Today was the last day of training on a stationery rail car.

We started the day with team meetings and then broke off into rail cars with all the employees onboard. The servers, cooks, rail guides, etc. I enjoyed this day of training as we got to know other employees better. I wasn’t sitting around and that’s a good thing.

After stocking the bar, we made some mocktails for other team members. We also talked about specialty drinks we can come up with. I felt old when I said I could serve a coffee drink with Amaretto and call it The George Strait – Amaretto by Morning. And no one got the connection or joke.

A couple hours into the morning, the employee groups took turns being seated as if we were passengers. We then ordered food so the servers and cooks could practice. I had the seafood salad, which is usually served as a sandwich, but I got it without the bread. I also ordered chips and salsa and used the chips to scoop the seafood salad. It was delicious. This was my first taste of seafood since arriving in Alaska! For dessert I had the molten chocolate cake. It was ok.

Next we headed up to finish talking about speeches. I did not practice today as I’m confident in using the microphone.

To close out the day, we had an employee from Denali Brewing Company come and talk to us. Denali Brewing Company is located in Talkeetna, AK. The brewery provides some of the beers, a cider and spirits the train carries. The employee talked about the making of the products and then did some trivia with us.

From trivia I learned that in the Native American language, Athabascan, Talkeetna means “where the rivers’ meet”. The “na” signifies water. It’s a smaller brewing operation of about 45 employees.

Tomorrow we leave on a practice run to Denali. The train passengers will consist of returning employees and some of their families. This allows us new employees the chance to practice on a moving train. We can work out kinks without ruining paying guests’ trip. It will be like a dress rehearsal.

We will overnight in Denali and take part in some of the activities there so we can talk to passengers about them. We will then ride back on motor coaches, stopping for a couple of excursions along the way.

I am looking forward to this! My overnight bag is packed and ready to roll. I will get some terrific pictures and the training will all be worth it.

I’ll have the best office ever!

(The pictures below are of the rail cleaning crew cleaning the exterior of the rail cars. An employee told me after work that they have to clean the windows about four times to get all the dirt and grime off of them. It was satisfying to watch the foam, water and then the squeegee from the warmth of the interior.)