It's been a really crazy couple of days here! Yesterday was 10.5 hours, today was 12.75 and tomorrow is supposed to be almost 13 for me. Yesterday and today have produced some of the most noteworthy groups of the summer, for several reasons. Last night, for example, I gave an Evening Quest tour (whale watching with dinner on board the ship) to the craziest group of the summer - they simple refused to not have a good time. We started out with laughs, laughed the whole way out, I toured a little but mostly we just had a great time. On the way back we had some more laughs about headlights and drinking. The coolest thing about this tour, though, was a moment that we shared on the return back to their ship. I had been toying with the idea, lately, of singing a different song for my guests, and I settled on one of the pieces I sang for my grad school auditions (Leonard Cohen's hallelujah). The trial run was with this group that I completely felt like I had bonded with, this evening quest, and something really magical happened: during the chorus, they all joined in. There was something about those moments, singing hallelujah with a group of people I'd never met before and may never meet again, in the darkness of a rainy but beautiful Alaskan night, that really made me feel connected to these strangers in a way I'd never experienced before. I've always known that music can heal and bring people together, but I think that last night really demonstrated for me the depth to which this concept can be stretched. I told these folks that they were awesome and that I'd shout out to them here on my blog, and I just want to say that I really meant what I said last night! I will never forget those brief but beautiful moments here in my summer in Alaska that sparked a new inspiration for my life ahead of me. Thank you for sharing them with me. (Leave a comment if you feel so inclined!! :) )
Today held some different but equally wonderful folks. I gave a couple of tours today and for some reason I had a few people who just thought I was the best thing since sliced bread. It was one of those days in which people very much appreciated the services that I could offer them. There were two ladies from California on my Glacier/Tram tour who were so super sweet that it was hard not to just talk with them the whole time (though the rest of the group was great too!), and at the end of the day they gave me entirely too much money. Honestly, I wanted these ladies to adopt me and take me home with them, they were so sweet. Last night and today were honestly two days that it wouldn't have mattered much what they tipped me - I just had such a great time spending time with them and showing them around Juneau.
Hats off to really great tourists, entertaining tourists, and a whole slough of awesome memories that will accompany me across my many travels this fall. Best wishes and good luck with everything, Kristin. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment