pretend you're a tourist.

So, MY NEW JOB. Its going to be hard. Its going to be so great. There's a ton of stuff I don't know... i'm learning as quick as possible.... but one thing I have already discovered. I have the best office views! :)

I took that. I'm basically a photographer.

If you're wondering what my amazing new job is... I'm a tour guide in Skagway, Alaska. A "train agent," if you want to be technical. But basically, I give tours to people that ride the train. If I'm not giving tours, then i'm walking around answering questions or selling merchandise or loading people onto the trains.... things like that. I guess there's a lot of things that people wouldn't like about this job, but I think I will really enjoy it! I haven't officially started giving tours yet.... so far its just been training for it. TRAINing.. ha!

Yesterday we got to ride the trains as tourists. We didn't have to worry about tour material or cues... we just got to enjoy the ride. Our trainer told us to pretend we were tourists. SURPRISE, I am a tourist. All this stuff is brand new to me! I was probably more excited than half the tourists on the train, lets be honest. I may live in Skagway but i'm definitely still in tourist mode. Anyway, the White Pass train route is AMAZING. Everyone should do it. ok? ok. If you ever have the chance to go to Alaska, ride it.

BUT, please don't plan a trip this close to the beginning of the season... which brings me to my next training experience. Today. Today there were a bunch of avalanches- oh wait, excuse me. Let me rephrase that, "so we don't scare the tourists to death..." Today there was some snow that fell on the tracks, so the trains were... delayed. AKA the 8:30 am Summit train didn't arrive back at the dock until 5:30 pm. So although there was nothing we could do about it, (we were clearing the tracks as fast as possible) a train full of tourists was stuck on the mountain for over 8 hours. Apparently this is super unusual, most of the Skagway people say they've never seen the snow this bad this late in the year.

The train I was on was one scheduled to leave in the afternoon, and we ended only making it a quarter of the way up the mountain before we had to turn around. It was good experience though, to see what you do as a tour guide in those situations. And all the people on the trains got refunds and compensations, so don't worry :) I'm praying for better conditions though, I really don't want that to happen to me the first time i'm giving my tour. I think I would cry.

Next step, write my tour! wish me luck! I'm a little nervous, but I hope it will come together well. Updates to come.