenced by this love letter to the town that was found on the fence at the Russian Bishop's House a few weeks ago:
Someone left a love note to the town on the fence
I have so many more pictures and stories to post, but the last piece of news I have time to share tonight is that I've picked up a second job in town.

After work four nights a week, I change out of my ranger uniform and into an apron to wait tables for 5-6 hours.  It's exhausting and overwhelming and stressful, since I've never worked at a restaurant before, but I'm learning a lot and it's nice to have a little extra cash in my pocket. The main motivation is that I really want to get my DSLR soon, and with the additional income, hopefully within a week or two I'll be able to do that. Fingers crossed! I hope this is all worth it, because MAN, am I beat! It's all part of the experience though, and will make a great story one day.

I'll try to catch up on more posts in a few days, next time I have a night off. I have a lot of new observations I want to share, and simply not enough time to write everything down! Such is the life.