Alaska, 1990, pt. 1

Homer, AK, 1990.

In early 1990, my friend Paul and I were considering options for interesting summer employment. Nothing sounded very exciting until he mentioned having an aunt in Alaska and the possibility of doing something up there. We immediately decided we would fly up to Alaska and try our luck in the seafood industry for the summer.

Paul was a much more seasoned traveler than I was at that time. In fact it was the first time I'd ever been on a plane. The Alaskan environment made a huge impression on me. I loved seeing mountains wherever I looked, even in the middle of a city. I also loved the cool summer climate and eccentric people.

I remember bringing a lantern, anticipating some serious camping. I had no idea Alaska barely gets dark in the summer. We were lucky to be able to store it at Paul's aunt's house. We bought a beat up old car which we named, "The Abomination". It came with four studded tires for winter use. Luckily, we had permission to store those at Paul's aunt's house as well.

The "pup tent", Working for Anne & Mean Gene, Ol' Tom Adams, & Claudia w/ customized rubber boots.

As far as finding employment, we were winging it. We ultimately decided to drive out to Homer where we set up camp on the Homer Spit, a 4.5 mile piece of land jutting out into the ocean. We went door to door until a company called Keener Packing hired us to dig a ditch for them. We later learned they originally intended to fire us after that ditch was dug, but I guess they took a liking to us and decided to retain our services. We became known as, "the Pups" by everybody who worked there (because neither of us knew anything about fish or Alaska) and they called our campsite, "the Pup Tent". We met some memorable characters in Homer, ate a lot of good halibut, learned a lot about fish, and remained there about half the summer. I also briefly took a second job as a deckhand on a halibut charter until I overslept one morning and missed my boat. Homer is also where I had my first espresso and my first black bean burrito: both were pivotal experiences in my life and both were experienced at Cafe Cups.

Salty Dawg saloon, Paul from California, Melissa, Kennicott, the abandoned mining town.

We stayed in Homer into July. We wanted to see the July 4 fireworks display over the ocean, but it was less spectacular than we had hoped because Alaska does not get dark in the summer. We soon realized we weren't saving any money and decided to try our luck in the salmon fisheries of Valdez, which were reputed to offer tons of overtime. Some of our co-workers knew the plant managers at Nautilus Marine (one of them ran dog sleds with one of the foremen during the winter) and intended to meet us there as we all jumped ship from Keener.

Continued @ Alaska, 1990, pt. 2