Hello Blog Family!

It’s been about 2 months since my last blog. Since then, I have worked an astronomical amount of hours in the kitchen in Coldfoot, Alaska. I have traveled more than 4,000 miles in planes and cars on my way back to Salt Lake City and road tripping to Portland, Vancouver, Seattle, Boise, Idaho Falls, St. George, and Vegas. I’ve met some new people, met up with old friends, and seen some amazing things along the way. I still have about 12,800 miles to go to get to Antarctica, but it’s a start.

When I last posted, it was mid-way through the season in Coldfoot and I was having a blast. I was still loving every minute I was there. Waking up to the most beautiful scenery in the world every morning doesn’t really compare to anything else. I was making great food with amazing people. This feeling of constant happiness stretched all the way to the end of the season. I made some really good friends in Coldfoot that I’ll probably try and visit where ever they end up. I also ended up fishing more, which was what my goal was by the end of the year. We only saw one single salmon in the surrounding rivers of the Koyukuk but we did fish for Arctic Char pretty extensively.

The only thing I didn’t end up doing was getting back up to Deadhorse when it wasn’t a desolate wasteland of bitter cold and snow. I was really hoping to see the massive herds of caribou that swarmed the area during the summer but the opportunity never did pan out. Oh well, maybe next year. I did get to see a few of my friends as they passed by for the end of the season, which was nice.

As the season in Coldfoot was winding down, more and more of our coworkers were heading south for the winter. This meant more and more work for the other workers, which meant the opportunity for more hours for everybody. Most of us welcomed this influx of overtime. Also, the other main cook that took the brunt of the responsibility for the buffet went on a three week vacation. That left me and the prep cook to cover the buffet, leaving me with the opportunity of working as many hours as I possibly could before I left. I took full advantage of this, which was nice. I was working fairly early and staying really late into the night to make my food as good as I possibly could. I think the extra work paid off because everybody seemed to love my food.

My last day in Coldfoot was a bittersweet one. I came to enjoy everybody’s company in the camp but it was hard for me to say goodbye. I started work at 10 AM and worked the buffet shift, as usual. There was some confusion with when I would be leaving, which left a hole in the schedule the day I had to leave. I switched the baker for his shift, which started at 2 AM so he could cover the hole in the schedule. That also meant that I had to work a 20 hour shift. As morning time came around, I slept for a couple hours and boarded a plane out of there. After 26 hours of traveling and sitting around in airports, I was finally back in Utah.

My time in Coldfoot was an amazing experience, probably one I’ll never forget. I hope I’ll have another opportunity to experience this again in the near future and be able to meet up with some friends that have gone their own way since then. Other than that, I’m off! Hope everyone is doing good and again, message me your address if you’d like me to write you.