Zip-lining Through Alaska and MORE!

A couple of Thursday ago we had the day off and decided to go on a adventure of zip-lining. We called Alaska Excursions and they told us to call back at noon to see if they could get us on the tour and they did so we got to go for FREE!! We also brought along our friend from the branch, Brandon. We saw him when we were walking around town and he asked to come with. The more the merrier!

It was so fun! We went through 11 different courses where our tour guides told us to do cool tricks like front flips! They made it look a lot easier than what it really was! Some of the stands were so high in the air! We sorta felt like ewoks. hee hee :)

Our tour guides were really great and tons of fun! Their names were Fast Freddy and Jay. Here are their lovely faces:


Overall, if you come to Skagway and you are looking for something fun to do, check out Alaska Excursions! We also got to hold cute little puppies who will be trained to be sled dogs! We wanted to take them home!!!!!

That next Friday, we had a Bachelorette party for Stephanie! We kicked the boys downstairs and had delicious food, played fun games, and watched Steph open some sexy gifts. Overall, it was a successful night and we are excited for her and Seth to get married at the end of the month!

On Tuesday we went to BINGO at the Bananza and was a winner winner chicken dinner! She has never played BINGO before and got a $20 gift certificate! So the next night we went out for dinner since the gift certificate expired in a few days. It was delish!! So good.

This last Thursday was the last Disney Ship day so we went down in the freezing cold rain to hear the magical horn and watch it leave. Disney day is a pretty awesome day because the crew members are a lot happier and it means its the end of the week! FYI: we can't seem to take normal pictures... but it is definitely more fun that way :)


We then met up with our friend, Drew and we went out to eat at Northern Lights and played Banagrams while we waited for our food! It was a lot of fun to do. Drew is a cool guy that we have gotten to know over the summer. He knows how to bring the fun wherever he is!

And last but not least, while Daniel, Krysten, and Steph were running for the Klondike Road Relay, the rest of us went hot tubing at Karla and Duff's house. Even though it was freezing in Skagway it was an awesome way to warm up. What amazing people we work for that they will let us use their hot tub! We love the Rays!

Kayaking and Hiking makes the greatest Saturday

beautiful skirts

Two weeks ago we had Saturday off, which is very rare. We planned to sleep in and maybe go on a hike. However, the lovely Amanda Jensen called us at about 8AM to see if we wanted to go kayaking up in Fraser with her and her mom, Becky! We were told that they would come pick us up in about ASAP. We shot out of bed and got ready as fast as we could.

Before getting into the water

Becky and Amanda picked us up with delicious smoothies in hand for us. We then drove to Fraser which is the Canadian border and man it was so beautiful up there on the lake! It was WONDERFUL! Ashley got the privilege to do the peddling and paddling around was great. We went from one end of the lake tot he other. It was a couple of hours of paddling fun!

It was really cool to just relax and enjoy the scenery. We would occasionally stop paddling and soak it all in. We would chat with Amanda, Becky, and one of the tour guides. We had a pretty good tour group where everyone did their own thing but stayed all together.

All of us!

Afterwards, we came home and went out to to the Saturday market to get some of Rocky and Lil's homemade fry bread! It is so delicious. Amanda helped out and afterwards we went back with her to the border so we could go hike International Falls! International Falls is a hike through waterfalls and you basically go out as far as you want. It was nice weather, a little overcast but it was really nice out.

We went decided we wanted to go down to some of the waterfalls and  we got off the trail so getting back onto the trail was an adventure because we had to walk through the water and with the rocks being so slippery we had to find the perfect place to go walk through. It took a while but finally we just had to get into the water! Surprisingly,

it wasn't that cold, our only concern was not to fall in and get totally soaked.

Off the trail!

Overall, it was a great Saturday and with only a few left we hope to keep having these great adventures!

More Roommates!

Yes, you read that right! We have 3 new roommates! And some of us have started to leave. Adriana left on Sunday and (lil) Ashlee leaves on Thursday. It is really sad, because we can feel the season come to an end. But enough with the sadness. Meet our new roommates!!



First off we have Krysten! Krysten has been coming up for 4 summers and because she goes to BYU-Idaho she only comes up at the end of the season. She is from Blackfoot, Idaho. She moved into our room and she is a really cool gal! She is very loving and funny. She is studying biology with an emphasis in neuroscience and loves anything science-y. She will be graduating in the fall She works at the Klothes Rush and loves every minute of it (or does she..hahah). She is really good at going out and being active. She is a good motivator for us slackers.

Along with her, she invited her friend, Jake, to come up. He also goes to BYU-Idaho and is studying biology as well. He is from Henderson, Colorado and is a really chill guy who loves playing the guitar and going out into the wilderness. He hasn't been here for a full week but has been on so many hikes! He works at the Kone and Klothes Rush.After the season he will move to Tennessee to do what every good college student does and sell something to people.





And  last but not least, we have the infamous and classy Ben! Background, Ben is married to Jen and is only moved in until Thursday when he will leave to go back to Utah. He is the assistant manager at Duffs and is very knowledgeable from anything like cats to random facts about Robin Williams' acting career. He is going to school Utah State University and is studying Computer Science. Even though we are happy to have him around it just makes us miss Jen more than anything!


There you have it! Our 3 new roommates. Don't worry, we have had some awesome adventures lately but we figured we should catch up on the people we are sharing a roof with.

ALL ABOARD!

One thing you should know about Skagway is that not only is it the coolest town in all of Southeast Alaska, but it is also the home of the White Pass and Yukon Route. It links Skagway to the Great Yukon!

“The railroad began construction in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush as a means of reaching the goldfields. With its completion in 1900, it became the primary route to the interior of the Yukon, supplanting the Chilkoot Trail and other routes. The route continued operation until 1982, and in 1988 was partially revived as a heritage railway.” (Wikipedia)

There is so much history that goes with the train and if you are in Skagway you would be a fool to not ride it! A lot of people come here to specifically ride the train. On Saturday, we were invited by our friends, Tara and Riley, to ride the train. Tara is leaving to go back to Utah this next week and has never heard Riley (her husband, duh) give a tour so what a great way to spend a BEAUTIFUL Saturday! We took the 4 hour round-trip to the summit. Riley gave a wonderful tour!

One of Aisha’s favorite parts is the story of George Buchanan, a successful businessman, a coal merchant in Detroit. During the Depression he decided to help boys to get out of town and see Alaska. He would take 50-60 boys in the summer on a journey across Canada to Vancouver, sailed up the coast to Skagway, spent several weeks touring Alaska, climbing glaciers, panning for gold.Part of the deal was that their parents would donate 1/3 of the money, George would donate 1/3 of the money and the boy would work to raise the remaining 1/3.

On the rocks below the U.S. Customs Station are the words “On to Alaska with Buchanan” which was their motto and was painted as a tribute to Buchanan.

It is a really cool story and shows how there is such good people willing to reach out and help others. 

These pictures have a funny story behind it. We were in Riley's sound car, which is the car where the tour guide sits in so you don't just listen to them over the intercom. We sat right up front, behind Riley and Tara. About half way up there was a little boy that Riley soon became friends with. His name was Reid and 5 years old. A few things about Reid is that he did not know personal space and he LOVED Riley and Tara! He kept jumping all over them and pulling at them. His mother was really nice and tried to tell him not to do that but that did not work out. At some point she was back in her seat and Reid was all over them. It was so funny to watch. We kinda felt bad for Tara and Riley but they took it like champs, probably because they have so many nieces and nephews. 

We wanted to get a picture all together and of course Reid just has to be in it. The first one is cute because he is squeezing Tara and then in the second one he put his head on Riley's shoulder. Basically, it looks like they have a 5 year old kid! Ha!

Is it really August?!

Wow time is going by fast! It feels like we were just celebrating Christmas...oh wait because we did! Here in Skagway we celebrate Christmas in July. We get Secret Santa's and eat tasty goodies all week! Its very fun!

But before we get more into that we have to share the awesome work photo we took!

This is the lovely people we work with! The theme for work this year was the Olympics.

And if anyone knows Ashley and Aisha they know that we love to dress up. So of course this is what came to our mind when we were told we need to dress up as an Olympic Athlete:

yeah that is right! The ORIGINAL Olympians, with a little more clothing. haha. 

It was a lot of fun to dress up and see what other people came up with. For example: 

Our Branch President....We mean the manager for RadioShack.
Look how nice this Canadian weightlifter looks! She really wins the gold!

We started the week with saying goodbye to our leader, Jen. We miss her so much and work just isnt the same without her. For Christmas in July it lasted from July 21st were we got our secret santa names and ended with a delicious turkey/ham lunch FEAST! It made us so excited for Christmas time. It was also a great way to forget ourselves and serve those around us. We had to write notes to our people and so others would play elves to deliver the notes. It was cool to see how creative people could get. Lots of laughs!

It was also Pioneer Day and when you don't live in Utah or Idaho Pioneer Day is celebrated on the weekend. We gathered as a branch and ate yummy food and played some pioneer-ish games. The first game we played was the handcart pull. There was an obstacle course where you had to pull a handcart around and fill it with different items. Teams were made up of four and your were timed. Of course we couldnt be on the same team, it would be unfair to the others but in the end both our teams claimed victory!

Amanda, Aisha, Daniel, and Michael Bradley placed first

Lindsay, Ashley, Bryan, and Kyle placed second

There was also an egg toss that Michael and Calvin won. We also had some of Rocky and Lillian's homemade fry bread goodness. We are telling you,  we get too spoiled here!!

Some other random news:

Stephanie got engaged to Seth! yay! 

Ryan is sick. He went home to get better help but we miss him a lot here! Keep him in your prayers.

Aisha got sick this past week, its lame.

Ashley got promoted to being the new assistant manger! yay her!!

We got our new roommate, Krysten! More about her sooner than later.

We are going on the train tomorrow! WOOT WOOT! 

Happy Mid Season!

This week we hit the mid season point and it hasn't been filled with much adventure. Poor Ashley was down for the count. There is a crazy sickness going around and it is taking us out one by one. Luckily, Aisha hasn't gotten sick. Keep our house in your prayers!

July 3rd we went back to good ole Whitehorse! This time we had some company!

Everyone meet cute Hailey Jensen! She is a native of Skagway and works at The Kone Kompany. We wanted to go to Whitehorse to relax and maybe a mani/pedi HOWEVER, there aren't places to go and do that. AND you have to book it way in advance. Such a let down. We also were set out to get a new tank of helium for work. As we were leaving Skagway in the morning, we get a call from Becky Jensen asking us to take Hailey to the orthodontist because one of her brackets broke and it could mean that she would have to keep her braces on for longer. We got her in and it took less than five minutes to fix. One week later, Hailey is brace-less! It was a lot of fun hanging out with her and talking about life in high school and Skagway.

3rd of July Fireworks

The 4th of July Celebration in Skagway is a little different than other places. The 3rd of July is when you see Fireworks and then the 4th is when there is abig parade and different events. It is a ton of fun and even though we had to work we still got to be apart of some cool things!
 First off we works 2 nights on our crazy cool float! The theme was "Traveling through the Ages" and since Duff and Karla have been in business for 33 years what a perfect theme! We made our float all decked out and planned on handing out FREE ICE-CREAM CONES! How cool is that?! Plus we had some legit candy to pass out to. Our float was pretty legit. Here are some cool pictures of us decorating it!

Our fearless leader, Mindy! This is our boss and she is an amazing lady. She is crazy and all over the place but she is so fun! We all laugh AT her and WITH her. She is brilliant and half the time we don't know where she comes up with the things she does but it works. She is really good at encouraging you and recognizing you for your efforts. We could use without the hoarding sometimes but we will take her just the way she is! (:

The day of the parade was very WET and fun! We had so much fun walking and handing out ice-cream cones. Ashley scooped and Aisha walked along side handing out cones to the crowd. There were a few times when people would come up to the float and order a specific flavor! That was pretty hilarious.
There are so many different events that go on during the day. Just to name a few: slow bike racing, arm wrestling, egg toss (Skagway holds the record for biggest egg toss), hot dog eating contest, three legged race, and the duck derby. Did we mention how much it rained?! We had just got a rain-boot order in and we sold most of them. People were soaked! That night there was a mudslide and the road to go to Canada was closed off for the weekend. It was crazy!
Now the duck derby contest is probably the cutest thing you will ever see. People buy a rubber duck and at the end of the day, they release the ducks at a stream. THe first duck to cross the finish line, the person with that number, get $1000. Sadly, we weren't the winners but Emily from the branch was! It was so cool to watch and  a crowd favorite. After the race you get to take home a duck!

With our ducks!

Since the 4th of July it has just been a lot of random things. Like bonfires and relaxing. We haven't had too many days off together and it seems like it might be a little harder since so many people are leaving early to go back to school. We have had some bonfires here and there! We also saw bears! The salmon are suppose to start running so we went out to Dyea with Rocky and Lil (Our AK parents) to try to do some fishing. There werent any bears but we saw a mama bear and her two kids. Rocky drove pretty close to them and one of the little ones ran quickly back into the woods. Sorry no pictures but it was so cool to see in person!

Fishing

The that brings us to today! We both have the day off! Its pretty cool to have a weekend off. We were going to go hiking but Ashley has a softball tournament. They are doing pretty great! Our team is the best and best looking, in my (Aisha's) opinion. Here is a cute picture of Ashley up to bat! Did yall know what a great softball player she is? She is fearless and so good at getting the big guys out. Earlier today she got a guy out on second and he wanted to argue it but she clearly got him out. It is a lot of fun to watch softball, besides all the drinking that the other teams do. Drinking should be the national sport here in Skagway!

Now we know we always talk about how we will be better about updating this and we probably will not be, we just do not want everyone to be jealous of our adventures.

Until next time! Here is our love from Alaska! 

The Girls are Back in Town

Actually, we just have internet back. Fun fact about Skagway....there isn't much internet. So unless you want to pay for a bunch, you get it shut off. It was nice to find other things to do then sit and stare out at things on the interweb. We have had some cool adventures so lets see if we can back it up some.

The Summer Solstice was June 21st so we decided we wanted to go on a night hike. At first, we were so excited! We decided we were going to go to Upper Dewey Lake which is ONLY 2 miles.  Those 2 miles are very steep and hard on the body. We started at about 9:30 pm and we were in home by 1:30 am. We didn't make it all the way up to the top but we were so tired and we didnt want to be in the woods so late. Even though we live together and work together it doesnt seem like we get Ashley and Aisha time so it was nice to hike and talk about EVERYTHING. We have the best discussions about life!

We found Lost Lake!

 Our next adventure was this last Thursday. We went on a hike to Lost Lake which is a little bit over a mile but it is VERY VERY VERY Steep. We were so out of breathe and kept stopping. We saw some bear scat but no bears. We told stories about Sandy the Bear and Gerdy the Beetle. The view at the end was amazing! We saw some guys fishing in the lake. We were so tired after that we came home and watched Lost, we FINALLY started our Lost marathon...our roommates probably think we are crazy!

We also got our callings! (FINALLY) Ashley is a Relief Society Teacher and Aisha is on the YSA Committee. We are really excited to be serving in the branch!

A real Alaskan!

And the HIGHLIGHT of possibly all of Alaska. Early this evening, Rocky and Lillian (from the branch and work) took us out on their boat because it was really calm out. As we were leaving the harbor, we passed another boat that yelled out to us that there were Orcas out there so we were really excited! As we were going along there no Orcas, so we continued on our way to pick up their shrimp pots. There was a good amount of shrimp in the pots. We kept going along and then maybe 15 or 20 minutes passed and Ashley spotted a dorsal fin! So we sped up to get a closer look. We saw 4 Orcas! 2 babies and 2 adults. It was so amazing! They were beautiful and we all were so excited to see them! As we rode along watching them, all of sudden it seemed like they were turning to come towards us!!! It was so scary! But we all laughed. We turned away and we saw another pod so all together we saw at least 9 whales! It was amazing!!! Definitely a highlight of our Alaska adventure!!

Ash, Rocky, and Lil

One of the Orcas!

Watching for the Orcas

That is it for now! We will be better, promise!

Love From Alaska!