May 2020

I’m going to keep this one short (plus I don’t have a whole lot to say anyway). From what little time I’ve had to keep up on what all is going on out there- I do know it’s been a crazy month… from states here in the US opening back up (which whether it is too soon or not is heavily debatable), to the incident in Central Park where the white lady goes nuts on the birder who did nothing aside from ask her to leash her dog, to Trump waging war with his favorite social media for fact-checking him, and finally onto the protests that have erupted as a result of the murder of George Floyd which reflects on the US’s bad track record of police brutality particularly on minorities and on the fact that things still aren’t totally equal here. So talking about myself right now seems kinda… weird. But here we go (also I wrote the remainder of this prior to most of this news making it to me).

I went back to work earlier this month and have been back digging around in mouth holes while wearing additional PPE (a bit more than ever before, like these isolation gowns https://www.sciquip.co.uk/products/ppe/disposable-isolation-gown.html which have to be changed for each patient) leading into Alaska summer, which to a lot of you that read my blog and aren’t from here will probably assume isn’t that bad… All I’m saying is if it’s like our record-breaking 94 F summer we had last year, I might die (A/C is few and far between and also I’m a little wider from eating my way through quarantine). My scrubs are tight, I’m extra sweaty, and I really don’t have much time to do anything (but somehow I always find room for eating, wine drinking, complaining, and reading up on the latest and most ridiculous conspiracy theories). I’m assuming travel will mostly be out of the question for summer 2020, I have zero plans to go anywhere and really do much of anything (outside of Alaska, anyway). So getting to the point, all I’ve done is work in May and drive the Denali Highway and visit Denali National Park on Memorial Day weekend (yes, they are two separate things). Oh and also I now own a pitcher plant (AKA my future summer 2020 murder victim…. sorry in advance).

Don't laugh but... this is the first time I've ever seen a caribou in the wild. I have no explanation for why it took 33 years Caribou, Denali, Denali National Park, Alaska

What’s happening in June?

More work. All month (I mean, except for some weekend days). Turns out that there aren’t many dental hygienists out there (sorry, if you’re wondering what I do that actually pays my bills, it’s my work in the dental field… a narrow sliver of my income comes from this blog to be totally clear), and a lot aren’t willing to go back to work… therefore, my phone has been ringing non-stop (I do temp work so that I can travel). I do have some plans for treks in the state on a couple of the weekends I have off, but otherwise, I’ll largely be saving most of my bigger Alaska adventures this summer for July and August.