Currently living/working: Justin & I have made a habit of doing daily check-ins with each other because of all the directions we’ve been going in this summer. Who’s cleaning the yurt? Who’s cleaning the red house? Who’s leading the New Wave hike? Are you working at AK Geo today? Are you doing Discover Denali work today? Each day brings something new, which we love, but damn if we aren’t feeling the exhaustion of a very full summer!
Current mood: By this time in the Alaskan summer, most of us feel like we’re hanging on for dear life trying to keep up with the hectic and demanding pace of all of summer’s logistics, jobs, and general life. Post-Labor Day is the communal exhale for us in Denali, as the restaurants & excursion businesses start to shut down and seasonal workers leave. We’re almost there friends, almost there.
Currently proud of: I can’t stress this enough, we had the summer we wanted where there was balanced time for friends, family, work, home improvement projects & more.
Currently excited for: Even though we’re not as burned out as we have been in previous summers, I’m looking forward to the calming quiet that will descend upon us soon.
Current guilty pleasure: August is the season when we indulge on (and freeze) the berries dangling from low bushes!
Currently amazed by: This was the 3rd summer we’ve rented our yurt out on Airbnb. For the 2022 & 2023 summers, we were fully booked. Going into this summer, bookings trickled in as fast as syrup out of a tree. Another challenge was that there were a notable number of 1-night availabilities, which we don’t typically release (we have a 2-night minimum). Then there were a few cancellations as a bonus. All in all, this was our “slowest” season with an 82% occupancy rate. I’m not complaining, as it’s still amazing passive income. But it just felt like a funky year!
Current confession: Speaking of the yurt, we have a “shitters full, clark” situation. We try to start the season with an empty outhouse, which means getting it pumped right after the last guest checks out in the fall. One of the main reasons we do that is because we have a groundwater situation where snowmelt in the spring usually fills our outhouse hole (#alaskaproblems). We pump out the groundwater (as pictured), but I don’t need to tell you what might be mixed in there if the hole isn’t completely empty. Anyway, all that preface leads to our current problem. Our yurt guests typically fill the outhouse by mid-season, so we generally schedule to have it pumped late July or so. Well, the only company that pumps in our area is short-staffed (as usual), and after 2 cancellations from them, we decided to just wait until the last guest checks out Sept. 17 … Thankfully no guests have noticed just how “full” it is down the hatch.
Currently worried about: I didn’t think the potholes on Hilltop could get any worse and was thrilled when they paved half the road. However, they missed a few spots that can definitely swallow our small car whole.
Currently not excited for: We booked our trip to NJ in September to sell my mom’s house. The cleanout part still feels like a gargantuan task, and I can already feel the anxiety bubbling up in my mind. For those who wonder about my mom, she’s as good as she can be! Still living at my sister’s house, and now that my sister is back to work for the school year, we hired another caregiver to spend the days with my mom (hence why the house sale sooner than later is crucial to keep paying for the caregiver!).
Currently regretting: We hardly have any medical care in Denali Borough (a seasonal urgent care clinic, a physical therapist, an occasional mobile vet, and satellite office space for an occasional dentist and chiropractor). I decided to start seeing the mobile chiropractor last January, and have been very thankful for my monthly crackings. Unfortunately, after15 years of offering his services here, he won’t be coming beyond December. I probably need to find some other solution (like regular yoga & stretching!) to deal with my aches & pains.
Currently reading: My sister-in-law left We Are All The Same In The Dark by Julia Heaberlin with me last summer, and since I’ve been trying out more fiction lately, I gave it a try. Let’s just say, it just made me want to return to nonfiction lol.
Currently watching on Netflix/Peacock: Below Deck when we are both home & our Internet isn’t being swindled by the overcrowded summer network!
Too bad about the cancellations for getting your outhouse sucked out. That took a while! Great photos, as always!