The Knitting Narwhal

My summer in Skagway has been especially dreamy. Dreamy because the weather has been endlessly gorgeous. Dreamy because the staff at the Red Onion is pretty much perfect-not one loon in the bunch. Dreamy because I am loving my job more and more, and I am so happy I decided to stick with it. Dreamy because the season is officially half over, and I can start imagining sunny long vacations and free time. And dreamy because some crazy stuff has already gone down in this crazy silly town.

Just about a month ago, we had a group of 25 Santas visit Skagway, and they showed up to the Red Onion with their wives for a private tour of the Brothel Museum. We kept yelling "Merry Christmas" and the bar sang "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." We even made the front page of the Skagway News. It was a truly hilarious hour with the St. Nicks, but we are faced with some weirdos everyday, and the Santas almost blended into the daily grind. UNTIL we discovered that some people weren't very happy about Santa visiting a building that was once a brothel.
My proudest moment this summer (which also made the front page of the paper, but has yet to get posted online), was the Red Onion float in the 4th of July Parade. The theme of the parade was "Fifty and Fabulous" in honor of Alaska becoming a state 50 years ago. One of my madams, Johanna, had the brilliant idea to have Marilyn Monroe jump out of a cake dedicated to Alaska. All the madams would flank the cake, dressed in little poodle skirts. The twist is that Marilyn Monroe would be Marilyn MANroe, and boy oh boy-this boy made a fabulous Marilyn.
Do I even need to mention that we one the grand prize? Well, we did.