Helicopter up to Mendenhall Glacier

Today was epic.

As a reward for all the employees and interns that stuck it out until the end of the season, we treated everyone to a once in a lifetime experience: riding a helicopter to Mendenhall Glacier. We got a sweet deal through Temsco (THANK YOU!) to make this possible.

Here's a video of the entire experience, and then read below for more details and photos.



We had to split the team into two helicopters. Here's chopper 1:

Isa and I were in chopper 2 (along with three others), which meant we were able to follow them and get some sweet pics of the helicopter with the mountains to really show some scale.

The views were amazing and so drastically different from one minute to the next. From lush green valleys to jagged cliffs to the beautifully serene Juneau Icefield.

The Juneau Icefield was a highlight for me. I saw it briefly on a flight to Skagway back in July, but the weather wasn't nice like today. The sheer size and beauty of the icefield is astounding.

We had arranged to land on the icefield, but as you can see, there was a fresh blanket of snow across it so the pilots couldn't tell where a safe place to land would be. So we turned and headed over toward Mendenhall Glacier.

The pilots found a good spot to set us down and we disembarked and wandered the glacier with our crampons for grips (although they still weren't super trustworthy).

We tried not to fall into any crevasses, but at the same time we tried to get as close to them as possible to see how deep they went (DEEP!).

We took lots of pictures and drank the COLD water right from the streams (that's in the video).

After about 30 minutes of playing around on the glacier, we got back in our helicopters and flew straight down Mendenhall Glacier for some more sweet views.

Mendenhall Glacier with Mendenhall Lake and Auke Bay in the distance.

And then back towards the airport for the end of a fantastic adventure.

Long Layovers (New Zealand and Venice Beach)

My father's 60th birthday was just on November 15, so Isa and I flew back to the states to celebrate it with him (along with the entire family) in Disney World. We spent a week in Orlando. It was fast-paced, hectic at times, but totally worth it and super fun. But that's not what this post is about.

On the way to Orlando, we stopped in Auckland, New Zealand (for those of you that just got REALLY confused, Isa and I are currently living in Australia). It was way fun! We slept in the airport, which has an upstairs skydeck that is really quiet and peaceful and as far as we're concerned, made for sleepovers.

We started out on the floor by our bags there, and then took over the benches when they left for their flights. We had about 18 hours in New Zealand, and this was about 2am. So the next morning, we woke up and took a bus into town. We walked around Queen Street, which is their main street, but it wasn't all that interesting (although possibly because we were there on a Sunday, so maybe it's better on weekdays).

Isa had a great idea to take a ferry over to one of the neighboring suburbs - Devonport. It's such a cute little town with great views of the City.

We explored the fort on the hill and ran through the tunnels. It was a lot of fun and I'm really glad Isa saw the deal to get us out there. There are a bunch more pictures up on Facebook, so you should check those out too. After hiking around and lazing in the sun for a while, we headed back to the ferry and back into town.

And then we took the bus back to the airport and embarked on the rest of our 46-hour journey.

Less than one week later, and probably only a day or two after we fully got over our jet-lag, we headed back to Australia. This time, we had a 10 hour layover in Los Angeles. I got a message saying the newest Del Sol store had opened a few hours earlier in Venice Beach. So we found a bus and headed to the beach. Venice Beach is hippie-ghetto. It's a little crazy, to say the least. But the sand was nice and it was a beautiful day.

After a bit of wandering, we found our destination:

The store is in a great location. It's right on the beach, right in front of the skate park and where everybody hangs out. We hung out with them for a little bit, checked out the new fixtures and merchandise (we love new designs and stuff) and then headed to the beach/skate park to watch the sunset.

I love that picture, and then Isa pointed me over to a lifeguard station to get this picture:

After the sunset, we grabbed a bite to eat at a local cafe and then headed back to the airport. We had no time for another excursion in Auckland on the way back (they actually held the plane for us because our flight was a little late getting in - we were picked up by Air NZ staff and walked VIP style right to the gate and right onto the plane).

So hooray for long layovers!

Edmonton!

After our little stint in Calgary, we were asked to go up to Edmonton to set up and help out at a booth at their Capital EX. The booth ended up looking really cool.


Working with Del Sol is always fun, but this booth was particularly great because we got a lot of press. I did 4 different TV interviews and Isa and I both did a radio interview talking about Del Sol products.



The other nice thing is that Isa and I were able to go to church both Sundays we were in Edmonton. Here's a pic of the student ward we went to:


Other than work and church, we went to the West Edmonton Mall. Isa had never been, so we had to make a trip out there. We walked around for a while and ended up seeing Inception. It was AWESOME.

We also went to Heritage Days, which is a huge festival (bigger than the Capital EX we were at) filled with nothing but international food, dances, and traditional stuff. Very cool.


If you're hungry and you have a ton of time (the lines are really long) you should definitely go!

Cowboy Up at Calgary Stampede

Isa and I are cowboy-ing it up in Canada!!


We were sent up here to the "Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth" with Del Sol. We had two stores, one set up in the Grandstand (where they hold the rodeo, chuck wagon races, and evening performance and fireworks) and the other in an expo-type building called BMO. Working at the Grandstand gave us access to all the rodeos and performances for free.


Now normally when we work at Del Sol, we wear shorts and t-shirts. But the Stampede Board took one look at us the first day and decided that we weren't "cowboy enough" to work there, and they told us we needed to change. So we did:


That's right: I bought a big ol' belt buckle and a cowboy hat. And that's a $150 authentic Wrangler shirt I'm wearing (I didn't buy that, I just put it on in the store). :)

It's a different world up here, but it's fun and we're loving the experience. Hope you're all having fun down in the states.

Juneau and then some

So remember back in April, I made a list of things that I was planning on? They all came true. I went to Utah, I had dinner with my aunt, I went to Sitka and made it ridiculously successful. Just thought I'd update you on that.

I'm probably not going to run the marathon though.

Last week they moved me up to Juneau to help run the store there. It's bigger and faster paced, with anywhere up to 6 big cruise ships in at any given time. I love it! The added ships, coupled with my trying to catch up on two months of sales, means I'm working about 14 to 18 hours a day. So if you're coming from YouTube and you're wondering why I haven't uploaded a video until now, there you go.

I still go back to Sitka every few weeks to check in and to see friends. Sitka still feels like home, much more than Juneau does, at least.

The season ends here at the end of September. I'll probably be back in Utah for a day or two, and then fly back to NYC. I plan to be in the City before October 5th.

Plans are in the works for Turkey and Greece in March/April next year. I'm stoked. :) That'll give me about 4 months (minus the christmas season) to get my book published (it's all done, I just have to mail it to my friend Savannah out in London for her review).

Life is very good. I'm extremely happy with how everything is playing out.

Leave a comment if you have any questions that weren't answered.