I kept checking guests in and telling them to introduce themselves to my friend who was hanging out in the kitchen.
“She is a boat captain on the Bering Straight and down in Antartica, she super cool,” I assured the guests.
Alaskan girls are a different breed of American women. They are the hardest of hardcore.
I’ll never forget my first time in Alaska, seeing all these girls driving trucks and ATV’s, hulling around chain saws and reeling in massive halibut. Chivalry doesn’t exist in Alaska and probably because the girls would just laugh at a man trying to help her because Alaska girls are an independent homesteading breed which I admire but I don’t think I’d ever scoff at some well intentioned chivalry.
Mereidi and I met working together at a remote lodge on the Kenai peninsula and we immediately bonded over our transient and adventurous lifestyles.
She is a woman in a the male dominated boat captain world, which comes with plenty of challenges but her career has taken her all over the world. She has driven boats in the Antarctica and the Caribbean and all over Alaska.
I’ll never forget her calling me one day and saying, “Hey, you want a bear head? I hunted a bear and I don’t want to keep the head.” Totally not your normal Lower 48 conversation.
Her facebook feed is is a dream. Sail boats among mountains buried in fluffy white snow, kayak trips to pick up crab pots, bonfires on the beach, massive fish caught, and cool outdoorsy friends.
Done with season, she hopped on a plane and came to visit. My first overnight visitor. We got all our girl talk in and she cooked me dinner while I worked.
I love how you always see people again. It always happens, where ever I am, there is always someone I know coming through. My friends are the highlight of my life, I love them dearly and wish I could buy a property where I could make them all live there in one spot!
Alas, it is comforting to know that at any moment you can be in the same place at the same time. In this last year, I reconnected with over 30 (I stopped counting at 30, it was getting ridiculous) old friends from old college roommates to an old beau from France to just about everyone I worked with in Alaska to a ton of friends from my hometown and family as well. It will be curious to see just how many more pass through Northern California as I am sure they all will and I can’t wait!