Well, I Have a Summer Plan

     In the last few weeks, I filled out applications for a summer job at around 20 establishments in or around national parks. I received emails from 10 of them requesting a phone or Skype interview. There were only three interviews that I actually did. All three offered me a job. It came down to figuring out how my boyfriend and I could both get jobs at the same place, and several other factors in deciding which job to take. Out of the three locations, two of them also offered my boyfriend a job (he had contact with some places that never called me as well), Two of the places are right at the entrance of Denali National Park in Alaska, and the third is in Yellowstone. If you read my last post about this topic, you can probably predict our decision...

We're Going to Alaska!

     I'm going to be working at Denali Gift Companies. I'm not going to go too much into detail about the job itself, but here is some job information that the company has on a website. Basically, we're going to work at a gift shop right outside of Denali.

Healy 

     About ten miles away, there's a little town called Healy. This town swells enormously during the summer, because the seasonal employees for the Denali area attractions mostly live there. The gift shop company has some little cabins in Healy where the employees live. I will have $28 a week taken out of my paycheck to live there.
     The town doesn't have much in it-- just a few restaurants and such. Fairbanks is the closest town that has more of the "regular" amenities that we're used to in the well-populated suburbs. Fairbanks is about two hours away from Healy. It's likely that we'll make the trip up there every-other week or so. 

Getting There

     Yes, we're planning on driving all the way to Alaska. I've already applied for my passport so that I can pass through Canada. I will finally get out of the U.S. for the very first time! The plan is to leave from Illinois on June 2nd, provided that school lets out on June 1st as planned. I may be the only teacher not wishing for any snow days! We start at the gift shop the 10th, so we have eight days to drive around 3,600 miles. That's only 450 miles a day, which is very doable. With that being said, large portions of the route to Alaska are in the middle of nowhere. If we have car troubles, that could easily set us back immensely. We will still probably try to drive 700 or 800 miles a day to give us some extra time in case we have troubles.

Things to do

     Obviously we're going to spend a lot of time in or around Denali. We'll camp, hike, explore, and all the other things to do in the great outdoors. In the Denali area, there are also some companies who do ziplining, rafting, jeep tours, helicopter rides, etc. which can also be options. I'm hoping to be able to get a few days off in a row a couple times in order to explore a little farther away. The goal is to get down to Anchorage and Kenai Fjords National Park, as well as get up north to Gates of the Arctic National Park. Hopefully these trips will work out, even if only for a couple days each.

So Much Excitement!

     If you can't tell, I'm extremely excited to be heading on this journey in the summer. This could very well be the summer of a lifetime for me. I'm nearly counting down the days until I say goodbye to the lower 48 for a few months. Keep a lookout on my YouTube channel and this blog for more updates about my adventure. Oh, I will have internet access while I'm in Alaska-- look forward to some top-notch content coming this summer!