Tunnel Ends Cafe and Espresso located in Whittier, Alaska

Plenty of Parking for Vehicles and and Boats

Despite being surrounded on three sides by mountains and the other side by ocean, Whittier, Alaska happens to be one of the most car friendly towns in the nation. Not even the world’s best driver can navigate the mountains surrounding Whittier, but not to be bested by nature, a vehicle lover can drive through a 2.5 long tunnel into a city mostly paved in parking lots.

Nestled between parking spaces is the Tunnel Ends Cafe and Espresso. Finding this little eatery is like discovering an organic honey crisp apple among the candy bars, chips, soda and other such food staples at obese super markets. Biting into the sweet juiciness of the apple, I get distracted by a woman in grey sweat pants who doesn’t seem to notice her anatomically correct camel toe or the loud Black Eyed Peas ring tone coming from her duffel bag sized purse. I see her move a hand towards her lower regions and I think, “Thank god, she’s going to pick up the phone or adjust her sweats.” She does neither but snaps her thong. She seems too engaged in trying to discover the greater price value between a six-pack or liter of soda.

delicious omelet

At the omelet cafe, large trucks as unflattering as the sweat pants pull up next to the cafe to refuel. When the truck engine begins to rumble, the exhaust spews out smells and burps that make me realize just how hurt Uncle LeRoy must have been to subject himself to carbon monoxide poisoning. Cough Cough

Bless poor Uncle Leroy

Tasting the spirit of fall in the apple takes me back to autumn bicycle rides with a crispness in the air, reds and oranges in the trees, and the Boise River slowing down to a crawl.

The omelet has the same effects. Soon we are back enjoying the omelet and listening to Tanguy’s vivid description of France. Click here to learn more about CouchSurfing Tanguy.

Earthworm Envy gets Invited to a Poodle Party

Dear Earthworm Envy,

I came across your blog about the Picnic Puzzle Party while surfing the web for cute dog photos. My eyes teared up when I learned about your mom and dogless dog collar. That is why I am inviting you to Whitebird, Idaho for my poodle themed birthday party this summer when I turn 16. Don’t worry about not bringing a poodle. I have two toy poodles, and you can borrow the one named Natty Light.

The party will be fun. I am asking my friends to not trim their poodles for a month before the party so we can have poodle makeovers. There will be different prizes for sexiest, ugliest, sluttiest, and most republican looking poodle. Then we’ll bake special treats that poodles and people can enjoy.

Before I blow out the candles on my poodle shaped boston cream pie, I want you to recite or sing a poodle poem or song. When my parents go to sleep we’ll move the party down to a beach along the Snake River. Around the fire we’ll play spin the bottle. Last time I had to kiss my own poodle 3 times (GROSS)! Will you buy us a case of Natural Light beer?

My parents say if you want to stay longer than a night, you can camp in the backyard and explore the area. You can take Natty Light swimming, hiking, fishing and bicycle riding.

Hope to see you this summer,

Andrea Robey

Hello Andrea,

Thank you for the invite to your poodle party. I hope you didn’t get too choked up over the Picnic Puzzle Blog. Like Jesus, I tend to use parables. My mother happens to be a terrific woman who has never given me a dogless dog collar Christmas present. I hope this doesn’t disappoint you.

As of right now, I cannot commit to making it to your poodle party. Amy and I are thinking about returning to the lower 48 states this summer. We are contemplating riding our bikes from Boise to Sandpoint. If we do, it would be fun to stop by and say hi to you, Natty Light, and your parents. I have always had a good time in Whitebird, especially at the Whitebird Rodeo.

Sounds like your party will be perfectly planned. Don’t forget that your poodles can teach you some valuable travel lessons. Up here in Alaska, I too have been partying with a four-legged friend. His name is Murphy the Friendly Black Lab. Murphy taught me that clapping can be a great nonverbal exclamation point. Also, if you clap enough times in a row, your request might be granted.

Murphy clapping

I’ve also met a few dogs that can fly through hoops and balance on logs.

Earthworm Envy

P.S. Have you considered decorating for your party by hanging cardboard pink poodles from the trees in your backyard?

The Flying Terrier

No Yellow 5 at the Girdwood Alaska Backpackers Inn

Jeremiah enjoying a Christmas cookie

The Christmas cookie baking party was a success.  The only person who did not have fun thought he was coming to a processed cookie baking party.  “What, no one brought yellow 5 or high fructose corn syrup?  How I am supposed to turn my cookies red and feed the craving? I’m going down to Tesoro to buy Christmas colored Oreos and a can of hairspray.”

At the hostel, cookie admirers and bakers of homemade cookies happily mingled. When the sugar rush got too intense, people stepped out into the snow towards the light.  As a hostel employee, I yell, “Follow the steps to the land of drink and fire.  If you stumble past the boulders onto the road, beware of the large red speeding truck.”  Cookie munchers switched into beverage drinking mode. When the beverage drinkers couldn’t handle the 15 degree cold, they warmed their hands with hot out of the oven cookies.  This cycle continued until the booze and cookies ran out.

If GABI can't pleasure your needs maybe the porch can

One might ask how a dry hostel can have so much baking fun.  A unique feature at GABI is that the deck has been built onto public property.

Girdwoodians haven’t had this much fun at GABI since the dedication when we served booze and ice cream.  Bar owners take note that Jack on the Rocks served alongside a warm sugar cookie or with a huckleberry ice cream cone are a wonderful marriage.

travelers and the Girdwood community love cookies

Girdwoodians and hostelers learn about new cultures through the cookie

Hostels are more delicious when they smell like a fresh baked cookie

Girdwood Alaska Backpackers Inn gets a mention in MaryJanesFarm Magazine

Amy and I had the pleasure of working for MaryJane the summer of 2006. While working at the Girdwood Alaska Backpackers Inn we tried to implement some of the values and business practices that MaryJane taught us. We are very proud to be associated with an amazing entrepreneural person who in 2001 received the Idaho Progressive Businessperson of the Year. A simple example of MaryJane’s brilliant business savvy is a bed and breakfast that does not provide private bathrooms but shared outhouses. One of Amy’s favorite jobs at the farm was picking fresh flowers from the garden to place in the outhouse. Check out this link to view her bed and breakfast.
LEED Certification UPDATE

MaryJane thanks Brandon for his Farm Girl Work Ethic

St. Nicholas and the Schmutzli at the Girdwood Alaska Backpackers Inn

St. Nicholas and the Schmutzli making their way to Girdwood, Alaska

December 6th was a rough day because this year I have been bad.

During the summer I accepted the use of a large black Dodge truck that sported a George W. Bush sticker. I didn’t even use the truck for its utilitarian value of hauling sheep or large flat screen tv’s. Amy and I drove the truck to Hope, Alaska to simply wander around for an hour. Usually I enjoy being a smidgen evil because I can always seek forgiveness in Christ and offset my carbon footprint through credit. These fun-loving, not-holding-myself-accountable ways changed when I met our Swiss guests.

They have been scaring me with stories about an individual who doesn’t listen to sob apologies. His name is the Schmutzli. Every 6th of December, he and Saint Nicholas visit families in Switzerland and hostels in Girdwood, Alaska. Saint Nicholas gives out fruit and nuts to good people while the Schmutzli kidnaps people who have been bad. The misbehaving people awake in a secret location somewhere in the Black Forest of Europe. Saint Nicholas has a very hungry donkey who loves carrots, and the bad people are forced to peel carrots until their fingers bleed. The Schmutzli adheres to the notion that bad people must be tortured into being good.

Click here to learn more about the Schmutzli

I tell the Swiss I don’t believe in St. Nicholas aka Santa Clause. The Swiss then giggle, “Really, you don’t believe in Santa and the Schmutzli? For the last 8 years, who has been giving out gifts of freedom? Yes, Santa Bush, and who is his helper? The CIA Schmutzli. And where did Santa’s helper take the bad people? To the land of rendition probably somewhere in the Black Forest. Check out the 2009/11/05 New York Times, Italy Convicts 23 Americans for C.I.A. Renditions.”

I prefer the December 25th holiday where I turn my thoughts toward the birth of Christ in a stable and the infanticide of the all the males in Bethlehem under the age of two. These images are much more joyous than dealing with the anxiety of being abducted by the Schmutzli.

Luckily, 2009 has been a great year for everyone at the hostel.

Here are some photos of making and eating Swiss bread babies on Dec 6th. Special thanks to Salome and Avi, THE SWISS.

The Swiss

A bread baby can represent one's alter ego

bread baby action

Bread babies are fun to make and fun to play with and when the fun's gone you can eat them

At GABI guests and the community can feel safe being themselves, i.e. playing with dolls

Amy discusses “late night snowy fun” with the NorthernLight

Stay in Girdwood without Emptying out your Wallet
By Damaris Craig

The Girdwood, Alaska Backpackers Inn opened last July and is ready for the snowy season and is providing skiiers and snowboarders without completely draining wallets.

The Backpackers Inn is a hostel style inn with some great rates for students. It isn’t located right by the Alyeska Resort but is just a short walking distance from the Tesoro gas station. Backpackers Inn is about a four-minute walk away from Tesoro, from the gas station you can take the Alyeska shuttle for just $1 and it will bring you right to the slopes.

“The shuttle runs until 2 a.m. on the weekends so you can get plenty of late night snowy fun in and not have to worry about missing the shuttle,” says Amy Johnson, co-manager for the inn.

The hostel is a great place to meet some new people also. If you want to go the cheapest route then the dorm style room is just for you. There is one female and one male dorm style room. The female dorm room has eight bunk beds in it, while the male dorm room has ten bunk beds in it. The cost to stay in a dorm room is only $25 a night. “Dorm style rooms are a great place to meet people who enjoy hitting the slopes too,” Johnson said.

Backpackers Inn also accommodates people who are not comfortable sharing a room with people they do not know. There are seven private rooms that have a double bed and an upper bunk. Up to three people are allowed to stay in a private room. The costs for private rooms are $50 a night for one person, $60 for two people, or $70 for three people.

The check-in time for the inn is between 5 and 9 p.m. They also offer free Wi-Fi available for all of the guests.

They even accommodate large groups by offering great group rates.

If you are interested in more information, or would like to make a reservation call the Girdwood, Alaska Backpackers Inn at 727-4678

Keep up on the University of Alaska Anchorage student news at The Northern Light

Girdwood Alaska Backpackers Inn says, “NO to Smoking.”

Please don’t use the excuse that physicians say, “It’s Toasted”

Ronald Reagan slipped your grandma the big Chesterfield

and that George W. Bush encourages children

in 3rd world countries

to enjoy “Made in the USA.”

At GABI “JUST SAY NO” to smoking.

Even Nancy sometimes says, "Oh YES to Pleasure"

At GABI we understand that “YES” is sometimes more fun then “NO.” We ask that all questionable activities be enjoyed on the public property adjacent to the hostel.

Les Deux Voyageurs visit Girdwood Alaska Backpackers Inn

July 25, 2009 Couch Surfing

We’re a Canadian+French photographer/writer couple who just moved to NYC after some years in Paris and we’re now in Alaska for 10 days!………..

July 28th, 2009 Couch Surfing

Ok, no one called or ‘texted’ us on our cell phone to offer a CS couch (or rug,cabin,garden space) for one night

Hey you Alaskans, We’re still interested!
We’ll be in Fairbanks tonight (anyone here has a couch??).
Then, we’ll be riding towards the Denali for a few days, then to Anchorage (anyone around that road with a spare couch and wishing to share stories)…

Dear Alaskans, we’d love to meet some of you so text us on our cell and let’s meet!

Tanguy and Violette.

Couch Surfing and bartering are always a great way to meet people on the road or in your own community. Through our travels, Amy and I have met wonderful people through social networking sites like Couch Surfing, Warm Showers, WWOOF, Grow Food, and Help X . Check out Earthworm Envy to read stories, poetry, and watch videos about traveling via social networking sites. As far as bartering, my right leg bears a colorful example of bartering. Josh Petty worked on the tattoo “The Man on the Moon is Dead Impaled by Old Glory” in exchange for some Mental Foreplay for the Classics poetry and a Veronica and the Mental Foreplays CD.

Managing a hostel offers a unique opportunity to barter. We experienced this first hand when we stayed at the Bridge Street Inn in Cambria, California. There we made a video of lid sinks in exchange for room and board. Click here to watch the video. Now it’s our turn to give back to travelers and artists the opportunities that people have given us.

Knowing that we have only once couch, with very little floor space to make up a second bed, we contacted Tanguy to see if he would be interested in taking some photographs in exchange for a private room at GABI. Tanguy and Violette accepted our invitation. The art of story telling is not dead with Tanguy and Violette. Tanguy uses his whole body to tell a well-crafted story, my favorite of which is about the family sailboat that almost sunk in the Mediterranean.

We worked on the photo shoot, sat on the deck, hula hooped, and enjoyed an omelet in Whittier.

Thank you, Tanguy and Violette, for making the hostel that much more of a beautiful place.

Check out, Canadian+French photographer/writer couple’s work at these two sites:

Les Deux Voyageurs

Les Deux Voyageurs a New York

Picnic Puzzle Party at Girdwood Alaska Backpackers Inn

jigsaw puzzles and board games need a table like a video game that needs electricity

The large hamburger jigsaw puzzle and board games have been sitting on top of GABI’s bookcase since mid July. The managers and guests have been staring at the fun on the shelf for some time. The other day a guest said, “To have games but not a table is like being given a dog collar and leash but not a dog.” That was the tipping point. I was instantly mentally thrown back to some young adult gift giving trauma.

Dec 25, 2003 Boise, Idaho
Christmas morning, Amy and I were given gift certificates to use at a dog grooming facility.
In front of the family and the baby jesus idol, I yell, “Mom, you know we don’t have a dog.”
She replied, “But you have a dog leash and collar.”
“You gave us the dog leash and collar! Get us a dachshund half husky for Christmas. Don’t you think it would be great to have a dog to go with the gifts?”
“It comes down to time and money plus that sounds like an ugly dog. I have worked too hard pet shopping just to have you put that beautiful collar on a half breed mutt. By the way, in your stocking I got you dog toenail clippers.”
Now Mother only acknowledges me through e-cards. On Christmas she will send an e-card from Dog Breedz.com.

Merry Christmas Son and Amy

After I composed myself from the sudden stir of memories the picnic table was moved inside. To celebrate the new addition to the common room, we hosted a Picnic Puzzle Party.

The first guests to arrive were Matt and Parker. Not only did Matt bring his puzzle enthusiasm, he brought good news about the website that his company OTC has been working on. The hostel website now links directly to the blog and booking sites (thanks, Tanguy Gilson, for the suggestion). HOLY MOLY now we have two things to celebrate!!!

Rachel and Michael, our new neighbors who just moved to Girdwood, rounded out the group. Rachel baked “the best yet” chocolate chip cookies, and Michael connected puzzle pieces with celebratory dances.

Parker and Michael enjoying the hamburger puzzle

chocolate chip cookies are delicious with a puzzle

Matt takes a break from the puzzle

hamburgers puzzles go with good food like wine is to cheese

Matt, Amy, Michael, and Rachel work up an appetite while sitting in front of the puzzle

October in Girdwood, Alaska: Beaver Pond Trail

The woman slams down her glass of water on the new circular table in the common room. “Did I hear you say ‘let’s drive into Girdwood?’ Who do you take me for? Do I look like an invalid who can’t walk the two miles into town for coffee?”

The hostel common room goes silent. Everyone stares at the man with the Corvette keychain in hand.

The hostel manager quickly interrupts, “You know, Mr. Driver here probably didn’t know about the Beaver Pond Trail before making such a silly comment. Sit down, let me show you a photo journal of my favorite route into Girdwood for a cup of coffee.”

Pick up bicycle/walking path by Tesoro Gas Station

A corvette drives towards us on the Bird Point path

Chugach State Park one of Alaska's most beautiful attractions

View from the Bird Point path

There goes Ace, Girdwood Alaska Backpackers Inn guest

On this trip we didn't see any beavers

Looks like the bears missed this early October blueberry

Dogs can easily negotiate the Beaver Pond Trail

The Beaver Pond Trail will take you to the Crow Creek Road

Across from Maxine's Bistro there's a short cut into the main part of Girdwood

The exciting adventure ends with a delicious cup of coffee