Thursday, May 19, 2011

Training and First Tours


It had been my goal to wait to blog until the evening after my first tour(s). So much for that goal since my first tour was May 13. Before my first tour, there was so much going on in training: reviews of things we'd learned during training in Phoenix, some valuable new information and ride-along trips with experienced drivers...I didn't go into those details. There isn't much to say about the training meetings. They are training meetings and most have sat through enough of those in our lifetimes.

The ride-alongs we took were very valuable. I'd been on Mike's tours several times last year. It was informative to hear how other drivers toured their passengers. What interested them? What jokes did they tell? Did they mention the similarly-dressed people (us rookies) in the back of the coach to their passengers? (Only one did....and he said we were all new drivers awaiting our psych evaluations. We thought that was pretty funny!) How did they present gold rush information? How did they talk of animals or the geology...IF they talked of those things? And finally, we all wondered about what would we say when we did our first tours?

We rookies knew that we had to go home and STUDY! I had the advantage of knowing some things about the gold rush, Skagway, flora and fauna. Just not nearly enough. So we all said...every day...that we would study every night. And then ever evening would find us hanging out with other people instead. Or it would be a good idea to have movie night for a few people in our room.

Brandon uploaded 117 movies to an external hard drive for us before we left Arizona. YAY!!!! Plus, we are guaranteed mail by continuing to use Netflix. One night we hosted "The King's Speech" and another night "Ghostbusters." Sorry to say, I am still not convinced that it is the funniest of movies.

There have been a company pizza party, a company bbq with softball game, trivia night at the Red Onion (more on that later), ranger talks at the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Visitor Center (ain't that a mouthful!) and impromptu gatherings and shared meals. We are seldom lacking in companionship. Our niece, Taylor is positively thriving on all the activity!

Strutting my tongue-twisting stuff at the Red Onion.

Now...the Red Onion. Trivia night is always fun. People come out for it and form impromptu teams from 2-???? people. I don't even know how many people we had on our team, all folks from the company. Our team's name was The Short Bus. We lagged behind forever until we had a multiple guess question on how various famous people have died by choosing what would have saved them. ie., Marie Curie might have been saved if she'd had a lead apron. We aced the dead people! Mid-game, all trivia questions were halted for a Mexican Hat Dance-off challenge for the prize of a pitcher of beer. (It was Cinco de Mayo.) Tom's bravura performance won us the pitcher! At the end of round one, our team made it to the tie-breaker. This year, instead of all tie-breakers ending in a dance-off, they use a spinner to choose what the challenge would be. I volunteered to do the tie-breaker and gave the spinner a flick. This night's tie-breaker challenge was to repeat a tongue twister 5 times with flair and speed. Winner would be determined by the amount of applause. Yeesh! We each picked blindly from a handful of cards. Happily, I got "Toy Boat" and proceeded, with mic in hand, to gavotte about the bar with various intonations and pitches of "toy boat." My opponent, sadly for his team, got: "The sixth shiek's sixth sheep's sick." That's even difficult to type! The Short Bus now has a certificate for a free pizza and pitcher of beer! Wooohoooo!!!!

Mike was out of town from May 9-14. He and the other highway drivers who would be taking guests on multi-day trips into the Yukon interior were on a familiarization trip. He says he has a whole lot of studying to do before he gives his first solo trip. These driver/guides are also more responsible for maintenance of their coaches since they are hundreds of miles from a mechanic. The coaches they drive also have some different transmission systems and other technical "upgrades." He had a great time and is looking forward to being out on the road. I, of course, missed him. Happily, there is another couple around our age. The husband will be a highway driver and the wife is a local driver. We can be road widows together!Nanny and kid at Caribou Crossing.

Elyse Bracken, me and Seth Bracken at snowy Caribou Crossing


Holding a three-week-old sled dog puppy at Caribou Crossing

Here in Skagway, we'd "enjoyed" many days of clouds, rain and snow from before we arrived in town right through May 12. During that time we rookies trained and did ride-alongs. We visited each vendor and found out where to park and what the timing logistics were for each location. We learned who gave out free lunch and who wouldn't give an appetizer to a driver/guide even if they were throwing away the food after the guests were served. What I soon realized, more than ever before, was just how hard driver/guides worked. There's the driving to attend to, crowd management, tour narrative, and timing logistics. Some day I would like a day where I always remember to turn off my fast idle before driving, only keep hazard lights on when they're supposed to be on, always remember to count heads after picture stops, and always remember to tell them about the coach bathroom. I wanted more work than I had in sales and service last year. And I've gotten it. Again, be very, very careful what you ask for in life!

The Disney Wonder caused a lot of stir in town and onboard ship when it made its very first Alaskan port ever as well as our first ship of the season. Everything went very smoothly and our comments back from the ship were quite favorable. The first few ship days were very light and that is where we rookies did our ride-along trips.

Finally on Friday the 13th, many of us rookies gave our first tours. I thought I wouldn't sleep the night before, but amazingly sleep came easily. It wouldn't be the same story a few nights hence (when I had nightmares about dropping my guests off at the wrong place). My first tour was off the Carnival Spirit and I toured them around the city, up to the overlook above Skagway, to the sculpture garden and museum and then to the Days of '98 Show, a musical revue with history about Soapy Smith...the gangster who ran the town during 1897-1898.

G-gauge model train at Jewell Gardens

My afternoon group was a small group off the Disney Wonder and we went to Jewell Gardens....a beautiful garden (mostly not yet as beautiful because it's too early in the spring). After touring the garden with Aaron, guests were served wine and appetizers and watched Kerry and Neil give an amazing glassblowing demonstration. I had not seen this demo before, so it was an excellent diversion to watch with my guests. I enjoyed my glass of water immensely, too!

It was my first day and I was tired. One veteran driver, Brian, offered to go get a bite to eat with me and four of us ended at the Skagway Fishing Company where I spent more money than I'd intended on beer and fish & chips. Yummy stuff, though and good times. We finished dinner just as we noticed the Disney Wonder pulling out. We drove over to the dock to watch its departure in enough time to hear it give the 3 toots of the big foghorn that signal a port departure. It was followed by the first line of "When You Wish Upon a Star." Great fun!

Next day (Saturday), I gave a city tour to the Gold Dredge. Tuesday was my biggest and longest day: 13-1/2 hours. Many of the tours have a bus trip up the South Klondike Hwy to Fraser, BC where the guests take the White Pass & Yukon Route railroad back down to Skagway (or vice versa). Tuesday, I had two tours where the people rode on the coach up to the Yukon Suspension Bridge AND rode the coach back down. That is one long day of lots of being-with-people-time.

The first tour on Tuesday was off the Sea Princess and they started with breakfast at the Red Onion saloon and brothel: 12 happy people ready to party from the start. We then went up to the Yukon Suspension Bridge in BC. This is a small attraction with lifesize photographic displays from the gold rush. It's easy and fun to put yourself in the picture with miners and mounties. I told my people to take some goofy pictures. Their families at home will enjoy a different kind of photo from the 5,752 pictures of Alaskan scenery that they will show on their return. The Suspension Bridge attraction also includes a relief map of the area and a metal suspension bridge over the Tutshi (pronounced TOO-shy) river gorge. It's informational, a good place to stretch your legs, have a snack/buy gifts and get some photographs. Then we toured back down the highway to Skagway.

After dropping these 12 off, I picked up a group from the Holland America Zuiderdam: 36 of the quietest people on the planet. It was my first opportunity to ask if there were any questions, be met with dead silence and use Mike's line: "No questions? My children don't think I know anything either." They tittered a little bit. Their tour ended with a delicious salmon bake at Liarsville: an attraction that can include a recreated 1898 camp, hokey (but enjoyable) show and gold panning. Depending on which tour they buy is what one gets at Liarsville. There was no show or gold panning for this tour, but the guests enjoyed a walk around the camp and the salmon bake. The Liarsville staff are a great bunch to work with! Actually, most of the vendors have friendly and helpful staffs.

On tips and tours. Tips are always appreciated and are absolutely against company policy to solicit. In fact, it is an offense that can get you fired. However, we may accept them. I've heard other drivers state that you can never tell. Already, I've learned that you can never tell. A group may love you verbally, remember your name, shake your hand, take your photo and return to their ship leaving you with no tips. Another group may dilly dally at photo stops, look bored and then hand you more money than expected. You may think your tour narrative stumbling, disconnected and dull and make good money. You may give the tour of your life and it just doesn't sell. You may get a coach full of people from another country's whose culture doesn't tip at all and still find yourself with green in your pocket. You just can never tell.

And then there are the questions. As yet, I have not gotten a stupid question. Stupid questions from the past include: Do they take American money in Skagway? What time do they turn on the Northern Lights? How often do the rangers go up and rebuild the glaciers? At what age does a deer become a moose? And my favorite...one that I've actually heard just after they've walked off their ship: What elevation are we at?

However, every day I seem to get a new question that I don't know the answer to. While integrity and truth-telling are intensely ingrained in my character, there have already been times I've lied. It is said that the favorite words in any guide's narrative are "about," "around," and "close to." You can be honest when using those words. You don't have to say July 17, 1897. You can simply say mid-July or even the summer of 1897. Here are a few questions (and answers) I've been asked:

How often do the winds get to 75 mph in the winter?
My answer: I don't know.
The right answer: There were 45 days this winter where the wind was 60 mph or more in Skagway.

How many gold mines were in the Yukon?
My answer: A lot.
The right answer: That number fluctuated as claims were staked, sold, divided, surveyed, broken up and resold.

How many people does a quonset hut sleep?
My answer: It depended on the size of the quonset hut.
Follow-up question: How many people did THAT quonset hut sleep?
My answer: 16 (having no clue)
The right answer: It depends on the size of the quonset hut. That one slept 8-12.

So far, no one has asked me the names, ages or breeds of the three dogs at Liarsville. But I am ready for them.

For those of you who don't know, I "enjoyed" a sports injury this past November of breaking my ankle while hiking. It entailed a fire department rescue off of one of the mountains around Phoenix (happily not by helicopter) and surgery in which I now incorporate a plate and ten screws in my anatomy. The internet states that emergency rooms are now seeing this particular type of injury more often due to our "increasingly active older population." Unnecessary verbiage, in my opinion. Also, my ankle is slated to continue to be painful and become swollen up to a year after the injury. Joy. It wasn't fun in dry Arizona. It's less fun in wet Skagway. I'm doing a lot more walking now that I'm here, so hopefully it will strengthen as the summer unfolds.

Mike and I took a walk down by the Skagway river on a stunningly beautiful Sunday, turning north after the footbridge on the end of town...just to see what is there. Had we turned left down to Yakatania Point, we would have seen whales in the harbor. Damn! Next time. We had a few beautiful days of sunshine and it was great to take advantage of it.

Last year, you may remember that I joined the other kids in jumping off the 30-40 ft. (truly unknown height) high rock into Lower Dewey Lake. It was a 79 degree sunny day and the water was cold and refreshing. I was SHOCKED to learn that several of the young people hiked up to Lower Dewey after work the other day. And jumped in the water. That water has just lost its ice in the last couple of weeks. And you thought I was nuts.

It has been great greeting people trickling in from the lower 48 that I worked with last year. The new bunch of people seem like great fun. I had wondered if I would lose my awe and wonder at being in Alaska because it's my second year. I've noticed two things. One, I am taking less photographs. Two, every couple of days I look around and say with awe and wonder: "I'm in Alaska!"




No comments:

Post a Comment